Cattleya (Laelia) crispa sheath question

[Roberta]

I think staking is a good idea... the sheath supplies some support, but these are big and heavy. I was just advocating for letting the sheath do its thing without cutting. If the spikes are leaning or bending, some staking or supporting would definitely be in order.

I'm not big on "judging standards" especially as applied to species ... I really like natural orchids. So many species get so line-bred that a pollinator likely would not recognize them. One of the fringe benefits of growing species is to preserve them ex-situ where habitats are endangered. And line breeding to the point that they don't look like the species any more defeats the benefit of that.