Bifoliate cattleyas - Do they need more water than unfoliates?

[tucker85]

I've grown unifoliate cattleyas for many years but only ventured into bifoliates for a little over a year now. Some of my bifoliates, like C. violacea, C. loddigessi and some others, seem to be dehydrated when I water them at the same intervals as my unifoliate catts.. Do any of you have experience with these bifoliates? Do they require more moisture than unifoliates? Do you use different potting media or do you just water more often?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

If bifoliate Catts need more water than a unifoliate Catt, then to me, they don't seem to require much more. Of course the only bifoliate Cattleya I currently own is Cattleya amethystoglossa at the moment, and it came mounted, so I've only grown mine mounted. As you can imagine with a mounted plant, it gets watered everyday.

Bifoliate Catts tend to have thin pseudobulbs, so it's easy to dehydrate them if they go dry for longer than a few days.

[fishmommy]

I have no idea, but here's how it seems to me:
Bifoliate catts have more leaf surface area than unifoliates. Therefore, they lose more moisture to the air. So my vote would be yes.

In my experience, I water all my catts the same and haven't noticed any difference.

[Bud]

I go by the bulb....if it wrinkles I water more....but my regular Catts get once a week watering together with weakly weekly fertilizer, however my bifoliates get watered every other day in warmer months and weekly in winter
The mix I use is any Cattleya mix indicated by any grower

[magicatt]

I put my one bi-folate into semi-hydro so it is getting watered all the time so to speak. It is happy and has lots of new roots. So I vote yes, they are thirsty.

[Wynn Dee13]

I noticed this too. My intermedia plants like a lot more water than some of my other Cattleyas. If I don't water them enough the growths come out crinkly. Here is an article on Cattleya intermedia and it says they like a lot of water since they are coastal plants. Orchids of Brazil. Brazilian orchids I believe at least some of the other bifoliate Cattleyas grow on the coast too.

[tucker85]

Originally Posted by Wynn Dee13

I noticed this too. My intermedia plants like a lot more water than some of my other Cattleyas. If I don't water them enough the growths come out crinkly. Here is an article on Cattleya intermedia and it says they like a lot of water since they are coastal plants. Orchids of Brazil. Brazilian orchids I believe at least some of the other bifoliate Cattleyas grow on the coast too.

Thanks for the great article, Wynn Dee. I read somewhere else that some of the bifoliate cattleyas grow on tree branches hanging out over rivers or swampy areas. That would indicate that they have access to moisture all the time. I guess the trick is to figure out how much water is enough and how much is too much.

[isurus79]

I don't think you can give a broad spectrum watering analysis of all bifoliates. C. violacea and loddigessi are from areas of high rainfall and high humidity for much of the year (or all of the year in some regions), while plants like amethystoglossa, schilleriana and aclandiae (for example) like to be dry between watering and experience extensive dry periods in the wild. Watering requirement seem to vary quite a bit from species to species and between growing seasons too.