Cattleya sheath ?

[flhiker]

all, What is the deal with Cattleya's sheath? I have a couple plants that when the new growth has a sheath a flower spike develops and then flowers and others the sheaths form but have know spikes. Will they ever form a spike? Or is it just that different plants have different growth patterns?

[Rosim_in_BR]

Dave, I remember that there's a thread dealing with the same question. Maybe you'd like to use the search engine to look for it; there's a lot of contributions there.

[Lorraine]

Hi Dave,

I wondered about the sheaths too, but figured Mother Nature does what she wants to do.

I have a couple that have large sheaths. The recently posted BLC Mem Helen Brown had sheaths when I got it. Then I could see it budding in the sheath, then pushing out, then it really spiked. This is what seems to happen to the larger leafed catts I have. My thinner leafed types seem to have a very small sheath and spike right through it without seeing much bud growth inside.

It'll be interesting what you find out.

[flhiker]

Thanks Mauro, Again like many Orchid questions there is know one answer. They will do what they will do and we just have to accept it.