Beautiful bloom on a very sick plant.... HELP!

[Singingirl96]

Hello all.

I have a catleya lc. mari's magic 'h+r", that has been sick for a long time....
I noticed that the pseudobulbs were wrinkly a few months back when it was in just bark. So I thought to myself, I must not be watering it often enough or I need soil that is retaining more moisture. So I repoted it in spagnum moss. The roots at that time, if I remember correctly were subpar, but they were ok toward the newer growth side. Then I noticed that the sphag was taking too long to dry up so after a couple of months I decided to put it back in a bark mix, but I crumbled some sphag and mixed it in with it. I also mixed some coconut husks (washed) in too.
Then I started getting a new growth even though the older leaves were wrinkly.
Then low and behold, I got blooms. two of them and they are beautiful. But the plant looks even sicker now that it did before. Even the newest growth has wrinkly pseudobulb and leaf. The medium isn't drying which it tells me the plant isn't taking on much water.
I have several other catts. And this only one is the one that has flowered twice (in two years)... yet it is the only one that is sick... go figure.

Please help me get to the bottom of this.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

How are the roots?

They look pretty wet.

Most Cattleyas don't come from super wet places.

I encourage you to find pics of them growing in the wild (luckily there are plenty of these) and research the areas where they come from.

Then maybe you'll get an idea of how to grow them properly.

At any rate, I would just use the CHC and remove the bits of moss. The CHC retains enough moisture on its own.

If you're using bark and the bark is drying out too fast, use moss as a top dressing only. Don't mix it in with the bark.

[Singingirl96]

Ok I guess I'll repot. Should I add some rooting hormone powder to the base? Should I wait for the blooms to fall or should I sacrifice the blooms and repot now? Thank you.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Rooting hormones may not be necessary.

The powdered rooting hormones don't work on orchids btw. So I'd save them for other flowering plants.

Just take care of them and allow them to dry out completely between waterings.

In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out their natural habitat on-line. There're plenty of these pics flying around. They're not as difficult to find as those of Phals in the wild.

You should find these within a minute of searching.