Brown Sheaths on Catt?

[Tommy]

Hi everyone. I have a Big catt. i has five sheaths they started last summer. they were green all summer and now they have turned brown does this mean they will not bloom. should i leave them alone. or what they get morning sun and they are in my green house.i don't water to much please
and they get plenty of light someone help me out. i always get such good advice here. i have had this Catt 3 years i have many mini catts they bloom well. Thanks so much Tommy

there are many catts that bloom off brown dry sheaths if they are wet gooey that might be cause for concern, rot from too much moisture in the sheath. what catt is it?

[Tommy]

The CATT, in question is BLC DreamTrader - RJM. and the sheaths feel dry. would appreciate more advice. Thanks Tommy

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Dry sheaths are OK. Either the plant will send up buds thru the dry sheaths or it won't, but there is nothing you can do to help it. As Tommy said, wet sheaths would be a different problem. Are you sure they were not wetish while they were drying out? Next time around, monitor the sheaths when they start to turn color. Sometimes you have to get air into the sheaths at that point to avoid rotting the buds in side. Cynthia

[Tommy]

Cynthia, Thanks they were sort of light or a real pale green. would it be ok to snip the tops of the sheaths to let in some air.thaks again . Tommy

[janet_a]

i'm not a catt expert (i have 1 (one)), but don't snip anything unless you have a problem or see one developing. brown is normal.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Yellow is probably OK. For an uneven color, or anything tending to brownish, it might be safer to snip off the tip. Better safe than sory here, and you can squeeze the sheath along the long dimension near the top and cause it to open up a bit. Sometimes you can do the squeezing with out cutting, and cause the sheath to open at the top, or even get hold of the sheath on both sides and pull the sheath halves apart at the top. Be sure to use a sterilized tool, as cutting these before they are good and brown means you are cutting into living tissue, and you don't want to transfer virus to the plant. Cynthia

[Tommy]

Thank you-all, so much for your advice. i have learned so much from all of you.Thanks Again Tommy

[Daniel S. Barrett]

personally, i tried that once cynthia, and the buds rotted from invading bacteria once i opened the sheath, thats why the plant grows it to keep things sterile! I've found to let nature take it's course is best! no more rotting buds!
keep it simple!

[jerrymeola]

There is not much you can do when sheaths turn brown. Sometimes they bloom anyway.

You have had these for 3 years so you should be well aware of the normal blooming season for our plant in your home. If it is a winter or spring bloomer you should be fine, but if they normally bloom in the fall it would seem that they got too dry and discarded the blooms.

This happens a lot when plants have gone too long without re-potting. Cattleya can strangle themselves on their roots. With cats it is important to re-pot regularly to separate the roots and allow space for new roots to grow.

If you do not get blooms re-pot in early spring. When you examine the roots remove all dry and dead roots. Rot is not the only problem with roots. I just bought a 150 5-8 inch pot size Cattleya and the grower told me they could not take another winter without re-potting. She was right. On some of the plants, I had to cut off all the roots back to the rhizome.

The potting medium was not decayed but re-potting was a necessary anyway.

[Luci]

Jerry, can you divide a catt when it is in bud? I have a large old catt that I just bought and it is so overgrown in a 5" pot that it will not stand up unless it is proped up against something........but it has one large bud so I have been scared to divide it and repot. I am new to catts but I think they are beautiful.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Luci, why not just slip the pot into a little larger clay pot temporarily to help hold it up right. You really want to repot when the latest new growth is just putting out its first flush of new roots. This is the time when the plant will have the least set back because it will be soon replacing all the damaged roots from the repotting. Jerry is in Florida, with much better growing conditions than most of us, and he can get away with less setback in his Cattleyas from repotting out of season.

[jerrymeola]

Luci,

Re-potting now will probably cause you to lose the bud. Putting it in a larger pot with stones or extra weight to hold it up is a better approach right now as Cynthia suggested.

That said I just re-potted about a half dozen in bud and so far have had one open and none lose the buds, but it is my business and if I lose a bud on a plant that was too overgrown to sell, it is not important. For you to lose the only bud you have is different.

[Luci]

Thanks to both of you, I will do as you both suggested and sit it inside a larger clay pot for the weight and enjoy the bud...which has now opened since posting my original message.

Very large bloom, other buds were broken off by transporting so this was the last one left on the plant.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Daniel, that has not been my experience with opening sheaths in the moderate humidity in my greenhouse. But then I have had a lot of experience with sheath problems, and I can pretty much tell when the sheath is likely to pose a risk to the buds. Complete removal has not caused bud loss, but the flowers will often not stand up properly without the sheath while developing.

[Daniel S. Barrett]

Cool Cynthia, I'm sure you know what you're talking about!
I've certainly enjoyed reading your expert advice and agree with it! but, after the experience I had with a prised catt I was planning on putting in a show, I've never tried to open another sheath!, I guess I've been lucky that I haven't had to since then either! until now anyway! I've got one now that I'm worried about, a huge old Catt with 1 bud & NO sheath on one growth & 1 with a sheath, on another! the sheath is suddenly turning black along the edges as of yesterday, I've sprayed it with a fungicide.. hope it helps! any suggestions?

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Watch it closely. Black is bad. If it produces wetness from a rotting sheath, it will rot the buds.

[Tommy]

Just had to post, my catt with the brown sheaths. well i noticed this moring that at the base of the sheaths it looked as tho it was getting biger so i felt of it, and looked in to the sheath of one that i sniped the top off and it is sending up a bud. there are three more doing the same. thanks so much for your advice, hopefuly it will bloom it name is dream trader does it have a fragrance hope so. Thanks Tommy