Odd difference between Catts.

[bil]

The last time I went to the orchid place near here, they had nothing of interest, except to my surprise, 4 Catts. Now these were the only ones I have ever seen for sale in this part of Spain. They had all lost their flowers, so I couldn't tell the colour, but on impulse I bought them as I figured they wouldn't all be the same.

Well, I repotted them all in identical pots, and they all were put in the same place, same light, same everything. All of their roots looked the same whaic is to say rubbish, but I'm used to that now.

Today I pulled one that hasn't looked happy for a while, as the leaves were a little wrinkled. Sure enough it still hasn't put out a single root, while the other three are doing a reenactment of the death of Laocoon and his sons, with thick green pythons of roots thrusting out of the pot and threatening to grab anything that passes.

Now why is it that one just doesn't want to play?

[Brooke]

It has a different growth cycle than the others. Some grow roots all the time, some only grow when a new growth is mature and in sheath, some grow roots before the new growth even appears.

Be patient, if the pbulbs are still not brown, then it will eventually do something.

Brooke

[Leafmite]

I definitely agree with Brooke. I grew some of the larger species Cattleyas and, like Brooke says, they all had their own timing for growing roots. One would even bloom before there were roots on the new pseudobulb!

[silken]

I have lots that get roots at different times. But I am stumped by a Laelia purpurata I got last March from Ching Hua. I can only assume it was treated with a fungicide or anti-bacterial before being imported and that this killed the plant or froze it in some state of non growth. Despite every attempt with seaweed and tender care, this has not put out one mm. of growth on roots or plant. It is slowly losing leaves and pseudobulbs and refuses to grow. 9 months later and I have lost hope. I finally contacted Ching Hua wth pics at various stages and they will replace it for me. But I have had worse looking plants before and never saw this total lack of growth.

[rbarata]

It has a different growth cycle than the others.

Now you know they are not the same hybrid.

[Leafmite]

Originally Posted by silken

I have lots that get roots at different times. But I am stumped by a Laelia purpurata I got last March from Ching Hua. I can only assume it was treated with a fungicide or anti-bacterial before being imported and that this killed the plant or froze it in some state of non growth. Despite every attempt with seaweed and tender care, this has not put out one mm. of growth on roots or plant. It is slowly losing leaves and pseudobulbs and refuses to grow. 9 months later and I have lost hope. I finally contacted Ching Hua wth pics at various stages and they will replace it for me. But I have had worse looking plants before and never saw this total lack of growth.

Mine really hated being under my lights last year and it didn't start new growths until just before I gave it away, in September. Previously, it had put out new growths twice a year (it was a large seedling by this autumn and I had it since it was very tiny). Yours may have just really resented the change in environment or being potted into a new medium. I would be very surprised, though, if it didn't eventually do something. Mine had me convinced it was a very difficult-to-kill orchid.

[silken]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Mine really hated being under my lights last year and it didn't start new growths until just before I gave it away, in September. Previously, it had put out new growths twice a year (it was a large seedling by this autumn and I had it since it was very tiny). Yours may have just really resented the change in environment or being potted into a new medium. I would be very surprised, though, if it didn't eventually do something. Mine had me convinced it was a very difficult-to-kill orchid.

I do think there is something wrong with this one. I have grown a purpurata before from seedling, no problem. And I have a number of root challenged plants that I get bare root. Some that I got at the same time as this are already crawling out of their pots. I won't toss it till there is no more green, but it is definitely going backward, not forward. I think it got over sterilized.

[Leafmite]

That is possible. Fungicides and pesticides can be hard on plants. We have the fruit trees and you need to be careful of concentration as too high of a concentration or spraying too often of certain ones can stress the trees and cause the fruit to drop.
I hope it will do something but at least you are getting a replacement.

[bil]

Well, we shall see. I have put it where it has less demands on its moisture. In theory, all four are the same sort of hybrid.

It's the first catt for me that has sulked like this.

[tucker85]

Cattleya species come from many different environments. Some species and hybrids will adapt to the growing conditions that you have and some won't. I live in South Florida so I have a difficult time growing cattleyas that prefer cold nights, but warm growing cattleyas do very well here. With the mixed up DNA of hybrids there's no way to tell if a plant will do well in your environment until you try it. I've gotten to a point where I'll give an orchid a couple of years and if it's not happy, I'll get rid of it and try something else. Someone told me that orchids are just like people, some will like living with you and some won't.