Second candidate for this month is a Procatavola Key Lime Stars (Cattleychea Lime Sherbet x Brassavola nodosa). 

Procatavola Key Lime Stars was originated and registered by Roy Tokunaga in 2019 and become very popular between orchid growers.

This cross has three species in the background - Brassavola nodosa, Cattleya forbesii and Prosthechea mariae.

Previous Awards:

There are 17 AOS awards for this cross. Cultivar 'Lemon Lime' HCC/AOS 79 pts awarded in July 03, 2024 is the latest award.

Description:

The candidate has 4 flowers on one 24-cm inflorescence. 

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 13.8 cm;                   NS V - 13.5 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 1.0 cm;    Dorsal Sep. L - 7.8 cm;

Petal W - 0.9 cm;               Petals L - 6.9 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 1.1 cm;       Lat/Sepal L - 7.8 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 4.0 cm;     Lip/Pouch L - 6.8 cm.

Judges' Comments

Paul Wetter (Senior Judge, West Palm Beach Judging Center)

Thank you for submitting this very nice specimen of Procatavola Key Lime Stars.   

I am very partial to this and Brassavola hybrids as they grow so well on trees in our garden in South Florida.  In that climate (baring No Hurricanes) they are robust and prolific.   Key Lime Stars has been well awarded. This particular plant has all the qualities of a winner with 4 flowers/ spike and a good natural spread it is well presented. The color and form are as to be expected and striking.   Even thought recent awards have been in the mid AM with one high AM, I think this would qualify for a good Mid AM quality award.  

Paul Wetter

Deb Jenson (Student Judge, Chicago Judging Center)

This orchid is beautifully flowered, and the flowers are pleasingly arranged, each facing outward, with just a bit of crowding with two of the flowers. Although it has fewer flowers than many of the Key Lime Stars awarded in OrchidPro, the quality of its flowers is quite good, and the natural spread is more significant. The stellate shape is nearly a perfect star with very erect petals and a natural spread nearly the same horizontally as vertically. There is a slight recurve on the dorsal, but that is common with this species. I also like the open tubular lip. The color is sharp, with the apple green sepals and petals offset by the ivory lip, and the intense apple green has rose spotting inside the lip. I would award this plant and score an AM in the mid-80s.

Kris Mason (Accredited Judge, Cincinnati Judging Center)

Procatavola Key Lime Stars

Nice display on the inflorescence with good spacing between flowers.  Size is good, flowers per inflorescence is good.  I like the deep green color.  Overall flower count is low.  Young plant, has potential.  I would pass on this flowering.

Al Messina (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Four nicely presented B nodosa offspring flowers display good size, color, form and arrangement.

View from above suggests one central flower petal slightly anteflexed. Overall, as good or better than several awarded clones. Should qualify for low AM, perhaps higher.

Judie Armstrong (Associate Judge, Florida North-Central Judging Center)

This is a very nice example of this hybrid.  The flowers are larger than the current awards.  The flower is flat.  The dorsal twists a tiny bit at the top. I would award this flower in the mid to high AM range.

Thank you,

Judie

Steve González-Costa (Accredited Judge, Chicago Judging Center)

Interesting to see how so many of these have been awarded and they are pretty uniform.  Some are good, but not great, with the individual flowers not being 100% consistent when compared to each other. The color is good, the central olive toned greenish and spotted lip is nice, some of these that I see in shows are kind of pale and not so striking (I hate to say the word …dull in color).  These flowers present themselves pretty well in a 300 degree circumference pattern, many of these have a really random presentation and are up and down on top and below each other.  Four flowers, we judges always wish for more, but when comparing what we have I see a healthier size – segment sizes, segment widths.  At a full cm plus for the sepals is great, 1 cm for the petals I see is really better than most low AM’s.  The lip is bigger opens and present itself very well.  In the end it is a basic “Bc” too bad they are so homogeneous, never the less this is a good one and deserves respect - I scored this flowering at an AM of 83 points.  This is a hybrid to have more than one if you have the room and hope that one of them stands to be enjoyed like this one.

Roy Tokunaga (Emeritus Judge, Hawaii Judging Center)

Procatavola Key Lime Stars was developed as a seed propagated nodosa type green.   Uniformity was the number one criteria.  It is nice that they all are excellent and of award quality.  Both parents are pure breeding tetraploids.  Green is a difficult recessive color to achieve in the Cattleya Alliance.  The ability of the individual grower to maximize the growth and flower quality will lead to awards.  Not everyone have perfected their growing skills.  It is a lifetime pursuit.  I produce 6000 seedling per year.  They should be available everywhere Sun Bulb sells their plants.

Roy

Exhibitor - Sergey and Elena Skoropad (Accredited Judges, Northeast Judging Center, NJ)

Virtual Award Description

Four large, flat, stellate flowers pleasingly arranged on one 24-cm staked inflorescence; sepal and petals lanceolate, bright chartreuse; lip tubular, open and slightly ruffled distally, light cream, darker chartreuse centrally, rose spots coalesced to stripes centrally; substance firm; texture matte.

Grower's Advice

This plant we got from Hilo Orchid Farms, Hawaii, probably year ago. I believe that they all seedlings. This is probably one of the best Brassavola nodosa hybrids and plant can bloom couple times a year. We have several plants of this cross.

Like all our plants, we keep this Procatavola Key Lime Stars outside in the garden during the summer and inside the house during the winter. We have LED lights installed in guest bedroom two years ago (from Home Depot) to provide good light for most of our orchids. The biggest challenge is to water plants in the winter. Because air is very dry in the house during winter months I have to water most of the plants twice a week, however Brassavola hybrids can tolerate very low humid conditions very well. I fertilize all plants weekly during a summer and biweekly in the winter.