question about cattleya

Hello,
I have purchased couple cattleyas from Clouds. One of them, C. kerrii (which supposed to be a large seedling)has something that looks like a sheath at the top of new mature pseudobulb.
This sheath looks a bit droopy and empty when you look on it through the light.
Does it mean it is useless, or can something still grow inside it?
Thanks .

[silken]

A picture would help. If it is a sheath, in my limited experience I have found that often a young plant will try to bloom the fist time but can't. It's almost strong enough and generates a sheath. On the other hand, I have read on this forum that people do actually get blooms eventually out of old and dead looking sheaths. so don't cut it off!

I find Clouds lists their plants on the small side rather than saying they are bloom size when they are not. So yours could be very close to blooming if it was a large seedling. If this growth doesn't bloom, possibly the next one will. Good luck!

[tucker85]

The quick answer is, yes, buds can form in sheaths that are droopy or that have dried up and turned brown. You should never cut sheaths off, even if you think they won't bloom. The longer answer is the sheaths don't mean much. If a sheath is going to form at all, it will form when the pseudobulb first grows out. But Buds will not form in every sheath. Some may bloom and some won't. On some cattleyas only the very last pseudobulb on the rhizome will bloom. Other cattleyas can bloom on every new growth. I've even had catts with many sheaths that just decide not to bloom that year for one reason or another. And to confuse things further, buds can grow from pseudobulbs that have no sheath at all. Good luck.

Thank you Silken and Tucker85.
I am not going to touch it and will see what is going to happen.
Since I never really saw a sheath on any of my catts before, I attached the picture of what I think it is.
Could you please confirm?
Thanks a lot.

[silken]

It looks like a sheath to me. I can't tell if your other growths have one or two leaves. Sometimes the 2nd leaf of a bi-foliate looks a bit like a sheath when it is just growing but that looks like a fair sized sheath. They don't always have the bud in them right away so keep your fingers crossed and one could still develop!

Great! Thanks Silken. I will keep my fingers crossed.

I have checked, all other pseudobulbs have just one leaf each.