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Author Topic: Pleione colour stability  (Read 1525 times)

john hodgson

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Pleione colour stability
« on: April 09, 2016, 11:22:40 PM »
Now this one seems strange.  I am used to a given clone looking pretty much the same from year to year. In 2014 I bought 3 x Kenya 'Bald Eagle', two of which flowered in 2015.  I was looking forward very much to my first near red pleione and was very disappointed by the 2015 flowers which where a definite purple.
Looking at Paul's photos, I saw that the colouring was very variable in the non-named cultivars of the grex Kenya. I concluded that I had received a rather unremarkable  Kenya - and definitely not Bald Eagle.
So imagine my surprise when this year a much darker coloured pair of blooms popped up. Has anyone had a similar experience? I am assuming that the flowering pseudobulbs are from the larger two that flowered last year from the three I grew last year. In 2015 I used weak tomato fertiliser from late July to early September (to develop this year's 2016 flower buds). In 2014 they were largely left alone. In each year plants grow outdoors from late April onwards.
The photos are:
1 & 2 -  2015... a disappointment
3 - 2016... a puzzling improvement.      Any ideas?
Note on photos... I have found that colours can be hard to represent. ESPECIALLY purples. The same camera has been used but I don't know what the settings were in each year. I do remember though that the 2015 blooms lacked redness. The 'new' colour really jumped out at me this year.
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« Last Edit: April 12, 2016, 07:37:22 PM by john hodgson »

erf

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    • PleioneWorld
Re: Pleione colour stability
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2016, 08:51:05 AM »
Hello John
I think there are many factors that affect the color of the flowers. Fertilizer (the amount of iron), temperature during the growing season and the temperature during the dormant season and maybe also the compost use to grow the plants. I know that mine differ from year to year.
Usualy I find that when I buy a new plant from another grower (and his cultivation metod) it has one color and size, and when it has been exposed to my cultivation it shows different coloration and size. This can be good or bad :-)
Usually it stabilizes after the second year. So the plants have to get used to you cultivation metode.

That is of course my own pocket philosophy  ;) ;) ;D
Regards Erling
cbc35863586
For Pleione pictures, have a look at https://www.facebook.com/PleioneWorld
or find me at www.pleioneworld.dk

 


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