Lurker alert--first post!! I'm new to cattleyas, though I've successfully grown other genera for years. Here are the growing conditions first: temp is usually 70 during the day and dips to 60 at night, humidity maintained at 50-70 by cool must humidifier, all 'chids are in a sunroom facing NE/SE/E, airflow by ceiling fan on high, light supplemented by 48" T8 6500K bank of 4 right at leaf level, water is city and decent, use Feed Me orchid fertilizer weakly weekly, spike water with a dash of SuperThrive. I use the wood skewer method for watering on the catts, but eyeball it on all the other genera with no problems. No bugs, no diseases...that I'm aware of. The brats in question are Lc Blue Boy Gainsborough and C Priscilla Presley Beverly Hills (the former bought out of bloom, the latter bought in bloom from Chadwick's now finished blooming). Gainsborough was promptly repotted in a clear plasric pot witg medium coconut husk catt mix from Repotme.com and appears somewhat happy with nice new roots. Priscilla came in NZ sphagnum (!!!) in clay (which the kind folks at Chadwick's have luck with). Priscilla just isn't looking great: pseudobulbs have ridges, leaf edges curl slightly, and I can't appreciate new root growth. Gainsborough also has ridged pseudobulbs but the leaves and new roots look great. Against Chadwick's advice, should I take Priscilla out and repot in the coconut husk mix? The pot size appears fine so I will use a clear plastic pot like with Gainsborough. I am using the wooden skewer method and waiting them to dry. After 10 days, both orchids' skewers are 95% dry before I rewater. My gut says I am under watering. For fear of losing the $250 I spent total for each, I'm nearly at the point of dropping them off at Chadwick's to board until they bloom again. I don't want to kill the brats. Take a look at the pics and see what you think.
Catts and water...why is this so tough?
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