Rlc. Liu’s Joyance care/advice

[greenhouseFrog]

First and foremost, I do not have very much experience at all with Cattleyas, so please forgive my inexperience/overanalysis. I grow in zone 10b.

I purchased a Rlc. Liu’s Joyance on an impulse while at the hardware store and would like to eventually mount it(if I can manage to not kill it) where it will have support/wind protection. With my first Cattleya(Rth. Chief Glory ‘Red Ant’;another hardware store bag baby in a 2” pot), I followed advice to not disturb the root zone until new roots began developing; over a month ago I mounted it when a new root emerged to a length of about 0.25”. Since then(and after a week of transplant shock at first), the initial root has grown and attached to the mount and has been joined by three new ones since the beginning of June.

While I am tempted to follow suit with the Rlc. Liu’s Joyance, I hesitated and figured I would ask first. It has a new growth and what seems to be the beginning of a root, but I’m not sure. The biggest reason I am hesitant is because the Liu’s Joyance seems to have a lot of C. dowiana in its ancestry while the Chief Glory seems pretty C. coccinea dominant; I don’t want to generalize and assume they’re going to react the same.

I’ll try to include a decent picture so we can be step closer to being on the same page. Thanks in advance!

[Roberta]

Good call on your caution... C. dowiana produces new growth like you ut see, but the new roots likely won't show up for months. That's a reason that C. dowiana has a reputation for being difficult because people don't pay attention to that habit. The species tends to root in the fall, which is totally counter-intutive for potting. So you're wise to wait until you're sure that it's rooting.

[greenhouseFrog]

Thank you Roberta!

Having things mounted is such a time saver in my specific scenario, but I’ve been playing catch up, so I nearly rushed to ruin with this one! While it adapts to its new environment/decides to grow roots or not, I will be reading up on this counterintuitive C. dowiana habit!