New to cattleyas: what is this?

[OrcishOrchids]

This is my bc Glorious May, I've bought this little seedling about four months ago from my local Lowes. The latest growth is 100% my fault as it grew completely in my conditions, so I'm trying to figure out what's up with it. The growths prior all had two leaves, and this one only has one good leaf and one weird stub. If the plant wasn't so small I'd think it was a flower sheath, but this is a bag baby and theoretically shouldn't bloom for years? I grow indoors at a large window, supplemented by an LED shop light.
It's been growing well until now, lots of roots and rapid growth, so what's going on?

[estación seca]

That's a sheath. There is a chance it won't flower, but I think it will. Good growing!

[SouthPark]

Seedlings can develop sheaths as well. And the sheaths of seedlings can be much smaller in size when compared with orchids at later stages. The sheaths of seedlings generally don't produce flower spikes (ie. no buds etc).

But ----- whether the one you have now will produce flower buds or not is hard to say at the moment -- because it's hard to estimate actual dimensions of the bulb from looking at this pic here.

If that bulb has a size that is roughly the size of a bulb that has a good chance of producing flower buds, then it's possible that the sheath could later develop flower buds. One nice approach is to only focus on the chance of flowering when a spike has not only formed ------ but also when the buds have developed to a large enough size ----- that would provide a high probability of seeing flowers.

[OrcishOrchids]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Seedlings can develop sheaths as well. And the sheaths of seedlings can be much smaller in size when compared with orchids at later stages. The sheaths of seedlings generally don't produce flower spikes (ie. no buds etc).

But ----- whether the one you have now will produce flower buds or not is hard to say at the moment -- because it's hard to estimate actual dimensions of the bulb from looking at this pic here.

If that bulb has a size that is roughly the size of a bulb that has a good chance of producing flower buds, then it's possible that the sheath could later develop flower buds. One nice approach is to only focus on the chance of flowering when a spike has not only formed ------ but also when the buds have developed to a large enough size ----- that would provide a high probability of seeing flowers.

I have never seen an adult plant, so I'm not sure what the pseudobulb proportion would be compared to my plant, I have no gauge for when it will be big enough. I'm happy so long as it keeps growing, I bought it small to enjoy growing it, I wasn't looking for flowers anytime soon.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by OrcishOrchids

I have never seen an adult plant, so I'm not sure what the pseudobulb proportion would be compared to my plant, I have no gauge for when it will be big enough. I'm happy so long as it keeps growing, I bought it small to enjoy growing it, I wasn't looking for flowers anytime soon.

Flowers are ALWAYS good! And it is very possible that it will bloom on a relatively small plant - I looked up the parentage of Bc Glorious May, and several of its ancestors are relatively small plants - in fact, it's 1/4 large plant (C. purpurata) and 3/4 several small/medium species. So the odds are quite good for a bloom! No certainty... sometimes Catts do put up empty sheaths. But there is a good chance here.

[Steve83]

Looks great, keep doing what you've been doing. Keep this thread updated with the bloom.

[OrcishOrchids]

Originally Posted by Steve83

Looks great, keep doing what you've been doing. Keep this thread updated with the bloom.

if it does it will be my first ever cattleya bloom, so you guys will definitely see it