Flower Question

[eorchids]

Hey all,
does temperature affect the coloring of the blossom?

Cause I have BLC. Three Sun which just opened for me. The current color is lime green but last year when I bought, I saw the plant having peach/yellow flowers. So im just wondering about it

[Phantasm]

Many green to yellow cattleyas will open green then as they age the color will deapen to a rich yellow. This not unusual, and is genetic due to crosses based on species like c.granulosa, c. bicolor, rhyncolaelia digbyana, etc.
Even c.aurea and c.dowiana will deepen in color (yellow) as they age.

[cb977]

See E, I knew one of our prestigious members would give you the answer, whereas I could only guess

[justatypn]

Wow, learned something new myself, I had always thought it was due to lighting...thks Bill

[jb_orchidguy]

I have noticed lighting has a dramatic affect on color too. I bought in BLC Stans Golden Car in after half the flowers opened, but were bightly colored yellow, but the ones that opened in the house had much less color then the ones allowed to open outside. I have noticed that same effect on a brassia hybred too.

So if its not the color change issue that Phantasm bought up I would vote for lighting.

[Phantasm]

Light intensity and temperature can always affect color with many orchids. Usually bright light in a combination with cool temperatures will create more intensity. Genetics is also a factor that works in conjunction with light and temperature. Some flowers also get richer with warm temperatures......but reds especially are diminished in color by heat.

[eorchids]

Hey all,
As you know my Cattleya has bloomed (as you can see).
Anyway I googled Blc. Three Sun and it showed it having lime green with a magenta lip, center streaked and feathering on tips. But yet my Blc. Three Sun is different. It's yellow; no other color. Why is there such a HUGE color difference?

[Sandra Billeter]

Understand that I am way beyond my area of "expertise" but I can tell you from experience that color definitely is influenced by the heat. We have a Slc Golden Fleece hybrid that blooms twice a year. It has just opened and the petals and sepals are primarily a peachy/orange color. When it blooms in the fall/winter it is almost a pale lavender.

As to the striking variation in colors and bloom size, it may be that the plants are seed grown instead of mericlones and you are getting genetic differences. We were at Akatsuka's Orchids in Hawaii a couple years ago and they had a tray with 7 Phals in it. One's blooms were twice the size of the others and I asked the owner if they were all the same plant. He assured me they were and his explanation was that they were seed grown and the one plant got the "big bloom" gene. That's the one we bought and this year the blooms were 5 inches wide. Hope this helps.

Sandra in South Carolina