My first mounted orchid Cattleya -- questions & showoff

[SarinahL]

Hi guys,

Wanted to show you my mounted cattleya. I bought it already mounted about 9 days ago and it's blooming! I had never heard of mounted orchids before even though I did know they were epiphytes.
The tag says only cattleya hybrid, anybody know a more specific name for this one?

The store included a caresheet, but it only applies to potted cattleya. Right now I spray mist it every morning (not the flowers), nighttemp is 15 degrees Celsius, indirect sunlight. I have no idea if these guys need repotting and if so, how? And how often should I fertilize?

I'll add pictures next post, not enough posts yet atm.

[SarinahL]

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What are the little green growths btw? Would that be psbulbs?

[katrina]

Yes, the little green growths are older pbulbs.

Spray/mist might not be enough moisture for a mounted orchid. I spray mine every day...to the point that they are dripping wet. And then about once a week (on average) I drop them in a sink or bucket of water and let them soak for at least 1/2 an hour to an hour.

In the SUmmer when they are outside, they get sprayed really well w/the hose every day. And, of course, Mother Nature kicks in w/the watering during the Summer when she opts to give us rain.

The pbulbs should remain plump...if you see them begin to shrivel then you know you need to provide more water.

As for your ID...there's no way to know the exact hybrid you have. There are simply waaaaay too many to ever know that. Even if you found one that looked like it...still no way to know for sure if it's the same. No, this one will forever be a NoID catt...but there's nothing wrong w/that and it sure is a pretty NoID.

[SarinahL]

Hehe thanks, I already thought as much.

Do you also fertilize when you soak em? OH...that is ohio? I have no idea what climate you have. Here is northwestern europe, 3/4 of the time dry and cold. For repotting/mounting, you mount it again with new moss, or doesn't it need remounting?
Questions, questions..

[syndywindy]

I agree with Kat, misting alone probably isn't enough. It almost looks like a couple roots might be a bit dried out, so I would give it a good soaking. Mounted orchids are going to dry out a lot quicker than potted orchids, so don't let it get too dried out before soaking again. For now it looks ok on that mount, perhaps in time a bigger mount or if you wanted to a pot might be needed. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing the id of your pretty catt without its tag.

[SarinahL]

Oh dear, I've only had it for 9days or so, haven't noticed any changes, so I got it as is. I'm going to give it a soak tomorrow.

The tag just says 'hybrid'...duh...

What would be my cue for a bigger mount? I love the idea of a mounted orchid, its so special. For my neck of the woods, anyway.
Is it possible for this one to break it up, in time? To keep it small and get me some more of these pretties?

[katrina]

Not to worry...9 days didn't do it any harm.

Yes, OH is Ohio. 4 distinct seasons and 3/4 of the year is too cold for the orchids to be outside so I grow inside except for the warm months.

During the inside months all my mounts are usually fertilized by letting them soak in a weak solution. I try to do it every week. When they are outside I just spray them when I fertilize everything else.

As for when the mount needs to be bigger...you'll know...it's simply too big and it's growing off the mount and/or so big it's at risk of ripping itself off.

I have un-mounted plants but that's not often...only if it's not well established on the mount. If the roots have grabbed on...I don't want to damage the plant so I will just mount the existing mount onto a larger mount. You can wire them together or what I do sometimes is use decking screws and screw the existing mount to the new, larger piece.

Or, yes, you can divide pieces off the existing mount to keep it in check however, each time you do that you will set the plant back a bit. If you decided to divide it....never divide to less than 3 pbulbs per division.


Hope that helps.

[kmarch]

Your orchid is a cattleya/encyclia or prostechea hybrid of some kind. As Kat said a specific ID won't be possible. Get yourself a good culture sheet on Cattleya Alliance orchids, either here on this forum or from AOS | Members Only Area. This will give you the basic needs of the plant. Delivering those needs is different for a mounted orchid as opposed to a potted one but the plant still needs what it needs.

What's your humidity like? Mounted cattleyas tend to produce better in good humidity. Regular soaking is also necessary to insure the plant receives enough water.

[orchids4me]

I just wanted to say its very pretty

[SarinahL]

@orchids4me thank you!

@katrina thanks so much! Ohio souns about the same like me, possibly less extreme though, because we have sea climate.

@kmarch, I got me a good culture sheet, but it doesn't refer to mounted orchids at all. As I haven't ever seen this before it took me a while to find the right keywords to search and even then the info is less complete than for pots.
Btw, todays humidity level outside is 90%, I have no idea what it is inside, b/c of central heating. I use waterbowls with every heating unit, though, to keep it up, I get dried out quickly too
In Holland humidity can be low, lowest ever was 4%, but generally between 60-90% (outside, that is).

[katrina]

Sarinah...humidity here can swing wildly...from the low single digits upwards of nearly 100% in the Summer. During those low humidity times...the orchids just have to put up with it...I don't do anything extra for humidity...ever.

Netherlands has longer Winters than OH...but we both have similar temps. OH Summers are much warmer than what you see over there. Some similarities....and some differences.

[SarinahL]

Sounds exactly like here, today humidity was 97%

I scored some more orchids today btw, I'll post some pictures later. Anyway, also some sphagnum, fertilizer and bark, so I'll have a busy weekend..!

[SarinahL]

Beenthinking, humidity is ofcourse higher with higher temps. Today 80%, but 10 degrees Celsius. So, not so humid.

Btw, thankyouthankyou for noticing the dryness. I soaked it in weakly fertilized, tepid water for two hours. Next day I felt the blooms and they were much firmer and upright. I hadn't even noticed they'd drooped!

[dcubed121]

Looks good.
This makes me want to try to mount one of our orchids.

[berniep]

G'day SarinahL

A very pretty Cat. they are a lot more tolerant than one may think. I am attaching a pic of a Cat. psbulb that fell off when I was repotting last year. Rather than throw it away I attached it with fly screen and spag moss to some camphor laurel. It only ever gets watered with rain or the hose and has attached itself and grown to the shade house wall. So fairly hardy.

Cheers
Bernie