Large leaf problem on cattleyas

[nertel]

Hi! I have a large cattleya that has no name tag but has leaves that are alittle over a foot long to 15 inches per leaf. It is sending up a lot of new shoots and forming new leaves but when the shoot starts to mature the leaves are too heavy and either bend at the leaf base or in the middle of the shoot and actually break or get a crease. It has a wire support around the base about 1 foot up but the problem seems to occur higher. What is the best way to support the plant or prevent this from happening?

[jerrymeola]

Are you certain that it is from too heavy leaves and not from lack of light. Cattleyas growing in too low a light level will bend at the base of the leaf and often dry out and fall off. When I was a beginning hobbist, I had one like that for 5 years and higher light levels stopped the problem and produced flowers.

I have never really seen a leaf bend in the middle on a cattleya except from damage. So I would be looking for conditions that are causing the leaves to be weak and not to develope properly. Light levels are the first place I would look.

lack of light will sometimes cause a large number of pseudobulbs to form. It is a survival means to gather more food from photosynthesis, but it does make weaker leaves.

In the future more people will see this type of question if you post it in the Orchid care cultivation section or the NewBie section.

Welcome to the forum.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Another thing that could cause this is if you are using pure water without minerals, rain, RO, distilled, or deionized, tho mostly I see droopy flowers from this. Is it possible you are carring the wet/dry cycle to the extreme of the dry part, and are loosing regidity from dehydration? Cynthia, Prescott, AZ

In the meantime, to support the plant, get a couple of stakes and put one on either side of the plant and tie string around a stake, then around the outside of the plant, then around the other stake, and on around to the first stake, and gently reign in the leaves to a less floppy circle. If the pot has a hanger attached, you can use the wires of the hanger instead of stakes. My Potinaras sometimes get floppy on me so that's what I do.