Cattelya, new root or new SPIKE?! ((pics))

[rehric00]

Here is my plant.... Can someone verify if this is even a Cattelya?



and here is the new growth.... is this a spike? or new root?



I have had orchids for about a year and a half and have not had one rebloom yet. I would LOVE it if this is a spike, esp because I bought this plant as a baby- not in bloom.

I keep this one in a well lit East facing window. I let it dry out in between waterings and I fertilize about every month.

Any advice is appreciated

I think it is neither root nor spike, but a new pseudobulb is coming out. Plant looks nice and healthy, but it might need more sunlight to produce the flower spike.
My catts spend half a day in direct sun and their foliage is lighter, yellower green.
Sorry, I cannot help with the ID.

[rehric00]

Ok, thanks! But can someone please explain what a pseudobulb is? Never heard of this before :S Good or bad??

Definitely good. Those stems with leaves atop that your plant has now are pseudobulbs (well, at least lots of people refer to them like that, I am not a botanist ).
New growth will become one of them soon. It means your plant is happy, it grows and expanding.

[Orchid126]

Can't tell if it's a cattleya, but it is definitely not a phal. Bud sheaths on cattleyas come out at the junction where the leaf and the bulb meet. The portion of the plant with the parchment looking skin on it is the pseudobulb.

[james mickelso]

I'll go with cattleya although in todays orchid world it could be cattleya, laelia, brassolaeliocattleya, laeliocattleya, ......you get the picture. It could even be a epidendrum. Whatever the name it is very healthy but needs a lot more light especially if you want to get it to put on flowers. As bright as you can give short of full sunlight although where you live morning sun until 9am would not hurt it. Catts like 70-85 degrees during the day and 55-60 at night during the period of flower bud initiation. And that would depend on what variety. But we'll say after new growth has matured in summer. Give this orchid as much air circulation as you can. And clean off the surface of the leaves. When the leaf color is a bright yellow/green it has enought light. And once you see flower buds or a flower sheath, don't put cold water on it. It will kill the bud and you'll lose it. And a good urea free 20-20-20 or here with bark media a 30-20-20 fertilizer should be used until the growth has matured. Then use a bloom booster (10-30-30) fertilizer every watering at 1/4 strength. Flush with clear water every third waterring. This orchid will give you a flower bud on this new growth in the fall or winter with one or two new growths on every suceeding growth from here on out. And in the Chicago area, there are at least a couple of good orchid clubs around. Join one.