Species Cattleya Rest Period

[wcrosman]

Originally Posted by My Green Pets

Hi Tom, I would say a slightly drier rest in the winter, with half or less fertilizer than the growing season, wouldn't hurt and may benefit many hybrids out there. Yours is 29% dowiana, 25% milleri and 25% B. nodosa, so yours would certainly not be unhappy with a winter rest.
Also, if you are interested in seeing what other Front Range growers have to say, I suggest the Denver Orchid Growers Facebook group. There's nearly 800 members, from total newbies to seasoned veterans. Good luck.

Thanks. I would check out the Denver group but I have left facebook and do not regret it.

[Gardening in WM]

Hi I was browsing this thread for some clarity on what a Cattleya Schilleriana needs for care. According to an article on the AOS one grower says you need to provide a hot dry summer rest and not providing one would result in poorer flowering with this species. Although the author concluded he didn't necessarily agree with that.

https://www.aos.org/orchids/collecto...illeriana.aspx

I presume not giving a hot dry summer rest and giving a cool dry winter rest instead as recommended here would be the most detrimental according to the AOS article but I know we can't ask the orchids themselves and thus it's all theory but observations might help if anyone has them.

So does anyone here grow a Cattleya Schilleriana? Do you provide a dry summer rest, a cool winter rest or no rest at all?

I am hoping someone here has grown a Cattleya schilleriana.

If nobody grows the schilleriana, that's ok, I'm not interested in bringing up this old thread for new theories if possible, it's hard getting the facts right as can be seen by all the conflicting information already out there but if anyone has grown one it would be great to hear your thoughts.

Maybe we can find someone who has more up to date information by now

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Gardening in WM

Hi I was browsing this thread for some clarity on what a Cattleya Schilleriana needs for care. According to an article on the AOS one grower says you need to provide a hot dry summer rest and not providing one would result in poorer flowering with this species. Although the author concluded he didn't necessarily agree with that.

Cattleya schilleriana

I presume not giving a hot dry summer rest and giving a cool dry winter rest instead as recommended here would be the most detrimental according to the AOS article but I know we can't ask the orchids themselves and thus it's all theory but observations might help if anyone has them.

So does anyone here grow a Cattleya Schilleriana? Do you provide a dry summer rest, a cool winter rest or no rest at all?

I am hoping someone here has grown a Cattleya schilleriana.

If nobody grows the schilleriana, that's ok, I'm not interested in bringing up this old thread for new theories if possible, it's hard getting the facts right as can be seen by all the conflicting information already out there but if anyone has grown one it would be great to hear your thoughts.

Maybe we can find someone who has more up to date information by now

Oh, good catch! I haven't grown this species so I'm also curious about it's watering habits now.

On a side note, I wish the AOS would include a posting date for these articles, because they do sometimes become stale as new information comes to light.

[Gardening in WM]

Hi Stephen,
that is very true.

I have made some conclusions based on the information provided in this post already which are just my conclusions but I will add them on. There I am saying I don't want theories and here I am adding on my theories .

I think the rest cattleya's require is more a change in light hours, temperatures go down in winter and as a couple people said as a result plants tend to drink less in these conditions, the grower should adapt to these conditions but not have it marked in the calendar as an exact requirement. I think based on growers having success giving a dry period or not is a good indicator to support my thinking. Also you would expect the C Walkeriana to be the most likely one to require a drier winter but at least most agree it does not need it here.

Taking that belief over to what I posted about the Cattleya schilleriana we know that providing a dry rest over summer means the plant only produces one growth that year over winter which flowers in spring.
Providing a dry winter rest instead which is what brook recommended in this thread as far as she said resulted in the plant producing a pseudobulb over summer, no bulb over winter and rest instead and then flower from the bulb it produced the year earlier in spring time the following year.
According to the grower from the AOS article providing no rest at all will result in 2 growths in a year, one in summer and one in winter but the summer one will be too poor to flower sapping energy from the winter bulb.

Ok but what if his summers were just too hot that he only got good flowering after winter? I can provide sheltered summers, what if one could keep the plant in a mild climate all year so it doesn't suffer heat stress could it then produce 2 good bulbs in a year and flower from both of them, thus flowering twice as good instead of poorly as he suggested, possibly due to detrimental conditions over summer?

[Roberta]

Don't believe everything you read... Cattleyas (and most of the other orchids we grow) come from either tropical areas that are wet most of the time, or monsoonal climates that get rain in the summer (along with the heat) and have drier and cooler (but not bone dry) winters. "Hot dry summer" implies a Mediterranean climate. Catts aren't native to those areas. (In fact, nearly all the orchids experiencing that weather pattern of hot dry summers and winter rain are terrestrials)

---------- Post added at 09:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:51 AM ----------

It's important to apply broader general knowledge when evaluating statements. That's something that a human does better than a bot.

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I actually do grow C. schilleriana, though under less-than-ideal conditions.(See my website for photos) I grow it outside (winter temps down to 40 deg F/4 deg C) or occasionally cooler. I protect from rain with overhead polycarbonate cover to try to avoid the dangerous cold-and-wet combination, but do water with a hose about twice a week unless humidity is very high or daytime temps cooler than average when I might drop it back to once. It does grow and bloom for me, likely would do so better if it didn't get quite so cold. Summers it's watered every 2 days. I don't live in a monsoonal climate, "rain" comes out of a hose. For me, it flowers typically in July.