Any hope of seeing flowers from this dried up Catt sheath?

[camille1585]

I got a few new Catts in the spring, after having had only 1 very easy growing Catt until now (a C.aclandiae hybrid) and am still learning about this alliance.

My Lc. Final Blue grew a sheath around late August or shortly after, and it completely dried up. I know that Catts can flower from seemingly dead sheaths, but now, 2 months on there's no change at all.

Is this normal for LC Final Blue and I just need more patience? Or it is telling me that something wasn't quite right in the culture this year?

[Ray]

Sorry, Camille. That looks like it's not going anywhere. Too shriveled.

[camille1585]

Darn. I was afraid of that.
Any idea what may have caused it, or is it just bad luck?

[WaterWitchin]

I have the same (Lc Final Blue) and have TWO years of those dry sheaths. Used to bloom. And have no idea what I've done differently for this to happen. Only thing I can think is the past couple summers we've had odd weather patterns and they all sit outside about six months out of the year. But it's been more rain, more heat and humidity... doesn't make sense.

[camille1585]

Sorry to hear that!
We also had some odd weather this summer - hot with no rain and low humidity, and then around mid september the weather did a full 180° to cloudy, wet and humid. We've barely seen the sun since then. My plants are inside, but did experience a rather sudden change in conditions.

[SouthPark]

Not sure if it is true or not - click here for an AOS link

There's a part that says :

"To a lesser degree, when feeding a well-rooted plant, overfeeding can result in the production of vegetative growth instead of flowers, sometimes resulting in blind sheaths. In feeding, it is better to err on the side of too little than on the side of too much."

This might not be the case here though. But interesting details.

This orchid appears to be in good shape. Next bulb, and next time around - could bring a flower, and definitely share with us photos of the future bloom!

[Ray]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Not sure if it is true or not - click here for an AOS link

There's a part that says :

"To a lesser degree, when feeding a well-rooted plant, overfeeding can result in the production of vegetative growth instead of flowers, sometimes resulting in blind sheaths. In feeding, it is better to err on the side of too little than on the side of too much."

This might not be the case here though. But interesting details.

This orchid appears to be in good shape. Next bulb, and next time around - could bring a flower, and definitely share with us photos of the future bloom!

I can verify from first-hand experience that overfeeding can quash blooming.

Back when the article about the development of MSU formulas was published, seeing that it was the first "scientific" fertilizer development I'd seen, I took their recommendation of 125 ppm N as gospel. Unfortunately, I completely Ignored the frequency of application part, so was using that at every watering.

WOW! Did I get great growth! Except that after a couple of years I noticed that almost nothing was blooming. I was discussing this with a member of my local society, and he simply said, "I think you're overfeeding.".

I watered with pure RO water for 3 months, then went back to feeding at every watering, but at 20% of the former rate. It took a good 9-12 months to notice a substantial change, but blooming hasn't been an issue since.

[camille1585]

I'm using Akerne Rainmix (MSU formula for pure water) at the recommended dosage of 0.5g per liter, roughly 3 out of 4 waterings. Would that still be high enough to prevent the Catt from blooming?

I'm using Rainmix with tapwater, but the folks at Akerne told me that my water was pure enough for it

[rbarata]

Camille, I'm also using Akerne Rain Mix. I use it on every watering but only half of the recommended dose, except for my Cymbs and Stanhopea (full dose) and my rupiculous (1/4 dose).
So far, most of them have been blooming, Catts included.

0,5 gr/l are 65 ppm N. See this info.

[camille1585]

Interesting, thanks! I may reduce as well. And I'm thinking that since I'm using tapwater, I could bring some tap and fertilized water to work and check the conductivity to see how much my tapwater is actually contributing. (mostly because I'm curious)