Re: Blooming Size

Shell, Ray gave you very good info.  To add-on from a different climate:

This could well be the case with tessellata or hybrids thereof, they bloom
early and often.  And maybe some Ascocendas like Princess Mikasa [close
race, I think].   But not with most large-flowered standard vanda hybrids
which have lots of sanderiana or coerulea in the ancestry.  [I am a Florida
grower, and like to think I'm good <G>].

> One can reasonably safely estimate that a vanda will need to be much
larger
> and older than a phal to bloom, but I'd bet that a good grower in Florida
> can raise a vandaceous plant to grow faster than a phal in my window (they
> get very little light, so I have a greenhouse...), making it possible that
> the vanda could bloom first.  OK, maybe that's pushing the point a bit,
but
> you see where I was going, especially considering that some places are
> getting phals or even paphs to bloom 18 months after flasking!

I also sometime get seedlings from H&R.  In the case of most large-flowered
catts, it will take me a year or more to bloom them [even in Florida].
Certain types will go much faster, for us mostly the intergeneric mini-catts
involving Broughtonia, and some of the Dens.

As far as judging the ability of grower/vendors to predict when a plant is
blooming-size, you might find the OGRES rating site  of interest.  If you
don't already have it bookmarked, you can find a link on our Home Page.

Good growing,
--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.jborchids.com

> As another example, I occasionally buy seedlings from H&R in Hawaii.  For
> them, a plant in a 2" pot may very well be "NBS" and may bloom in a matter
> of months, while for me in Pennsylvania, it could be a year or more out
for
> the same seedling.