2 perfect examples of what I'm doing wrong

[edgy]

Here are two different Catts I have.....the first is BLC Willette Wong 'The Best' the second is BLC Rockdell 'Glorious Sunset' AM/AOS. In the first, the two growths in front are the new...the one on the left being the newest growth. This has never bloomed for me and has been in my care for 3 years now. The second has the two newest growths in front as well. This plant was given to me by a friend and has not bloomed since in my care last August. My questions are these......Will the plant only bloom from the newest growth? If a newer growth is already growing....does that mean that the growth behind it missed it's chance? What am I doing wrong here.....One is in Hydroton, the other in bark, perlite and charcoal. They seem to grow....just no flowers. I'm pretty sure light is not the issue but I am at a loss with these two.

[pikkumyy]

sorry edgy i wouldn't have a clue, but i have the exact same problem, plenty of growth but no blooms, but mine havn't been in the right conditions long enough (....i think).

and i'm very interested to see what the others sudgest,
goodluck

[Mira-Claude]

We are having the same epiphany here....
Catts that are big enough to flower and have been in our care for over a year but won't become pretty! Yet... plenty of grow!

[dounoharm]

the first one edgy, looks too young to bloom, sorry....it must be mature in order to produce blossoms...the second looks like the new growth is smaller than the older growth, a sign that something is missing in your culture....are you fert? maybe too strong a dose of fert? weakly weekly....thats my best guesses...gl

[berniep]

G'Day Edgy

I have found this site Orchids Garden Centre
has worked for me as a easy to follow sheet. I think you will find its at least worth a read.

Cheers
Bernie

[Ray]

The most common reasons a mature orchid won't bloom are:

1. Insufficient light
2. Insufficient nutrition
3. Excessive nitrogen

[Daethen]

Hey, Bernie, I live about 60 miles from that nursery that you posted the link for. How ironic is that! They have some really great plants.

[sunshine]

Catts like a lot of bright direct light,chunky airy mix and to dry out between waterings. I noticed in the 2nd pic on the new growth I see something that looks like a sheath or it could just be a 2nd leaf. Catts only bloom from the newest growth. Yours don't look old enough to bloom. The catt in my signiture line I bought as a bare root. I followed the directions on the bag. Waited patiently When I found this form I had all kinds of . It's a wonder I didn't drive some of the geeks crazy It took me 4 yrs to get that catt to bloom I am gonna guess a catt's blooming age has to do with its parents. Give your catts the best culture possible and you will be rewarded. I use a regular 10-15-10 fertilizer weakly weekly. I have noticed that when my catts are putting out new growths and spikes/sheaths they seem to drink a little more that usual. Hope this helps you.


OrchidWeb.com: Orchid Learning Center - Cattleya Care

[norris]

Hey Edgy, I have the same situation as you, I have about 16 different Catt. type chids and out of the 16 only 2 have bloomed. Like you, Im pretty sure they are getting enough light and fert. I would have to say just give them the best culture that you can... and a lot of time and patience

[otis 226]

I can't really add much to the good advice you've already gotten here, Edgy. Just wanted to say the plants look well cared for to me. The first might be, perhaps a bit too immature for flowering just yet, for a Blc. I guess I'd say as long as they're growing and in good catt light, they'll bloom when they've a mind to. (My rescued catt division put out 2 nice new growths after 1 month, then just stopped... now 2 months later, I'm still waiting for something to happen)
Best,
Tony

[janet_a]

i've got an Lc. that i've had for almost ten years; i put it outside last year for the first time and i think it started to grow a sheath, but then something came and bit it off.

this year, it's growing three--somethings. i'm not sure what they are, but they're something different, so i'm hopeful.

but it just wasn't doing anything but getting bigger and bigger and bigger inside. sitting on a western-facing deck in summer got it to do something different.

[edgy]

The Willette Wong, #1, was a bag baby from home depot so it may be too young. The second has flowered before. I use dyna-gro almost every week and flush every 3-4 waterings. Could it be that it is in too big a pot. Do these like to be tight?

[rcb]

Originally Posted by dounoharm

the first one edgy, looks too young to bloom, sorry....it must be mature in order to produce blossoms...the second looks like the new growth is smaller than the older growth, a sign that something is missing in your culture....are you fert? maybe too strong a dose of fert? weakly weekly....thats my best guesses...gl

i agree with this. The second Catt, the second to newest new growth is significantly smaller than previous growths. This indicates it is not getting something it wants.

Until these guys hit maturity, each new growth should be bigger than the last. Once it hits maturity, each new growth should be close in size to previous ones.

[11Orchid126]

Of course, Ray summed it up perfectly: insufficient light, insufficient nutrition, excessive nitrogen. As for insufficient light, the leaves on both plants look light green, which is an indication they are probably getting good light. The problem may be not enough fertilizer, which links with the third condition, excessive nitrogen, which encourages leaves and not blooms. You might consider fertilizing more often with a low nitrogen formula.

One other thing I noticed. The pots are too big for the roots. Orchid roots like tight shoes, roots crowded to the point of the plant almost being top heavy. They bloom better. Your roots have lots of room to spread, and until they fill the pot, they may not bloom. You might try down-sizing the pots and see what happens.

When I first started growing I would repot diligently, and I got no blooms. Then I learned to leave the plants be and let them do their own thing. Now plants with roots growing up and around and down and every which way bloom happily and often for me.

[katrina]

I have to disagree a bit w/11orchid126. It's not the rootbound aspect that they like...remember in nature these guys don't have their roots penned in by anything. The "tight shoes" thing is so that people don't rot the roots. Roots will dry out quicker and more even in a small pot.

When I do a repot I pot into a much larger pot than one would expect. BUT, I don't use bark...I'm using lava rock or leca and those mediums dry/drain fast and give that extra leeway w/potting size. I pot large and let them go until they outgrow the pots. With the inert medium I don't have to worry about any breakdown at the root zone. I've read that lava can cause trouble as it ages but I've yet to experience it and I've had plants in it for 3yrs before being repotted.

Aside from that...maybe I missed an earlier post and/or just don't remember if you've posted the info somewhere else but to know what needs changing...I would suggest you fill us in on how you're growing them now.

How much light are they getting and for how long and what kind of fert regimen are you giving them?

From there we can maybe piece together any changes that need to be made.

[1joyceh]

When I get frustrated with a plant that won't bloom, the bulbs are nice and plump...it is supposed to be the bloom time, but...just doesn't...I add "b'cuzz bloom stimulator". An organic based, it contains laminaria digitata and ascophyllum nodosum. I believe it is 0.7% soluable potash. Never strikes me as much to it, but it brings on the blooms, if everything else is good to go, and the blooms seem to last longer, as I have tried with and without on a couple of the same type. I put a little bit in each watering.

[edgy]

another question...on plant #2, out of the 4 PBs that this plant had when I received it, only one had two leaves growing from it. It appears now that the two new growths since I've had it are growing two leaves. What does this mean when some Pbs grow one leaf and others grow two?

[bearded orchid]

Originally Posted by edgy

another question...on plant #2, out of the 4 PBs that this plant had when I received it, only one had two leaves growing from it. It appears now that the two new growths since I've had it are growing two leaves. What does this mean when some Pbs grow one leaf and others grow two?

I've got a bag baby from Lowes with the exact same thing only the new growths are single leaf but one of the earliest pb's has two leaves. I look forward to hearing the answer

[Brooke]

Originally Posted by edgy

another question...What does this mean when some Pbs grow one leaf and others grow two?

It doesn't really mean anything. Sometimes Mother Nature hiccoughs and you get oddities like this.

I agree you pot size looks fine but you might remove some of the mix covering the rhizome. It has nothing to do with not blooming but it might in the future if you rot off a new viable eye if trapped in bark.

I agree the one catt looks to young to bloom. Hopefully the new growth on the other catt will bloom this year.

Brooke

[edgy]

Originally Posted by katrina

Aside from that...maybe I missed an earlier post and/or just don't remember if you've posted the info somewhere else but to know what needs changing...I would suggest you fill us in on how you're growing them now.

How much light are they getting and for how long and what kind of fert regimen are you giving them?

From there we can maybe piece together any changes that need to be made.

they were outside where they were getting morning sun, dappled mid day sun and then then sun again from about 5-sunset....But, it started getting way too hot here and really dry so I brought them inside and have them in a sw facing window right now until I figure out what else to do with them. They are being fed with Dyna Gro 7-9-5 weekly with a flush every 3-4 weeks.

[plucker]

Another thing apart from light etc is the size of the bloom.
Plants that have large blooms usually flower less because it takes so much out of the plant.
Smaller flowering catts can flower 3 or 4 times a year.
Some of the really big catts might only flower every second year.

[cable]

It sounds like they've been getting a fair amount of light, but I don't see any sunburn in the photos so I'm going to suggest making things brighter . If that doesn't do it, change the temperatures. I don't care whether you make it warmer or cooler, so long as it's different than what you've been doing: experiment!

Also, Catts like to dry out very quickly after each watering, so anything you can do with the potting mixes to encourage that is a good idea.