Cattleya growing needs? (n00b alert!)

[Magnus A]

The question is not how much sun they need but how much sun they can take, they need all the sun they can handle. If the leaf feel warm when you tuch them you should be careful. As long they do not feel warm and the leaf has a healthy light green color there are no limit how much sun they can take behind a window. Remember, it is the heat that kills, not the light. Another comment to do is that all cattleyas do not turn light green but keap a helthy darker green color but as long the heat is controlled there are no problem with extensive amounts of light.
Though, if you put them outside they are exposed to UV-light (that is filtered away by the window) that can damage the plants. The first sign of UV-light damages is pigment loss, you get whitish spots on the leaf that later turn black. (Damage by heat give soft areas that turn black with time but without pigment loss.)

The cattleya are activlely growing when you see green tips on the roots and when a new lead are developed.

For the moisture in the pot and time for drying upp it is impossibly for us to help you with. You have to sort that out yourself. Stick a finger in the middle of the pot and feel if it is moist or not and then you can find out how fast the media in your condition dries up. The media can then be balanced for suitably drying speed for your personal routines.

[Orchid126]

You said you are using filtered tap water. What are you filtering out? It isn't for soft water, is it?

Give the cattleyas as much light as they can handle without burning the leaves. As the poster above says, feel the leaves. If they're warm, back off just a little. If they're okay, move closer just a little.

Here in the fall and winter in central New Jersey I grow my catts in an unshaded south facing window as close to the glass as I can get them, and in the spring and summer they go outside hanging off one of my bushes. They get sun from very early in the morning til a little past noon, and bright light for the rest of the day, and they bloom just fine.

[trinityoaks]

Originally Posted by Orchid126

You said you are using filtered tap water. What are you filtering out? It isn't for soft water, is it?

No, it's just a faucet-mounted filter to remove the chemicals (chlorine, etc.) they put in city water in the U.S. I figured that would be better for them than straight tap water.

Give the cattleyas as much light as they can handle without burning the leaves.

I don't know where else I can put them to get more light except outside, and I'm not sure they'll take kindly to our S.E. Texas summer temperatures. It's already in the 90s F. Maintaining desired humidity could be a problem, as well.

Once we get our own place again, I'm hoping to build a greenhouse, but that won't be until next spring at the earliest.

[pipsxlch]

Temps outside with lots of air movement might not be an issue; I get triple digits in the summer and it's never not at least 90*-91*. My catts don't seem to mind it at all, though I avoid things with lots of (was) sophronitis in them. (lots of new growth ATM, some just out of bloom and lots of sheaths, been in the 90s for weeks) They get bright dappled/filtered sun most of the day, depending on what side of the tree they're on they may also get some direct morning or afternoon sun and the yard in general is direct all afternoon.
I think your climate in SE Texas is similar to mine, though i'm very humid usually- so maybe humidity could be an issue for you?

[flexdc]

Hey Trinity can you put some pics up? It's much easier if others can see the plant to tell you what's going on.

[trinityoaks]

Originally Posted by flexdc

Hey Trinity can you put some pics up? It's much easier if others can see the plant to tell you what's going on.

I'm not sure exactly what the photos will show that is pertinent to this thread, but ok. I tried to post photos (they've been uploaded to Flickr) but got a "Post denied" message from the forum software. A moderator will have to tell me the forum-acceptable way to do this, apparently.

I did upload them to my forum gallery, as well. Hopefully you can view them there.

trinityoaks Gallery - Orchid Board Galleries

I repotted them a few days ago in Better-Gro Orchid Mix, unglazed terracotta orchid pots inside of plastic pots with raised inside bases. Sphagnum moss between inner and outer pots and on top of bark mix to help maintain humidity.

As I said before, I divided my two original orchid plants (Carl Hauserman and Lucky Man) when I repotted. The Volcano Queen and the NoID Phal are new purchases.

@pipsxlch, it appears that our humidity is pretty close to yours, at least for the past three days. Not sure what it looks like in mid-summer.

[Magnus A]

I took a look on your picture and the light green color on the BLC. Volcano Queen is what I was after in a previous post, it could actually be even lighter without problem. The older leaves can get darker under similar light so you should monitor new growth for the light limit.

The phal looks good.

For the Cattleyas in general they are small plants with very few semi-bulbs. For the future do not divide plants if they are smaller than that each new division at least have 3 mature semi-bulbs.

Another important question, how did the root system look like? Were there alot of roots? BLC. Lucky Man #1 looks dried out but if there are healthy roots it would be fine after normal watering.

[silken]

They look over-potted to me. They should be in pots that fit their root system and not much bigger. This helps prevent root rot. Most of them are in quite large pots for the size of plant.

I agree with Magnus A that you should leave 3 to 4 mature pseudo-bulbs when dividing a plant. That way it will likely be large enough to support blooms on the newest growth.

[trinityoaks]

Originally Posted by Magnus A

I took a look on your picture and the light green color on the BLC. Volcano Queen is what I was after in a previous post, it could actually be even lighter without problem.

I left them out on the back porch overnight, and already they're looking a bit lighter in color. I'm thinking I'll try leaving them there for a week or two and see how they do. Should I bring the Phal inside, though?

For the future do not divide plants if they are smaller than that each new division at least have 3 mature semi-bulbs.

Ok, I'll remember that next time. Each division does have two semi-bulbs. In one case, it had already divided itself.

Another important question, how did the root system look like?

Kinda hard to tell. I wasn't sure what the roots were supposed to look like. There were a few mushy ones, which I cut off.

[trinityoaks]

Originally Posted by silken

They look over-potted to me. They should be in pots that fit their root system and not much bigger. This helps prevent root rot. Most of them are in quite large pots for the size of plant.

What you are seeing is the outer pot. The inner pots are somewhat smaller, about 3" in diameter, and about 3"-4" tall. They're unglazed terracotta "orchid pots", with slots about 1/2" long where the sides join the base.

The insides of the outer pots have raised bases so that I can put about 1/2" of water in the bottom without it touching the bottom of the inner pots.

My plan is to soak them once a week for about 15-20 minutes in a 1/4-strength solution of balanced orchid fertilizer.