Just some odds and ends

[james mickelso]

My cornpewter died so I haven't been able to post lately. You all know how I love to post images to help in understanding what I am trying to convey. Here are some blooms that came out recently. I have a bunch of buds maturing right now that I will post as they come out. The yellow is BLC Emerald Isle 'Ching Hua'. The blue is LC Wrigleyii 'Blue Lagoon', and the red is Pot. Rubescence 'SVO x Pot. Gold Circle 'SVO'. The white is BLC HellifIknow 'Looks Good Though'. Here's the hodgepodge. Hope it makes sense.
Oh, and the brown spotted sheath is what happens when you water too much when the orchid is in sheath. The sheath sweats inside and can cause fungus and mold to grow when the flower buds are maturing. The long skinny inflorescence is one of my phals that is throwing a new spike. I think it is a white but could be the pink spotted. I didn't tag it when it bloomed last spring. Anyway hope you like the pics.

[Nexogen]

Cool

[Ordphien]

Beautiful! I especially like that blue.
I'm a sucker for nice purple flowers..

When you say water too much. If I see I sheath should I cut down on watering, cut it open, not water from above?
My mini cattleya just finished a pseudo bulb. The first ever to grow entirely under my care... I was sort of wondering where to go from there.

Any fragrance to the blue one?

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[james mickelso]

Most flower buds maturing inside the sheath come out ok but some sheaths sweat if the plant is over watered. The sheath shown here was watered a little too much and the sunlight it was in for part of the day caused the water inside the sheath to condense and rotted the new developing buds. In the wild orchids start flower production when the dry season starts to take hold. It rains less and less. The flowers open in the height if the dry season when the crawling insects become flying insects. The plants (pbulbs) have matured and their stored energy in the form of water/starches/sugars are enough to sustain the growth and blooming of flowers. But we help keep the plants healthy by watering them as the flowers mature. So keep feeding your catt that is growing that pbulb and when the sheath developes curtail watering it from the top. Watch that no sunlight gets on the sheath. Most likely your flower will develop ok. Some of my sheaths are cut open at the top to let the sheath stay dry inside. It's not an issue until the developing flowers inside the sheath start to swell the sheath with air. Once this happens. I stop water very much. Just a little sprinkle on the top of the media to give a little humidity. I think the issue is moisture inside the sheath and any temperature changes above say 10^f.

[tucker85]

Very pretty! I always like a classic white and that blue one is very unusual. I've had sheaths rot with buds in them a couple of times. It's really disheartening on a cattleya that only blooms once a year.

[james mickelso]

This year has seen three of my cats do it. Very cool this year. I have a couple BLC Magic of Mishima 'Volcano Queens' that bloom only once a year if I'm lucky. Big huge very pretty and fragrant to boot. Two of them succumbed. The third is flowering now. Or getting ready to flower. Big buds. I cut the sheaths off a month ago.

[silken]

Very nice blooms. I love the blue most of all. So it sounds like you cut back watering the media when you see buds in sheath. But in the case of the rotted one was the sheath getting sprayed with water too? I've had that happen, but never get water on the sheath. So maybe I need to cut back watering the media. Just trying to sort it out so it doesn't happen again.

[james mickelso]

I find the problem happens when it is cool out and the sunlight hits then developing buds within the sheath. Or it is cool and suddenly gets warm. Also when I see lots of happy sap condensing on the sheath. I think it is when the flower buds start to thicken the sheath structure and there is some room within the sheath structure where moisture can condensewhere the fungus starts to thrive. Just my observations. In the pics where the sheaths are thin and just starting, I haven't seen any issues. But where you see the thickening at the base of the sheath is when it starts. I try to keep the plants out of any bright or direct sunlight when the sheaths start to thicken. If there is a lot of happy sap I lessen the amount of water they get. Remember that most orchids start to throw flowers when the dry season starts. In the rainy season all the pollinators are crawly insects like worms and caterpillars. In the dry season these pupate and turn into fliers which pollinate the flowers. So flowers get much less moisture from rain. The flowers develop from the stored energy of the pbulb. I have had catts and laelias that didn't get any water for a couple months and still flowered. Unfortunately they died afterward from desication. Also I never ever water the plants themselves. I only water the media. I dip all my orchids into water. Never ever water overhead. When I started growing orchids for real I watered them with a hose. Rot, rot, rot. So I stopped and have had few rot issues since.

[Gthumbz89]

Nice looking bunch of cats... That's a shame about that sheath loosing buds; always a frustrating experience.

[My Green Pets]

Love laelias and lc's, something about that violet and long tubular lip. Remember when we used to say 'tubular!' back in the 80's?