Cattalyas

[Dan_Davis]

Is the period for cattalya to bloom over??????? Is there a general period to bloom.....

[kmarch]

Not all Cattleya Alliance plants will bloom at the same time of the year or at the same time as eachother. Some that I've had over the years bloomed once a year, some twice a year like clockwork, still others just whenever.

[Hummer344]

I have several cats and they all have different blooming periods. I think its Odoms Orchids that always says what period their cats bloom in. Fall, summer, winter, spring. Some will bloom two times a year but, in my limited orchid knowledge, I don't know of any that bloom more than that. My avatar blooms in late fall early winter. This year it bloomed during the holidays. It made a beautiful holiday decoration

[exasperatus2002]

Ummm............Diddo.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Hummer344

I don't know of any that bloom more than that.

I only know of one that bloomed more than twice a year. It was a Cattleya Quinquicolor (forbesii x aclandiae). It was one of the fastest growing orchids I ever had. It bloomed about 3 times a year.

[jerrymeola]

Cattleya have a season for a specific species or hybrid but not for the group. Now is peak time in Florida for the most types of Cattleya.

To get multiple blooms requires a couple of conditions.

Sogo Doll can bloom three times a year in Hawaii, but in Florida with our colder winter I only get two blooming seasons. The actual month can vary. With about 50 plants in the greenhouse I have flowers on one of these bloom about 9 months a year, just not the same plant. The number of times a plant will bloom is definitely tied to the number of growing months.



The president of our local Orchid society (a commercial grower of tropicals, and plays with orchids) says his Chyong Guu Cafffinch seems to be in bloom year round. He lives on Pine Island which is the best conditions in Florida and considerably better than Hawaii.



The older and larger a plant gets will increase the number of times it blooms. I believe what is happening is that the plant is blooming on different parts at different times. Much the same as if it were multiple plants.

I had a Stima Kelly Lea that bloomed almost every month. I gave one to my brother and it did not bloom for months then he got 8 spikes at once. I really believe you get about the same amount of flowers over the course of a year.

[Aleksa]

I decided to repot my cattleya. Because there is no orchid mix to buy in Montenegro, I went to the pine forest and got some bark from the trees. Problem is that bark smells like...'pine'... It contains some oils which have that smell... Will that harm my Cattleya?? I do not want to destroy it because that is only Catt I have and it is very healthy!

[Hummer344]

Originally Posted by Aleksa

I decided to repot my cattleya. Because there is no orchid mix to buy in Montenegro, I went to the pine forest and got some bark from the trees. Problem is that bark smells like...'pine'... It contains some oils which have that smell... Will that harm my Cattleya?? I do not want to destroy it because that is only Catt I have and it is very healthy!

Gee's I would shy away from pine chips from the forest. It just a gut reaction. If no chips I would go with some kind of pourous rock. the kind that they use in hydoponic planting would work well.

[Aleksa]

Originally Posted by Hummer344

Gee's I would shy away from pine chips from the forest. It just a gut reaction. If no chips I would go with some kind of pourous rock. the kind that they use in hydoponic planting would work well.

I keep all of my chids (phals, Oncs, Paphs...) in that pine bark. They grow happy. I tried hydroponics but with no success. Everything has rotten up.

[digitalgate]

my mini catt. bloom year round. It really depend on your area.