My Spotted Cat

[Nancy]

My husband bought me a new Cattleya for Christmas. It has two sheathes on it and quite a number of good, healthy roots. The name of the hybrid is BLC Waianae Leopard 'Ching Hua'. I found pictures on the internet and it's beautiful. The problem is that it hasn't bloomed for two years while in the commercial greenhouse. All the other plants of this cross bloomed and are now long gone. I'm not sure what to do with it because I believe it blooms in June and I don't know that it will on last year's sheath. Any suggestions of what I what I can try would be greatly appreciated.

[kmarch]

It's a lovely cross. I grew and bloomed mine for a few years before getting rid of it to move down under. In my experience some of the spotted Catts prefer it a little cooler and a little more moist depending on which species parent is contributing the spotting.

I grew and bloomed mine in an east window that received a few hours of direct early morning sun every day. The spot also cooled down as low as 55F winter nights.

Try playing with the placement of your plant in the greenhouse. Maybe try a cooler corner or try hanging it above to get maximum light. I play with my plants all the time until I find a spot they seem to grow and bloom well in then they stay in that location.

[Nancy]

Thank you for the reply. From what I've read on the net I was led to believe that it should be grown on the warm/intermediate side. What do I do with this plant? It is basically in a three inch pot, which it is ready to overgrow. At the greenhouse, prior to purchase, it had been placed inside a clay pot. It has a beautiful root system growing around and around the inside of the clay pot. I hate the thought of doing anything to it, but I think it will do best in bark. Is there a good way to remove the original pot and to just fill in with new media without disturbing the roots too much? I know it sounds like a strange question, but any insight will be of great help. Thank you Kmarch.

[Nancy]

I've repotted the catt in bark and am lettint it rest for two weeks before exposing it to full light again. No indication of shriveling of the bulbs, thank goodness. Kmarch, I was wondering if you had any experience with cattleyas that held on to sheathes for more than one season and then bloomed. The two sheathes I have on the plant show no indication of drying nor blooming. Any insight will be helpful. Thanks.

[exasperatus2002]

Originally Posted by Nancy

I've repotted the catt in bark and am lettint it rest for two weeks before exposing it to full light again. No indication of shriveling of the bulbs, thank goodness. Kmarch, I was wondering if you had any experience with cattleyas that held on to sheathes for more than one season and then bloomed. The two sheathes I have on the plant show no indication of drying nor blooming. Any insight will be helpful. Thanks.

I too have a Cattleya (well used to be but was moved to a different genus) thats been in sheath without buds for a very long time now (atleast 6 mnths). Theres no sign of buds or the sheath drying out. Mine is in a southern exposure and is watered about every 7-10 days.

[Tobi]

I have a Laeliocattleya that has had 3 sheaths since May. 2 turned brown and dried out
since fall while the other one remained green. All 3 are now showing visible signs of buds
growing quite quickly inside. Once again patience is sometimes needed with Catts.

[Nancy]

I know there's a thread on this website where there is an agreeance that cattleyas are easy to bloom. I think they're easy only if you get everything right. I'm not sure whether I should be feeding my catt now with blossom booster or not. That's after the repotting trauma, that is. It should be starting a new growth soon, which will mature, hopefully with a sheath in May. I guess I will need patience till then. It is so good to know I'm not alone!

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Nancy

Kmarch, I was wondering if you had any experience with cattleyas that held on to sheathes for more than one season and then bloomed. .

Yes I have. I had a Lc. Trick or Treat cross, bright orange flowers, in bloom when I bought it, which didn't bloom for almost three years while it produced new growths twice a year. Finally nearly all of those growths bloomed at once. The bud sheaths had all dried up and turned black, except for the newest ones. Some of them has been that way for more than 2 years. Needless to say when it finally bloomed it was spectacular.

Originally Posted by Nancy

I think they're easy only if you get everything right.

This is true for every orchid. If they receive the conditions they like, every orchid is easy ot grow and bloom. If they don't....not so easy. I think "easy" and "difficult" is a misnomer. It all depends on the conditions you have and whether one chooses orchids that like those conditions.

The conditions I have happen to be conditions that Cattleyas like so I don't have any trouble growing and blooming them. I will say though that in my orchid growing experience, Cattleyas are far more tolerant of neglect than some of the other commonly grown orchids.

Originally Posted by Nancy

I'm not sure whether I should be feeding my catt now with blossom booster or not.

I don't fertilize at all anymore but when I did, I gave my cattleyas high nitrogen when they were in active growth, bloom booster the rest of the time. After repotting I skipped fertilizing for 2-4 weeks depending on how well I could remember what not to fertilize. Sometimes I just couldn't be bothered and continued fertilizing as usual.

[Nancy]

Just out of curiosity, do you have any idea what was different about the circumstances when you had the massive flower explosion? Has your plant bloomed on schedule ever since? I'll try to forget to fertilize it for a few weeks. I didn't do much trimming on the roots because I didn't want to traumatize it too much. One problem I did find was that it went in a much bigger pot, bigger than it probably should have gone into. The roots were really good shape and I didn't see any reason to make a major trimming on them. Should I rethink this or let it be? Thank you so much for giving me such a thorough answer. I look forward to hearing your wisdom concerning this matter.

[NancyG]

For me Cats seem the trickiest. They look good, get the sheaths and then not do too much. I'm hoping this spring will change all that and they all bloom. I don't have many problems with vandas or phals or oncidium or dens. They are pretty regular bloomers. Since I change a bunch to s/h it will be interresting to see if that will make the difference.
Good luck to you with yours,
NancyG

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Nancy

Just out of curiosity, do you have any idea what was different about the circumstances when you had the massive flower explosion? Has your plant bloomed on schedule ever since?

Nothing was different. It sat on the same shelf in the same window for the entire time. I suppose there could have been some very slight climactic differences, perhaps it just got acclimated to my conditions. I was not able to detect any difference.

After the initial big flowering it did seem to bloom more regularly, but not as many flowers.

Originally Posted by Nancy

Should I rethink this or let it be?

I think I'd leave it be for a while, maybe a growth cycle or 2.

[palito]

I have a Waianae Leopard bag orchid from home depot. It never did much until I increased the light to high levels (took a long time to adapt it to avoid burning the very deep green foliage).

It is closely related to Cattleya guttata so you can sort of use that as a guideline. Little root disturbance. high light. fast drying.

[Nancy]

It seems to be content where it is now. It's under flourescent lights and also receives natural light from a north window. This has been enough like to bloom my other cats, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will be enough for this plant. How large is your plant now? I'd love to see a picture of it.