Quite beautiful, lucky you! I'm gonna guess some kind of Cattleya. Pls give it some time for others to respond. If you don't get many suggestions, then try posting same at the Orchid Forum, they'll know for sure.

Thanks PG...whatever it turns out to be I do love it!!

Nancy, unfortunately, you will never be able to get a solid ID on your chid. There are simply too many look alike hybrids out there. That said, yours is definitely some sort of Cattleya hybrid. From the looks of it, C. Chocolate Drop is somewhere in its lineage. (Chocolate Drop's characteristics tend to show quite predominantly in any cross made with it.

Oh nancy! That is lovely!! And it bloomed just in time for Valentines Day! Congratultions and thanks for sharing with us!

Nancy, that is really a nice orchid!!!

Josh

Nancy, I love it..I am so happy for you and wanted to send you well wishes!
Does it smell nice? I have some very strong sweet smelling ones...Love them!
Love that color.

MIke

Morning Everyone,

Nancy, how are you?

I love your orchid bloom. I've never seen a true red flower. Maybe it's the light??

Sorry, don't know its type.

There are a fair number of true reds, Toni, mostly Cattleya hybrids.

Paul, most of my orchids are Phalaenopsis. Think I have a teeny-weeny baby Cattleya, it'll be years before it flowers.
Heck, it's taking forever to grow period! :)

I adore true colors, especially red, yellow, 'BLUE' and orange.

Thanks All!! It is a really pretty Orchid especially since its my very first one to ever bloom in my care,lol...

Hey Mike, Paul, Toni, Teisa & Josh!!

Toni, glad to see you its been a while! That really is a true red, actually a very dark red more like maroon...

Paul and PG, thanks for the ID... I'm satisfied with Cattleya! I know absolutely nothing about Orchids except almost every one I've been given has barely survived or decline...so this one is very special to me :o)

Here's another picture...

Mike, does this look familiar?? I LOVE it so much, Thanks!!!

Nancy, yeah, it's been a long time..both you and I seem to disappear.. :)

Bloom color looks lighter than maroon, that's why the color is so appealing.
Maroon reds are fairly common...

Anyway, glad your posting, and great seeing you.

Oh wow, Nancy your 'Red Horn Tree' looks amazing!
So much more color than mine this time of year....I'm jealous! :-D

Josh

Hiya Pug, I posted the ID on the fly, sort of missed it was you -- hello there.

I don't do much w/ Orchids myself, but have tried from time to time. The one Orchid I DID do well w/ was something which was part Cattleya, must be why I recognize it so, both leaves & blooms.

I did the NYC Orchid Shows for several yrs., cleaning up on last day deep discounts to buy the Orchids I tried & the one I managed to grow for a whole year was an intergeneric hybrid: called Epi Leilo Cattleya, mine looked like yours but on a smaller scale & w/ an orangier bloom (more vermillion). Grew in rocks & was pretty carefree.

See what you can find here online, but then DO check out the Orchid Forum. I used to browse there in my early yrs. on GW. That's where I learned to use cinammon as antifungal (& save $ by not buying rooting hormone for it).

You in FLA, this should grow fabulously in your climate, I bet it'll love your humidity! May it thrive w/ you!

Thanks Toni!! I'm sure you guys are very ready for Spring :o)

Thanks Josh...not as much color as I'd hope since this month is the last month of cold weather for us...I doubt it will color up any more. March is right about the corner and soon enough it will be too hot for the pretty colors...upper 80's are not far behind. I'm glad it colored up a little though...

It was a great guess PG...I did post on the Orchid Forum but only one response and basically he said "if I post a better photo someone may recognize it"...its no biggie. I'll go with a Cattleya...

This post was edited by puglvr1 on Tue, Feb 18, 14 at 12:26

Well humpht to him, seemed a plenty good pic from here, maybe check back in case others chime in. Sure hope so, I'd expect they would, but haven't been there is some time.

Nancy..Where do I begin? lol

That is a Cattalaya and there are hundreds of different varieties of red.lol It's beautiful! If it smells good even better..You know me.

I have dozens of different varieties all doing great....I can share a few pointers if you would like..:-)

They love to be mounted..Can you place one in a tree of some sort?
They hate to be in full sun...Inderect sunlight, under trees, in early a.m or late in the day sun is perfect!
They burn easily...

Many kill them more often to' bad 'watering techiques..
Here are some tips to help you succeed..
Use' fresh' rain water if you can, prefferably rain water.
If you must use tap water, flush them once a month whether mounted or in a pot to flush salt deposits that can desicate the roots.
When you water, make sure to drench the roost for at least 5 minutes until they turn very green or plump up..
You can also mist them until this happens
Your high humidity should help the thrive! I would mount as many as I can on cork, tree fern, or trees as possible. I would have a field day.lol.

Fertilizer...Feed them once a week at 1/4 strength and not at all during rest period..

Hope this helps...It's the watering and type of water used that kills them most..

Now as for the Jade...WOW!!!!! I love it..That is great color for your area..You should see the parent plant..It's already huge again..lol
I'll snap a pic for you very soon..It's under lights in a basement and doing good..That tree couldn't be in the hands of a better person there in good ole Florida! I would love to visit there just for one day...

Many hugs from us up here freezing Lowell..Yet another foot of snow yesterday:-(

Mike

â¢Posted by meyermike
They love to be mounted..Can you place one in a tree of some sort?
They hate to be in full sun...Inderect sunlight, under trees, in early a.m or late in the day sun is perfect!
They burn easily...

Have to disagree, Mike. Several caveats must be examined:

With regard to being mounted:
That depends on your conditions and culture. For Nancy -- being that she is in Florida -- I would agree that mounting could work wonderfully. However, for someone like me in an apt in the Great White North mounting would likely be a very bad idea. For that matter, for someone in Arizona or New Mexico, it would likely be terribly unwise. In both of the latter cases, our air is simply far too dry. Mounted plants tend to dry out far too quickly in arid environments and many folks aren't into watering a plant several times a day (or even daily). Whereas in Florida or a greenhouse RH is much higher and that makes a huge difference.

Regarding "hate full sun" and "burn easily":
That depends on the genetics of the plant in question, how well you harden it off, and the intensity of one's sun.

I do have catts that would indeed fry if I put them out in direct summer sun. HOWEVER, I also have ones that sit out on my completely unobstructed SE exposure balcony all summer long and do fine. (Those receive direct sun from around 8am to 2pm. And my balcony gets hot enough to blister my feet should I try to stand out there barefoot for any length of time.) Furthermore, I had a catt years back that full sun from noon to about 3 or 4 o'clock. The leaves would literally be hot to the touch. Yet not only did the leaves never scorch, they stayed dark green the whole summer. (Surprised the daylights out of me on that last point.) Now with that last catt mentioned, I was a bit surprised but not astounded ... I knew that one of the parents was a Broughtonia which is a type of catt native to Jamaica and typically grows in full sun. The point is, genetics matters. Chocolate Drop and its hybrids (and I am quite certain that Nancy's catt has Chocolate Drop in its background) tend to handle a lot of strong sun, IME, as long as they are properly hardened off.

So the "long and short of it" is that some experimentation will be in order.

Paul..Love to be mounted in Florida, thousands in the trees on my Caribbean yard trees, or a greenhouse where humidity runs high or, if one can mist several times a day in very dry environments.....Thanks for helping me clarify that...

Sorry..I was directing my help towards Nancy, since I know her growing conditions and how her Cattalaya would thrive in her care...

You are right.....If I was to give one a try in my home mounted, it would die of thirst...That is why they are only mounted in my greenhouse...

Thanks for the heads up about full sun! I have none that like it.I have to use a shade cloth of they burn..But if there are some that don't mind it, I'd like to get one..
All I have ever read through the years is that Cattalaya are not to be put in full hot sun, not even here in the north..The Orchid society has thousands and never expose them to full sun..
Ths sun thing is new to me..Thank you..You never stop learning..:-)

MIke

This post was edited by meyermike_1micha on Thu, Feb 20, 14 at 17:39

I figured your advice to Nancy was based on her Florida environment, Mike, but didn't want someone who might be growing in very different conditions to read the posts and assume that those same instructions would necessarily hold true for them. (Pretty much the situation with any type of plant really -- what holds true for one person's growing conditions might not hold true for another's.)

Thank you Mike!! Yes I figured Mike's advise was specifically for my Fl growing conditions :). Mine is hanging under some large orchis next to my hanging hoyas. Appreciate all your advise and help mike always. Hope you guys get a break from this horrible winter soon!!

Thanks for your help and clarifications too Paul!

I'll post a couple of pics shortly where they live :)

Here's where some of my Orchids and Hoyas live 350+ days a year...

Did you notice the dark green tree behind the Ti plants...that's the Mango tree and its blooming like crazy! Hopefully, it will be a good mango season :o)