Cattleya: Growth Cycle?

[emmajs243]

Ok guys, I know different Cattleyas seem to flower at different times of year. But I am struggling to figure out what I should except this next year with my cattleyas. So I understand that this might happen at different times for different orchids and of course, some orchids may not follow the "book" answer period. I get that. But there are somethings I feel like do always happen in a sequence...

For example: new roots tips only grow after a new growth has formed. Is this correct? It is what I have summed up from reading different comments but nothing has come out and said that. It seems like really important information for beginners to know but that really doesn't get much emphasis.

And ideally, in a typical, healthy orchid that has gone through zero drastic changes, about what is the soonest a new growth will start to form and then be formed enough to grow new root tips? Fully understanding that it may be a very long time past this estimate but just trying to set a timeline in my mind so if I decide to wait to...repot one of my Catts for example, I know a best case scenario of how long that orchid will have to stay in its current Potting conditions.

And then blooming....Just the entire what to expect aspect is missing. Example, one of my Catts is suppose to be a winter bloomer. She has two new growths that are fully developed, one sprouted new root tips I would say a month or so ago, the other is just now beginning to sprout new root tips. The one pseudobulbs that sprouted root tips a while ago is just beginning to plump up and getting its ridges like the older pseudobulbs. The newer one is still pretty slender and uniform in shape up and down. In addition to that she has a newER growth that has a dried up old sheath sticking out from it.

The fact that I haven't had any new sheaths yet from the two new growths, does this mean they just won't form any and won't bloom this year? Or does it take a while to form the sheaths? Or do all new growths form sheaths (I know some catts don't form sheaths at all but in this case...) and then only some of the sheaths produce buds?

What would be totally awesome is if someone could give me an example of their growth cycle. Not so much dates or exact season timeline because I know this is probably different per plant but more like, a new growth will form, new root tips will start once the leaf is fully developed....in a perfect world about blah blah months later, a new sheath will always then form over the next few months, if your orchid will flower the sheath will do blah blah, otherwise at the soonest the process will repeat in....blah blah.

I just don't know if waiting to repot this orchid will mean waiting at least a month or more like 5 months. I haven't repotted her since getting her because I have been so scared of ruining her but Her roots don't seem to be in the best of shape, she is literally stairstepping crawling out of her pot and her tiny new root tips aren't even inside of the pot. I am just a tad worried about her root health and I can't even see really any media because she is so overgrown. I can't be sure that it the media is old but I am guessing it is because half of the media is up to almost to the pots rim and the other half is way lower then the rim of the pot. Plus I can never really tell when the media is dry because I can't see any media! If it could be a few months before I have new root tips growing again then I will repot her now even if it risks her blooming because I would much rather make sure she is healthy. Plus if a new growth grows from either new pseudobulbs I am pretty positive they will be growing completely outside of the pot!

Sorry I know this is a long post! Research just isn't giving me these answers!

[Subrosa]

Some Cattleya grow new roots as the new growth is forming. Some grow roots after the growth has matured and flowered. The best time to transplant is just as the new roots start to grow. With some Cattleya this is critical, and with some it really isn't as critical. Some Cattleya bloom from newly formed, green sheaths. Some bloom from dried up, "dead" sheaths. Some can bloom both ways depending upon how they feel, and some don't form sheaths at all. C. nobilior, from the time a spike appears until the bloom fades takes a couple months. C. iricolor takes a few weeks. Are you seeing a pattern here? Pay attention to your plants as individuals, not as Cattleya.

[Ray]

Adding to that excellent reply, your cultural parameters can also affect the blooming. For example, if you have two different species growing side-by-side, those conditions might be "ideal" for one and less so for the other.

I'll add that the "treat your plants as individuals" thing can apply within a single species or hybrid too, with siblings growing differently.

[ArronOB]

Hi Emma,
I have 34 young cattleya species and hybrids for which I have been recording every aspect of their growth every 5 days. I also record and plot temperature and every administration of kelp and fertiliser etc so I can plot them against growth. I do this because like you I wanted to fully understand their growth cycles.

I’ve been doing this for 14 months and obviously have collected a lot of data about growth but they are fairly young plants so I have very little on flowering.

By ‘every aspect’ I mean I record new growths from the time they first become visible as little enlargened scales till when they mature and the husks dry out.

Of course growth depends upon climate zone. In our region these plant can put out new growths at any time of year, although initiations slow down by about 70% in winter (say July and August for us). It depends upon plant type too, mine are mostly complex hybrids so it’s hard to pull rules out of plants that are basically genetic pea soup. I do record some species though.

Anyway, I expect a flush of new growth in late winter to early Spring (August - September). These are visible as little enlargened scales on the base of the most recently matured pseudobulb. Usually only one develops, ocassionally 2. It will grow till it has some robustness, typically about 50-70mm long, before it starts to send out new roots. At this stage it’s undifferentiated in terms of stalk and leaf. These new growths take about 4 months to grow to maturity in our climate (outdoors) - one or more leaves emerging from the stem, elongating, spreading out and stiffening. At about the time the leaves stop elongating the base thickens into a pseudobulb. The lowest bracts (not sure of proper term) around the pseudobulb will dry off quite quickly till they become dry husks. Just before the bracts dry off completely another round of new growth will start, again visible as little swollen scales (buds) pushing through the husks. Around 40% of my plants are just beginning their second growth for the season now. These new growths will also produce new roots but not as many as the previous ones. A third initiation of new growth will occur in (from memory) autumn months of March to May. These ones progress quite erratically and sometimes they largely suspend growth over winter, to recommence in spring but being somewhat limited in vigour. There were very few new growths initiated in winter, but we have a sunny winter so it didn’t surprise me that some did. I reduced watering till about once a week in winter.

Sorry I can’t answer your questions on flowers.

As for roots, they are definitely most numerous at the stage when a new growth has just become mature enough to support them, but smaller numbers of roots will continue to be produced as the plants requirements increase. I would like to say that I can link the production of roots to the application of kelp but actually that isn’t clear.

I did repot some plants when no new growth and no new root growth was obvious and in the case of hybrids which were largely unifoliate that wasn’t a big deal but in the case of a couple of bifoliates it did set them back and they waited till late in the season to produce their first new growths, so about a 9 month setback.

At the moment I’m setting up some camera equipment so I can do some time lapse photography - recording a whole growth cycle from start to flowering. I’ll probably do this for 5 or so plants. I hope I pick the one which will indeed flower.

Cheers
Arron

[emmajs243]

Aaron! Thank you SO much for you response! First off, what your doing is just AWESOME! Oh man! Hopefully one day I will be in a spot where I can do this with so many cattleyas! Also, I just have to say, way to go on staying on top of this! So often people (myself included) say they are going to do this type of data recording with their orhids but more often then not it seems to be short lived...if they do it at all!!

I am definitely doing it now with the orchids I have but more so I can use it as a resource in the future. Review when different growing points occurred and review if the orchid had any setback experiences or just what watering/feeding cycle, Potting media, so on seemed to work best for a specific orchid!

But! Seeing that I have only had cattleyas for....less then two months! I just don't know what to expect so your information helped a LOT to put things in perspective! Granted, my cattleya may not follow in this trend at all BUT, at least I definitely feel like I am able to make a sensible decision on repotting now versus waiting which was my immediate concern!

Now I just have to decide whether to repot into semi hydro OR leave her in "regular" growing conditions. I really want to do s/h but I am really worried on whether or not my home is warm enough for them to grow happily and how hard it will be on the more mature catts and Phals and whether it is worth it.

[Roberta]

Emma -
Time to relax, and just observe. When you see new roots, put the date on the plant's tag ... that will give you a clue as to when to repot in the future, since the plant likely will do the same thing in subsequent years. Or better, use Fred Clarke's trick of putting a date a couple of weeks BEFORE the date when you see new roots. Then you will be able to repot, mount, etc anticipating what the plant is going to do. And it's all about rooting... if rooting starts and the plant is in bloom or in sheath, it's still time to repot. if you wait until the blooming is done you'll miss the window.The plant won't mind. Think of that pseudobulb as a "buffer" between the flowering parts and whatever is going on in the root zone.

And as for temperature, it depends... If you have C. violacea, it needs lots of warmth. If you have C. percivaliana it just cares that temperature is above freezing.If you have L. anceps or one of its hybrids it isn't even concerned about a few degrees below freezing for a few hours. If you have a hybrid, look at the needs of the constituent species and it will give at least a hint of the temperature requirements.

[emmajs243]

Thanks Roberta! In THAT case! I have some repotting to do! I guess the cattleya seedlings were just my warm up! At least I caught the new root tips on my older Catt immediately because her roots are growing FAST! I spotted a tiny nub New Years when I made this post, two days later (now) that root is almost half an inch, there is a second one at least 1/4 of an inch and there is another teeny tiny root tip breaking through too!

I asked her if she could just settle down until the weekend when I'm free from work BUT she obviously is in a rebellious stage or just doesn't like me enough yet because she DEFINITELY is NOT slowing down for me!...*sigh*🙄....kids these days! I check her in the morning before work and when I come home they have already grown!

Then again, I guess if the most rebellious thing my Catts do is grow roots ABSURDLY fast, I really can't complain! 😉

[cluelessmidwesterner]

Emma,,

As a new orchid grower myself I understand your quandary. We're so worried we will do the wrong thing at the wrong time and proof.

My C. walkeriana which I purchased and repotted right away because of its poor state two months ago is still 'stalled'. It's not growing new roots or bulbs nor is it withering away. It's just so set back it doesn't know If it should wind its watch or scratch its butt. I've bagged it, put it on a seedling mat, given it kelp with watering but it just is there.

On the other hand, the Rlc.. Hsinying Scarlet that I purchased and potted 6 weeks ago is putting out root tips like H#ll won't have it in the last week. Both it and the walkeriana are on a seedling mat side by side. The difference (besides being different parentage)? Rlc. is in a plastic food storage container I fashioned into a planter and the other is a clay pot. So the Rlc.'s roots zone is warmer than the other one but it dries faster. The walkeriana was my first potting so it over potted.

I also have a Ctt. Secret Love that was potted a month ago that's I see may be starting to put out root. It's in a small clay pot and is separated from my other plants until I'm sure it's healthy and doesn't have any tiny livestock. As a result its up on a high self about 10 feet away from a large south window. It's not been on a heat mat but it seems to be doing ok for a just reported plant.


The one thing I've learned is the orchids didn't read the books and they'll do what they want to when they want to in your environment. Why would two of my Cattleyas decided the first week in January in iowa is a good time to put out growth and a third says "not so much"? You tell me.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by cluelessmidwesterner

Why would two of my Cattleyas decided the first week in January in iowa is a good time to put out growth and a third says "not so much"? You tell me.

Mostly genetics... different Catts root at different times. Hybrids are a combination of species. Sometimes they will root more than once a year (from the different species in their background), sometimes they'll pick a point that is a compromise, sometimes favor one species more than others, or just do what they want when they want. As long as they are cozy (NONE would survive an Iowa winter, so they don't care what is going on outside, they didn't evolve in the US Midwest...) they follow their own calendar.

If you try to follow some arbitrary rule (like "pot in the spring") you'll successfully grow the ones that root at that time... the ones for which it's the wrong time just won't survive or thrive. If you observe and let the plants tell you what each one wants to do , you'll succeed with a lot more of them.

[isurus79]

This will help a lot: https://staugorchidsociety.org/PDF/C...onRogerson.pdf