Largest orchid you have ever seen

[The newcomer]

so, i always used to think orchids where small plants, but i just got this really nice purple color phal with very large leaves and 2 leaves on each side with another tiny leaf growing, so i want to ask. what is the largest orchid you have or have seen, and how big can they get generally speaking in terms of phals. The largest one i have seen had 3 large leaves on each side of the plant that where very large. also, is it in there genes thats makes them large and some not or do they all eventually grow big?

Pics would also be nice! thanks!

[krpot]

Hi! Yeah, I never realized orchids were so large either until I buy one and think it's gunna fit on my windowsill... and then it kinda doesn't. Where I volunteer (Greenhouse) they have a phal with the biggest leaves I've ever seen and they've kept re-forcing the spikes and it's a monster about 4-5 feet.

[The newcomer]

^^^WOW! do you have pics!?

[tansyflower]

I'm not sure if this is the biggest.

IOSPE PHOTOS

Someone posted a pic of one of these (or another grammatophyllum) last year.

[digitalgate]

here my beauties - I not referring to the plant.

[syndywindy]

Those are beauties all right. You grow them well. lol

[kid a]

The biggest one I hae ever seen in person is a grammatophyllum speciosum!!! It wasn't as large as they can get at all but it was the biggest I had ever seen. It was visiting our local conservatory from a local orchid company which is now closed

[kmarch]

I've seen pictures of Gramatophylum plants that were as big as a backyard garden shed and must have had 50 growths. It's certainly a contender for the biggest orchid, at least the biggest single mature growth.

It depends though on what angle you're coming at this question from. Biggest mature individual growth? Biggest cluster of growths? Biggest flower? The answer is probably different for each of these.

Sometimes it's not the orchids with the largest mature growths that form the biggest plants. Last year I saw a talk on Den. speciosum in situ. The speaker showed a pic of a massive multi-growth speciosum spread across a rock face. As far as he could tell it was all one plant. It was massive and easily covered about 500sq.ft. When I was a student judge in the US I once had the privilidge of judging a massive Dendrochilum magnum that had around 200 inflorescences. Dendrochilums flower once of each new growth so that tells you about how many new growths it had. There must have been more than 400 growths in total.

Paph sanderianum holds the world record for the "biggest" orchid flower. But sanderianum has really long stringy petals that hang down. It's actually not that large a flower but just has super long petals. I think the record is about 3 feet long. Some of the old "dinner plate" cattleyas have freakishly large flowers. They can have a diameter of 8-10 inches.

[The newcomer]

Thanks guys!, but im talking about phalaenopsis orchids, individual plants.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by The newcomer

Thanks guys!, but im talking about phalaenopsis orchids, individual plants.

Oh...probably would have been good to mention that up front. The largest phalaenopsis is Phal. gigantea. A mature gigantea has leaves more than 2 feet long (up to about 70cm) and more than 10 inches wide.

[orchids4me]

Originally Posted by kmarch

Oh...probably would have been good to mention that up front. The largest phalaenopsis is Phal. gigantea. A mature gigantea has leaves more than 2 feet long (up to about 70cm) and more than 10 inches wide.

NICE!!!
Emmaye

[LouisW]

The Gramatophylums are massive plants, but go to the tropics and you will see all kinds of orchids in massive clumps growing on tress. I have seen fallen limbs which have given in to the wight of what must have been a half ton clump of Epidendrum.

[Bolero]

I would say Dryadella zebrina. It's massive!!!

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Bolero

I would say Dryadella zebrina. It's massive!!!

[The newcomer]

Originally Posted by kmarch

Oh...probably would have been good to mention that up front. The largest phalaenopsis is Phal. gigantea. A mature gigantea has leaves more than 2 feet long (up to about 70cm) and more than 10 inches wide.

sweet! do you have a pic?

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by The newcomer

sweet! do you have a pic?

Yes, several but in books. Do a web search for "Phalaenopsis gigantea" and see what you find. I just did one and only a few of the first two pages of images are nto Phal gigantea so if you stick to just the first 2 pages you should be good.

[The newcomer]

oh, i googled it and saw a couple, is that a special type of phalaenopsis or can they all get that big?

[kmarch]

It's a particular species, as I said before: Phalaenopsis gigantea. Not all phals will get that big. As I said in a previous post it's the biggest.

[Phalcycle]

Originally Posted by The newcomer

oh, i googled it and saw a couple, is that a special type of phalaenopsis or can they all get that big?

It is a species phal, meaning natural or god made.
There are many crosses, that cross this large phal with others to try to get the size.
As Keven Mentioned, it is a largest Phal Species