Hawkinsara

[Nancy]

For New Years I treated myself to a new orchid. Its name is Hawkinsara Sogo Doll "Little Angel'. I was wondering what the best culture for it is interms of light and temperature. I've seen photos of it and the flowers appear to be flat. The flowers on my plant are "cupped" to a certain degree, although the sepals are flat. Does anyone else grow this plant who may have some tips to offer. I look forwad to hearing from you. The plant really does take a beautiful picture and if there's anything I can do to encourage the blooms to open up I'd be grateful. It is a meristem and should not have these problems, should it?

[fred]

Nancy this one is a Cattleya Alliance
this link will give you some idea.
[OGD] Hawkinsara Sogo Doll 'Little Angel
also a link to the AOS culture
http://www.aos.org/aos/orchids/docum...recattleya.pdf

[Nancy]

I have the plant in a bright, warm space. I was thinking that it might just be the transition from greenhouse to my home. The plant appears to be a very robust grower. As soon as it is done blooming I will be repotting it. I'm just hoping it will come out with abloom as pretty as the pictures. There is a curious thing about it. On the flower spikes are bracts. Some of these have opened up and it appears like there is something growing out of them. I was wondering if the flower spikes are capable of branching. I can't think of anything it could be.

[brookn]

Nancy I have two of these that I bought as seedlings. When I got them each were little more than a leaf or two with roots. They are approaching BS now. They like their light a tad bit less than full Catt. light, and I keep them behind the other Catts so they are more shaded. I have found that if they get more light than that it does not seem to bother them too much, but I have had slight yellowing to a leaf with too much light. The name has been reclassified to Gratixara Sogo Doll 'Little Angel' (per Kevin). I have not had blooms yet, but I have seen a reference somewhere that they are peloric, so that may account for the cupping of the petals. As this may be the first blooming, they may need to acclimate and get healthier for you, then the petals may improve a bit. I do not know if they are capable of branching, but they are a hybrid, so I guess it is not impossible. Mine are very thirsty little things and I have to water them a bit more (it may also be my climate), I find that if I don't remember to water them and they go completely dry for a few days, it does not affect them in the least. I hope that helps. Mine are very robust and have just grown and grown.

[Nancy]

It seems to be a very robust plant. I've been afraid to water it too much but it always seems to be dry, so maybe I should rethink this. I'll let you know if anything results from these strange little bracts opening up. I just don't know what else it could be. Keep me posted too on how your plants are doing. Why are they tampering with all the orchid names? It seems to me that this hybrid combination was probably named for a man named Hawkins. What do you think he would thaink about this name change?

[Tobi]

Hi Nancy,
I've had a Hawkinsara Red Devil 'Kosaki' for about 4 years now. If you haven't already
looked this up, it is a intergeneric hybrid with parent genera Broughtonia, Cattleya,
Laelia, & Sophronitis. I grow mine in the same cultural environment as my Catts. The
only thing I've noticed is that their leaves tend to be not a tolerant of direct sunlight
and will sunburn. But they still need the bright light to bloom. Mine has bloomed for
3 consectutive years now and the blooms are relatively flat shapped. Here is a current
pic of one of the blooms from late this summer.

[jerrymeola]

I have several hundred in the shade house and have just frozen them for the second time down to 28 degrees. (did it two years ago as well) You just can not kill this plant. (2 years ago I did not lose a plant out of 100 frozen)

This time the temp was accompanied by 30 MPH winds and froze the leaves to solid ice. All the leaves are turning black. It has been two weeks since the freeze and I am getting new growth and two have flowered since the freeze. (pretty flowers on a ugly plant)

so to answer your question as to care, you can do just about anything to this plant. Everyone I buy has all its roots rotted. I just cut them off and new ones grow and the plant flowers in less than 6 months from removing the roots. The plant does exceptionally well mounted on wood.

I do not recommend the abuse but if weather intervenes know it will recover and do not be too concerned about rotting roots it seems to be a characteristic of the plant.

With good care it can flower 3 times a year, although, I usually get two good flowerings - June and Christmas. It is a semi miniature seldom getting over 8 inches. I have had a couple go to 12 inches.

It is tolerant of over watering and drought as well. Like I said an easy orchid to grow. It even flowers in lower light than other Cattleya.



Photos make the flower look flat but it slightly cupped.

[Nancy]

jerrymeola, Your plant is so pretty. It's nice to know that it'll be hard fro me to mess its culture up. Do the flowers straighten out in time? Mine are extremely cupped. Also, does this plant prefer to grow into a large specimen or is it better to divide it up?

[Nancy]

Oh, and one more thing. I managed to blast almost all the buds. I got the plant with three spikes on it. I have one left with three buds. I moved the plant away from the direct light shining on it. Wish me luck, please.

[Nancy]

I can't seem to do anything right with this plant. The last buds are blasting as well. Would you say that it needs brighter light to produce spikes but much less to bloom the plant? I just want to get it right for the next time it spikes. It's just so pretty.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Nancy

Hawkinsara Sogo Doll "Little Angel'. I was wondering what the best culture for it is interms of light and temperature.

Your plant, properly called Gratixara Sogo Doll 'Little Angel' (more on name changes later) will do well with good general callteya alliance culture. You can get a culture sheet on how to grow cattleya alliance plants form the American Orchid Society or from this forum. If you are gorwing it mounted as pictured in Jerry's post, you will need higher humidity and will probably need to water more frequently.

Originally Posted by Nancy

I've seen photos of it and the flowers appear to be flat. The flowers on my plant are "cupped" to a certain degree, although the sepals are flat. ... It is a meristem and should not have these problems, should it?

Cupped flowers are characteristic for this hybrid. Some turn out more or less cupped than others but pretty much all of them are fairly cupped. this has to do with the breeding of the plant and not so much with its culture or the fact that it is a meristem. "Meristem" just means that the plant is a clone. Meristemed plants have the same charactersitics as the parent plant.

Originally Posted by Nancy

I was thinking that it might just be the transition from greenhouse to my home.....

It is common for new plants to go through a period of adjustment when you bring them home. Some plants just stop growign for a short while while others will drop all fo their flowers and buds and sulk for a few months. I find that new plants in my care often skip a bloom cycle but then start blooming regularly after that.

Originally Posted by Nancy

There is a curious thing about it. On the flower spikes are bracts. Some of these have opened up and it appears like there is something growing out of them. I was wondering if the flower spikes are capable of branching.

Many cattleya alliance plants have a leafy envelope at the top of a new growth out of which the spike and buds emerge. This is called a "sheath." It protects the buds when they are very small and forming.

Some cattleya alliance flower spikes (mostly Encyclias) branch but your si not the kind that branches. It's hard to say for certain without seeing it (are pictures possible?) but you might just be seeing new buds coming.

Originally Posted by Nancy

Why are they tampering with all the orchid names?

I'm glad you asked this question as it gives an opportunity to clear up some misunderstandings about orchid names. You'll notice that part of the name changed while the rest of it stayed the same:

Hawkinsara Sogo Doll "Little Angel'
Gratixara Sogo Doll 'Little Angel'

The part that changed is called the genus. Many people think that the genus or generic name is set in stone, that it never changes. This is a misconception. Generic names do change. This isn't tampering, it's just part of the normal process of scientific classification. Taxonomists are constantly making new discoveries and finding new relationships between groups of orchids and so they regroup them, they split up large groups of orchids into smaller groups wiht new names, and sometimes they combine smaller groups of orchids into larger groups. When the generic name of an orchid species (wild orchid) changes, it also changes the names of hybrids made with those species.

Originally Posted by Nancy

It seems to me that this hybrid combination was probably named for a man named Hawkins. What do you think he would thaink about this name change?

You're right. Tha name Hawkinsara does come from the name Hawkins. He was the first to create a hybrid using the following genera: Broughtonia, Cattleya, Laelia and Sophronitis. The name Hawkinsara is what we call an artificial genus (or a horticultural genus). That means that no naturally occuring (wild) orchid species carries that name; that this plant is a hybrid created from the 4 genera listed above.

A common misconception is that the artificial generic name is the name of the breeder. This is not correct. Sogo Doll was not bred by Hawkins, it was created by Sogo Orchids in Taiwan. Breeders get to give the grex when they register their hybrids - the grex is the hybrid name, in the case of your plant, the Sogo Doll part of the name, but they do not get to give the generic name.

Generic names can change. Grexes do not change.

After generic name changes have been made among certain species, orchids that still contain those 4 genera are still called Hawkinsara. There are still lots of Hawkinsaras. Orchids that than have a different collection of genera have a different name. So it's not really like he had an orchid named after him then someone else changed it. There are all sorts of rules and guidelines that govern how oprchid names are formed, registered and recorded.

Originally Posted by Nancy

Also, does this plant prefer to grow into a large specimen or is it better to divide it up?

Generally I am not a fan of dividing an orchid up. A larger plant usually means more vigorous growth and more and better flowers.

[Nancy]

The bud problem was my problem, I guess. I went to repot the plant and I think it may have been overwatered by the greenhouse where it was purchased and by myself. I removed the remaining blossoms and repotted it into a larger clay pot. It was growing over the edge and needed a larger pot. It's growing new roots and the roots on top are healthy. I placed pot shards at the bottom of the pot before the medium so that I will be less likely to overwater it. Thanks for the reply and if you know of anymore cultural practices that would be beneficial for this plant, please let me know.

[Nancy]

Hi. My plant is putting out growth again. I get to start from scratch this time. I've heard that you can't do anything wrong with it, I just haven't heard anything about the best way to grow it. I know it likes lower light than Cattleyas, but what is its preference in terms of temperature? I'd like my plant to have a fighting chance this time. Any information on growing this plant would be grately appreciated.

[articuno75]

This plant has a wide temperature range as Jerry stated before somewhere on the threads here. He had a bunch of them go through freezing temps and 30+ mile an hour winds and still bloomed. I have a seedling from Brookn and she has a couple (I think her's is going to bloom this year maybe?). I keep mine around 70 degrees. It's doing fine. (And this has had slight damage from possible bad Neem oil.) I don't know what the optimal temps are. I figured once it warmed up I was going to kick the little booger outside with the rest of the babies to get fresh air

[Nancy]

I guess I was wondering what the difference is between this hybrid and an Otoaara, which I also have one of. Sorry if I spelled that wrong. This second plant seems to like the light and the buds are ripening nicely. With the Hawkinsara I am wondering if I should grow it at a low night temperature due to the Sophronitis in the mixture. It's so nice to know that I have company growing this plant. Keep giving me regualr updates and we'll compare notes. Thanks.

[Nancy]

Do these plants grow better in smaller pieces? My plant had to be placed in an eight inch pot and I was thinking I might like to down size it some. It's presently growing three new growths and I really taking up a lot of room. I was thinking if I divided it I could try it under different conditions so that I can figure out what it likes the best. It's a pretty little plant, I just don't have a lot of confidence with it. Any thoughts on this will be grately appreciated.

[articuno75]

How many growths and how big is your plant? These don't get very big. There suppose to be compact growers.

[jerrymeola]

Nancy

Bud blast on new orchids occurs often but usually is not indicative of your growing conditions. Next flowering you should not have any problems as it adapts to your environment.

I am amazed when you said it is in an 8 inch pot. I have never grown one that large or even seen one that big.

They divide easy if you chose. I had to divide many (really discarding old back bulbs damaged during the freezes). Just chop away and re-pot or mount or both. However, if it really fills an 8 inch pot I would consider keeping it and bring it to judged shows. It seems in a class for an award.

As mentioned earlier most of the flowers are a little cup shaped. For some reason they look flatter in photographs.

[Nancy]

I just need to get it to bloom some pretty flowers. I haven't counted the bulbs. One thing I can say about it is it is not dying out in the middle, as so many of them often do. This is just a big plant. It's short, but it really likes to spred out. It has some growing room in the eight inch, so I guess I'll leave it there for now. Maybe I can make a specimen of this one. this is a plant that seems to multiply quickly. I'm still counting the new growths and I'm up to four. It also grows from all sides. It's actually a very interesting plant. Keep me posted on how your plants are doing, please.

[brookn]

Hey Nancy, sorry I did not see this sooner. I am just busy, busy. I don't even get a chance to talk to Jenny (Articuno) and we are geek buddies lol. My two are the easiest orchids to grow in my whole collection.

Whe