well I jumped in

[iMark]

I'm still waiting for the hottest part of summer to pass before ordering from Odom's...but..I was in the grocery the other day and they had just received a shipment of Phals, $10 per, so I couldn't pass up the flowers for an early start to growing Phals..thought I'd give these a go and see if I can keep them alive til mid September than order some more...

so they are pretty, they are healthy, lots of nice green roots in the clear plastic pots, inside the terra cotta cache pots... need to be repotted to bigger pots tho..should I wait til they are finished blooming? also..they are blooming now, does this mean that they are and will continue to be summer bloomers?

here is some pics..

Orchids - a set on Flickr ...all but one had a tag and the tags mesh with what I found online..

Dtps. Taida Salu 'Alisan'-- heavy burgundy striping over yellow
Dtps. Sinica Cherry-- intense raspberry purple, smaller flowers,many flowers, branching, two spikes
Phal Exotic Fire--peachy pink with faint stripin
Dtps ( Achy Breaky Heart x Phal. Fifi)..white with red lip
NOID white..nice traditional white big rounded flowers, 2 plants in pot...

anyway...thanks again for the help..I'm going to try my beginner group before moving on up....this could get addictive...lol

[quiltergal]

Welcome to OB! Are you new to orchids in general or just to Phals?

You have picked some very nice plants. I have a Taida Salu 'Sunset' that starts blooming in Feb/Mar, and I cut the spike off in July to let it rest. Many of the Dtps. are summer bloomers, but some bloom in the spring like other Phals. Commercial greenhouses can force orchids to bloom anytime they want by mimicking conditions in nature that start the bloom cycle. So I'd say just because they're in bloom now doesn't necessarily mean they are summer bloomers naturally.

As for repotting it sort of depends on what they're currently potted in, and how that media looks. Many of the plants I've purchased at big box stores have come potted very tightly in sphagnum moss. Sphag and I don't work well together so those I repot as soon as they come home in bloom or not. Most of the time I've not seen a problem with repotting in bloom. If the plants are planted in bark I water and then carefully watch to see if anything that faintly resembles dirt comes out of the bottom of the pots. If it does that is a sign that the existing media has broken down and needs to be replaced.

The registered name of Dtps. Achy Breaky Heart x Phal. Fifi is Dtps. Memoria Petra DeGraa. You can add that to your tag if you like.

Good luck!

[mehitabel]

Hi, iMark. What a nice haul! I have the Taida Salu and the Sinica Cherry, both very beautiful.

My Taida Salu set a spike in May and is blooming now. It is about 37% summer bloomers. I love the velvety texture, so rich.

The Sinica Cherry is likely to be a summer bloomer. It is 25% doritis, a summer blooming species, and 25% equestris, a species that tends to bloom twice a year. I looove this one -- deep, irridescent purple. I had no idea Odom's was offering this. Have to call them.

The whites and soft pink are likely to be winter bloomers. Growers can bring them in to bloom at other times by controlling the temperature and day length.

[iMark]

hi quiltergal..I learned to raise orchids 25 years ago when I was at university, but haven't raised any since I left..I posted a few weeks ago about the huge change in Phals in that time frame and got a lot of good advice from the folks here...so thanks for adding to my re-education of phals..
-------------------

mehitabel...I still haven't ordered from Odom's, I'm waiting for cooler weather, it's so unbearably hot here...I just picked these 5 orchids up the other day at the grocery store..they were healthy and pretty and inexpensive, so I couldn't pass them up...

so the Sinica Cherry and the Taida Sula were just lucky finds, I guess...the Sinica Cherry is so vibrant that it's difficult to even take a halfway decent pic of it..it just glows...

actually everything was a lucky find to get started..fresh off the truck ad not sitting around the frigid market for any length of time.

I'm still ordering from Odom's in September, my standards, but I'm also looking to branch out in colours, this has hooked me..lol

thanks for all your information...

[Zoi2]

Wow, what a wonderful haul!
Joann

[mehitabel]

Mark, thaat Sinica Cherry-- you're right, the color is so deep and vibrant, you can't capture it in a photo. I think it is the most beautiful one I got this year. It was beautiful with just one flower. Very lucky find!

Mine went downhill some, it's still going, but I was hoping to find another. Just have to keep watching for it.

About Odom's, you will love their plants. They offer the most plant for the $$ of any vendor I know. You get huge honking phals, in spike if in season.