Brassocattleya & Others Need opinion about their health

[angeleyedcat]

Hello I've been growing phals, dens, etc but decided this May to purchase these 4 plants (all bagged ones at HD/Lowes) and try my hand at orchids that need more sun. I should have good areas for them in the house but decided to put them all out this summer. Turns out it has been the wettest summer ever for my area of PA, frost through the first week of June, we had rain every day until mid July, only 1 day this summer hit 90, and possibly only a week total actually went into the 80's. Most nights have been mid 50's to low 60's. These are grown on an east deck with sun (the few days we've been lucky) from about 9:30 - noon. One of the challenges in the beginning was cool rain and absolutely no sun for a week then a warm sunny day. We just had 3-4 inches of rain yesterday. The phals are under a 50% shade cloth and seem to be loving it.

Can you please take a look at these 4 orchids and let me know if there is anything I need to do for any of them after these few trying months? 1,3 and 4 are showing new roots, 2 doesn't seem to have done much. The weather is improving a little so now is a good time to change things. Do they look fine? Do they need more sun? Less sun? Does there seem to be any problems? I am just not sure. Thank you!

(names on the tags) 1)Brassolaeliocattleya Ann Cleo Stars and Stripes 2) Cymbidium Little Black Sambo 3) Epi Rioclarense 4) Brassocattleya Little Marmaid

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Looks fine to me.

I recommend not watering for the next few days and let everything dry out completely first.

[orchidsamore]

I recognize that your orchids were re-potted before they were sold. So you have a good start in that they drain well and can dry easily.

Cym Little Black Sambo is the one to worry about. It is a very dry growing Cym and should be moved to where it gets less water than your other orchids. It does very well in basket since they dry faster.

Epi Rioclarense is now an Encyclia and flowers in the Spring around Mother's Day. It does not produce as many roots as other orchids and appears to be fine.

The two hybrid Cattleya are both easy to grow and flower well. They both look to be blooming size and flower in June. If you just bought them I would guess they already flowered in June. The supplier takes all orchids after they flower and bags them for ND/Lowes.

[Orchid126]

The leaves of all of them are a nice bright green, an indication that they're getting good light.

[angeleyedcat]

King_of_orchid_growing: OK, no watering until they've dried out. Letting them actually dry out has been a challenge this year. I've been bringing them inside to a window to dry if the rain is continuous.

orchidsamore: I'll look for a basket for the Cym but I'm going to keep it outside for now because the sun is better outside in the east right now than in my south window. I'll bring it in if the weather report says rain (or if the humidity is insanely high) and put it in the window for those times.
I saw info about the Epi being a Encyclia but couldn't find much info about it online. Good to know it flowers in spring and looks good. Excellent to know the 2 catts should be flowering size and I have something to look forward to!

Orchid126: Good to know, they've been moved all summer to at least sort of follow the little sun there's been!


Very appreciated and thanks all I'm glad to hear that they have basically fared well with the weather and I will keep up what I'm doing except for changing the Cym. I do have two more questions:

#1 (Brassolaeliocattleya Ann Cleo Stars and Stripes ) There is some black and brown "stuff" on most of the stems (skinny pbulbs?) It's mainly visible on the left side of the plant in the pic. curiosity, what is this stuff? Is it some kind of covering (sheath??) that is being messed up because of all the rain and humidity?

#3 Epi Rioclarense/Encyclia is there any special info I should know about it's care since I really couldn't find much info online?

Thank you!