Question on "heirloom" type cattleyas

[Mugsie]

Maybe someone can help me here. I had been growing orchids since the mid 70s. When I lived on Long Island I built my own GH and started raising various types, with cattleyas being a major portion. I can't remember the names (I can't remember what I had for lunch 2 hours ago!) but I do remember a number of my cats had much larger leaves. They were longer, stiffer and more succulent. I also remember them being darker too.

Fast forward to today, and there are zillions of hybrids out there, but I haven't seen any similar to the "older" types. When I moved to PA, I ended up starting over because without the GH, a lot were lost.

Now that I'm using a GH again, for 3 seasons (the winters they spend in a sun room under lights) I would like to grow some of the heirloom types again.

So, after a long story, can you kinda sorta understand what I'm talking about, and if so, can you supply me with some names so I can begin growing these types again? All ideas are helpful. Thanks ...

[estación seca]

The Catts you're thinking of are called standard Cattleyas. They were bred without regard to plant size for big, spectacular flowers. As more people began growing on windowsills they somewhat fell out of favor due to breeding for much smaller plants.

Standards are still available. Nurseries like Chadwick & Sons sell many of the older, awarded hybrids. Carter & Holmes still breeds for large plants and flowers. Look through old issues of the AOS publications to jog your memory of old favorites' names.

[Roberta]

While not their main focus, Sunset Valley Orchids has some standard-size Catts. Most are new hybrids, there's the occasional remake with new parents. Under Cattleya, they have their own section of the website.

[BON]

There are a few orchid nurseries that sell Cattleya clones or divisions from hybrids registered back in the corsage era of Cattleyas. I still like Orchids by Hausermann. Chadwick and Son specialize in Heirloom Cattleyas, especially species. Santa Barbara Orchid Estate has some old classic cats as well.

[orchidman77]

These are all great places to find standard Cattleyas. I'd add Waldor Orchids and Shogun Hawaii to the list of places to get good standards.

[Mugsie]

Thank you all. I'm checking all of them out right now.

[BON]

I wholeheartedly agree with the above. Waldor has fantastic original divisions and meristems of many of the classic Cattleyas! I have purchased some fine cultivars from them. Shogun also has several highly desirable original divisions and clones, although I have yet to purchase from them personally. (I have been eyeing some of their flasks as well as original divisions--only a matter of time---and space!) There are some other vendors that sell the "classic" Cattleyas, check out vendors reviews on this board for some of the best, and maybe a few to avoid for various reasons. One of the things to consider when acquiring cattleyas that go back fifty, sixty or even a hundred years is your stance and biosecurity protocols regarding viral conditions.

[plantxart]

There's a book called The Classic Cattleyas by Chadwick. Its a good reference book and it's an interesting read on the history and breeding of Cattleyas. Highly recommend!

[Jmoney]

if you are looking for some of the classic standard catts, I second all of the names listed above. meristems will be much cheaper than original divisions. also check out ebay, a gentleman named Tim Culbertson sells many originals (for both himself and friends) and OV orchids has many as well from time to time.