how many years *in good care* till cats bloom?

[estación seca]

They would easily handle full German summer sun all day long. Fertilize and water a lot more. Fred Clarke has detailed instructions on the SVO Web site.

[SG in CR]

I agree with most of everything that has been said. If every year's bulbs are bigger than the last you're on the right track. The only thing I cold imagine that might be hurting you is if your fertilizer is nitrogen dominant, switching to a more balanced one might improve your odds of getting blooms. My first home grown C. maculatum are blooming now in their second year after germinating, with bulbs about 15-20cm long. But as Roberta mentioned Fredclarkeara are super convoluted in their genetics, so you're bound to get some outliers.
I wouldn't lose interest though, the bigger the plant gets the more impressive the blooms that you'll eventually get should be.

[Jeff214]

I've had the exact same question on my mind. My clowesias and cycnoches bloom pretty well the first/second year but I havent gotten a single Catasetum/hybrid (I have 8) to bloom in three years since I got them from SVO.

I live near SVO so I have no excuse... hah.

[isurus79]

It’s either too young to bloom or not enough light. It almost always boils down to one of those factors with this group.

[Dorchid]

My Mo. painted desert by ctsm. John c bochheft (sp.) is at least 6 years old and still hasn’t bloomed. Last year’s growth produced a 17” bulb and this year’s looks to be closer to 24”. I took it out of the tent the other day to see if the shorter photo period and cooler temp would set it off…we shall see.

[Roberta]

May be wrong, but I suspect that for this year, changes in conditions aren't going to inspire blooming. Shorter photo period and cooler temps likely will just start dormancy sooner. Next year, try to give it more light through the whole growing season. Warmth will help too. For this year, probably approaching sleepy time.

The second parent is likely Ctsm. John C. Burchett. Mo. Painted Desert x Ctsm John C. Burchett = Fdk. Frank Smith.

[Dorchid]

Thanks for the name info! It gets plenty of light as it sits under 100W of Cree COB along with my other catasetinae (all the mature plants bloom regularly)and temps are in the 80s so I don’t believe either of those are limiting factors.

[Roberta]

I have found that my Fdk. After Darks tend to be shy bloomers - and they get big. My Fdk. After Dark 'Black Pearl' hasn't bloomed for a couple of years, though it ha bloomed before. After Dark 'SVO' bloomed for the first time last year after about six years -it is a beast. This year I'm not seeing any signs of action yet but it still could, they tend to bloom as they are going dormant (or even after losing the leaves) So there is hope...

[Dorchid]

Good to know! …temp ranges from low 80s in the day to high 60s at night. All my catasetinae are moving into dormancy at this time.

[Dorchid]

Said plant producing 2 spikes from the base and a little over half way up of last year’s growth. Be cool if they don’t abort.