Just bought 1st ever Cattleya

[TrentCoo]

I just purchased a Cattleya and was wondering if i should repot it right away. Right now it is sitting in the crappy inch by inch plastic pot that it was shipped in. It is a mature plant, but I do not know much about these plants. If i need to repot, what medium should i use and what other items should i know for the first few weeks. I have read about light, water, feeding ect and understand most of it, but there is not much information about what you should do when you first receive a plant. Please help.

hmmmm. i have never seen a blooming sized catt in an 1x1 inch pot ;} the AOS has some great culture sheets, or pick up orthos, all about orchids at the big box store. what is the name of your new catt?

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Repotting should be done when a new growth is just starting to produce a flush of new roots. The only exception to this is if the old mix just falls away without doing any damage to the roots. Removing the mix forcibly will damage roots, and could leave the plant with no viable roots for several months, so wait for the new roots if that is the case. Cynthia, Prescott, AZ

[jerrymeola]

Cattleyas like to be pot bound so be very slow to increase pot size.

A 1x1 pot is a transplant from a compot (community pot) or a plug tray (plastic tray with 50-98 openings. Cattleyas at this age are probably 2-3 years old. Cattleyas need to be 5-7 years old to bloom. You have some waiting to do.

I buy about 300 a week this size bare root. I either pot them in 2 1/2 inch pots or 4 inch pots. When in a 4 inch pot they will look like they do nothing for about 6 months. They are growing roots only. Remember I am in SW Florida so I have 9 excellant growing months. Up north you may only have 3-4 good summer months.

My plants dry out quickly in our heat so I am able to get away with the 4 inch pots. The cats I buy finish in a four inch pot and flower without any more work on my part. Growing indoors a 4 inch pot can develope root rot easiily. It does not dry completely.

Many smaller species bloom in a 1 to 2 inch pots and these bloom faster if put in 2-3 inch pots. Many growers put all their young plants into 2 1/2 inch pots first.

This thread shows the need to research the orchid before buying it. You should have asked the seller when the orchid could be expected to bloom; the final size of the plant and the growing conditions it likes.

do not beleive all a seller tells you. Many are not experienced. Ask on this forum for others that grow the same species. Listen to others talk about the species that are their favorites.

Again I recommend to everyone to change their profile on this forum to include their state in their posts so that advice can be more specific. Notice on my reply that on the upper right it says Location SW Florida Fort Myers. This enables you to realise that my advice is based on a long hot growing season outdoors.

[RolRod]

I've been browsing on Amazon.com, since I read somewhere that they have good quality orchids, and went to the grower's site, Carter and Holmes, and I'm pondering getting a cattleya. I'm looking for some that bloom year round, or at least, more than one season and have found a few there.

What advice can you provide as far as growing? My living room gets a lot of morning light, and I have south facing windows that get quite a bit of light in my dining room, as well as the western-sun-filled kitchen. I imagine both the kitchen and the living room will be graced by an air conditioner this summer, and this will obviously impact the potential new-comer. Thoughts?

[TrentCoo]

Originally Posted by jerrymeola

A 1x1 pot is a transplant from a compot (community pot) or a plug tray (plastic tray with 50-98 openings. Cattleyas at this age are probably 2-3 years old. Cattleyas need to be 5-7 years old to bloom. You have some waiting to do.

I know you said that I should not trust the sites, but I did get it from orchids(_com) (ie: Norman's Orchids) and they said it was mature, which means "it will be able to bloom with in a year". I dont know if this matters about potting, but I feel as if i NEED to get this plant out of the community pots pot. Cynthia said that I should wait for new growth, but I am not sure I know what new growth is. I need to know when I should repot, what I should pot it in, and if there is anything special I should do with the current soil it is in. Please help. I have posted a picture of the Cattleya on my profile if it helps.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

The picture is pretty small, but the plant looks just fine in that pot. Don't be in such a hurry to repot. The new growth will start as a swelling of a bump at the base of the pseudobulb of the most recent growth. You don't need to know exactly where, just keep looking at the base of the plant for a change there. Trust me, that plant will do much better by far if you will just be patient and wait. It won't be long. Patience is something all orchid growers must develope, or they need to grow something else. Cynthia