| All the advice so far has been good.
To just round out the advice, I want to mention that cattleyas when young do not need much light to grow. The light level is necessary to get the plant to flower. A $5 seedling from WalMart is probably 2-3 years away from blooming. Unfortunately a store like WalMart does not tell you this before you buy it. They probably do not even know.
I have thousands of young cattleyas in much lower than recommended light levels. As I said it is not necessary to grow and they are too young to flower. Lower light levels put less stress on a new plant and do not evaporate the water in the pot as fast. There is nothing wrong with putting it blooming light levels just a little different care.
The light level for blooming is 3500 foot candles. California summer sun at noon should be around 10,000 foot candles. This is why Kenny's lighing suggestions work well for many people in open light. Here in SW Florida many people grow cattleys in screen cages. I want to point out that screening blocks 70% of the light. I have never been able to get a reading higher than 4000 in my screen cage even when the light outside the cage was 11,000.
Unlike your phals these plants will not flower indoors without extra effort to maintain light levels. Growing outside they dry out faster and need to be watered more often. they are gorgeous and usually have a very pleasent fragrance. They are worth the wait.
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jerry  |