Question
Wayne,

I bought three (3) Vandas over the weekend, two (2) of them have name tags; I am trying to validate they are what the vendor labeled them as,

(1) The first one is labeled as "ASCDA Butterfly Chavanananda x ASCDA Suksamran Spot". I googled it and could not find it so I thought I would ask you. The following are some pictures I took today.

http://71.42.14.237/caripito/images/orchids/ASCDA%20Butterfly%20Chavanananda%20x...

http://71.42.14.237/caripito/images/orchids/ASCDA%20Butterfly%20Chavanananda%20x...

http://71.42.14.237/caripito/images/orchids/ASCDA%20Butterfly%20Chavanananda%20x...

(2) There is a second plant which is labeled "V. Charungrales x V. Kultana Blue", it has not flowered thus I can't provide a picture at all. Again, I googled it and could not find it by that name, I found the Kultana Blue Vanda, but not this particular  combination I now own.

Finally, I have a third plant which has flowered, but does not have a name tag on it; I posted another question on it already so you may have seen that by the time you read this question. The links for that third orchid is http://71.42.14.237/caripito/images/orchids/Vanda1.JPG and http://71.42.14.237/caripito/images/orchids/Vanda2.JPG

I am watering it every morning with a mister attached to my garden hose (regular water). Twice a week, I am also feeding it with a water bottle sprayer/mister with 20-20-20(Wednesdays and Saturdays).

BTW, I live in Orlando as you may recall,

Thanks in advance,
Angelo

Thanks in advance,
Angelo

Answer
Angelo, I checked my orchid data base and found that Ascda (short for Ascocenda) Butterfly Chavananda does not appear to be a hybrid registered with the Royal Horticultural Society (yet).  Ascda Suksamran Spot is a registered cross between V. Gold Spots x Ascda Butterfly.  That cross was registered in 1987 and has garnered several AOS awards. Ihave the ability to trace registered crosses all the way back to species if that would be helpful.

Both Vanda Charungrales and Vanda Kultana Blue are registered hybrids. The former is a cross between Vanda Madame Rattara x Vanda Varai.  This cross was made in 1977.  It has not been awarded..  Vanda Kultana Blue is a cross beteen the species Vanda coerulea (from which most blue coloring comes) x Vanda Chusri Naratingsa.  Chusri Naratingsa was registered in 1976 and is an awarded hybrid.

The third plant which you pictured is in excellent condition.  You seemed to be giving it the right treatment.

We have vacationed in Florida on many occassions over the past 30 years and always stop at commercial orchid growers and bring many plants back to Wisconsin where I grow about 500. Robert Fuchs of RF Orchids in the Homestead area is a specialist in the Vandaceous alliance and has made some of the most awarded hybrids in the world. To date myself, I used to vist his late father's orchid range when Robert was quite young.  Robert has written a book about his life and the family he grew up in.

Our three sons all have aspirations to move to Florida.  The youngest one moved to Gainesville many years ago and graduated from UF.  Then he moved to Jacksonville and should be graduating from the graduate school at the University of North Florida there. Our oldest son quit his job as a banker in Madison and moved to Orlando in the summer of 2007 in hopes of landing a similar job there. After several months with no offers he moved back and is again a banker at a local bank but lives with us at home. We have discussed coming down to visit our youngest son to celebrate his graduation but we may not be able to manage it due to our obligations here.