Cattleya Scheherezade "Jewel Box" - it says....

[Dorsetman]

I bought this plant under this name a few years ago, as a young unflowered plant with several growths (leads) - maybe 3. Now it has 5 flowering,so OK there, although it seems a bit weak in the knees, doesn't hold itself up very well. Maybe meristemmed too many times ? Or of course, my culture not good enough.
But the thing which concerns me is the colour . As I remember it , this grex/clone had a much more solid and vivid colour than this.
Admittedly this is the best colour it ever has managed - last year it was much paler.
Light - too much?
Some orchid friends who run what was once (arguably)the most famous Paph nursery in the world ( now a pale shadow of its former self for reasons...) have often told me that with paphs, the more light you give, the smaller the flowers and the paler they are , but also the most frequent and prolific.
Nature compensates ; if its a dark jungle, the flowers need to be big and bright to stand a chance of being seen by the pollinating insects. If its bright and light, then they can be easily seen .so the plant does not need to put as much energy into making them big or bright . Seems logical, maybe it works for cattleyas too ?
Of course there are at least three other explanations ; (1) it is true to name but meristemmed too often applies here too (2) it is not true to name , in which case, what is it ? or (3) - I don't want to admit this, but maybe my memory of what the plant looked like 30 years ago is not as good as I like to think.

BTW its in a six inch pot, which will give an indication of size.
Suggestions, comments, ideas ?

[delphiguy]

I dont have much to say about your dilemma but its beautiful nonetheless.

[Halloamey]

Wonderful specimen ! This pretty much looks like all the Jewel box clones I have seen. The darker clone is `dark water`. Yours is an astonishing specimen for sure.

[Halloamey]

[QUOTE=Dorsetman;228422]
Light - too much?
Some orchid friends who run what was once (arguably)the most famous Paph nursery in the world ( now a pale shadow of its former self for reasons...) have often told me that with paphs, the more light you give, the smaller the flowers and the paler they are , but also the most frequent and prolific.
Nature compensates ; if its a dark jungle, the flowers need to be big and bright to stand a chance of being seen by the pollinating insects. If its bright and light, then they can be easily seen .so the plant does not need to put as much energy into making them big or bright . Seems logical, maybe it works for cattleyas too ?[QUOTE=Dorsetman;228422]

This might be true of Paphs, but I usually observe the other way round for my catts, they flower with darker flowers when given full sun and with paler flowers in semi shade. What I have observed though, is that the flowers have a better substance and are long lived under the semi shade conditions. Just my observations.

[swtheory1986]

Geoff its still stunning nonetheless. It does look like its a floppy plant though. I have a dendro noid, that has long, floppy, and thin weak leaves, I was thinking maybe more light?

[Dorsetman]

Geoff its still stunning nonetheless. It does look like its a floppy plant though. I have a dendro noid, that has long, floppy, and thin weak leaves, I was thinking maybe more light?

I can put my hand up for poor culture, but when it comes to pinpointing the exact cause, I scratch my head. I have been using supplementary lights - 400 watt mixed spectrum lamps on track movers, for 18 months or so , and whilst the extra light given in winter 2009-2010 gave super plants, I could not see when or how to wind it down, and by last summer they ( the Catts ) were getting too much and suffered...I turned them off, and gave 4-5 hours per day ( instead of 13 ) for last winter , turned them off last week. But I think the compost has been too moisture retentive. - which is another direction altogether....
I really do think Catts are the most wonderful orchids but not the eaiest things to keep happy !
For

[espranch]

Beautiful RED orchid, Geoff...Betty :-)

[Kassie]

I have an Slc. Jewel Box 'Scheherezade' that I expect to look very much like your photos. At least that's how the vendor's photos looked; unfortunately her depiction of "blooming size" was, perhaps, overstated. Mine is also a bit of a weakling--twisty and floppy with less growth than those around it.

It feels rather presumptuous for me to offer you advice, Geoff, so I will merely relay what I've been told. After two catts that I had purchased in sheath failed to live up to their expected colors, a more reputable vendor told me lack of light was the cause. He described a scientific reason for the accumulation of pigmentation, but frankly my brain has attempted to absorb far more science in the past year on this little orchid adventure than in the rest of my life and it stopped retaining somewhere around ppm and lux/watt. These were pink and sunset shade catts, but I presume the same holds true for reds.

[panam]

Those are stunning, Geoff. I have nothing in me for suggestions, but thank you for sharing the beauty and for starting a string from which I can learn.

[catttan]

This is stunning!!! I agree with Amey re cattelyas and I notice the same with the vandas especially the semi and quarter teretes but i do admit they seem to fade faster too.