I do try to buy orchids advertised as blooming size or even better a
previously bloomed one unless it's something that I'm willing to wait on
like a more unusual type. Or like my flask experiment

Shell


"Myrmecodia" wrote in message
om...
"Shell" wrote in message
.com...
How do you tell when an orchid is blooming size or near blooming size?
I
keep seeing leaf span measurements and pot sizes but no real ages or
anything.

That's because age isn't very useful when dealing with orchids. Since
orchids grow indefinitely, there is typically no way to be certain of
their age. This is especially true of divisions where there is no way
to determine how much material has been removed. The only exception
is with seedlings that still retain all of their immature pseudobulbs.
With such a plant, you can estimate age, but only if you know the
rate at which the plant is producing new growth. When growing a
seedling, you should see each growth significantly larger than the
previous one. As the plant matures, each growth should be the same
size as the previous, never smaller.

"Blooming size" is usually a guess based on a grower's experience with
other plants of that species or hybrid. If the grower has lots of
experience, it may be a very good guess, but there is no way to be
sure. Many orchids will bloom for the first time before they reach
full size, but first-flowering is dependent on many factors (genetics,
skill of the grower, etc). The presence of old inflorescences
indicating that the plant has previously bloomed is the only way for a
beginner to be sure a plant is blooming size.

In my experience, most "blooming size" seedlings will flower within a
range of a few months to a few years given proper growing conditions.
"Near blooming size" plants fall in basically the same range, but all
things being equal, larger seedlings will bloom before smaller
seedlings. Some seedlings will bloom within a year out of flask. For
example, my Coryanthes thivii bloomed about 10 months after it was
deflasked. Other seedlings won't bloom for years or decades if they
are missing some critical requirement in their culture.

Nick
--
myrmecodia-at-yahoo-dot-com