Cattleya - To Bloom or not to Bloom... - Orchid Board

PapaPhal · #1 02-25-2013, 09:42 PM

Hello. I have what I believe is a NOID cattleya. I am not sure if it is a standard or mini cat. I have had it for a little over a year now. I purchased it off of the clearance rack at a big box store. At the time of its purchase, the type of orchid it was did not matter to me; I had just witnessed a white phal. bloom twice in one year, which was amazing to me! I just knew that I wanted another orchid. I now realize that shortly after obtaining it I started to over-care for this poor little cattleya by repotting it too many times over the course of a three month period by trying to get it in the perfect potting mix – too much reading, too little patience. After a while I finally started to realize that I was doing more damage than good. I decided to just leave it alone and see how it would do in its current conditions: ~68 – 70 deg. F daytime, ~60 – 62 deg. F night, net style plastic basket inside of a clear plastic pot, coarse bark and pearlite. It is in an east facing window where it gets good morning and early afternoon sun. I really do not have a much better location to put it. I have been watering it weekly, with an occasional misting in between. When watering, I also fertilize weekly-weakly with a 19-8-16 fertilizer and one drop of super thrive per gallon of water for good measure. Lately it has really started to grow a lot of new roots and two new small chutes. I am hoping it is getting enough sun to produce blooms. I have never seen its flowers but I hope to. I realize that it is anyone’s guess as to whether this cat will bloom or not but I would like to know when cattleyas normally bloom and if this little guy even stands a chance considering its current growing conditions and appearance.