Cattleya mossiae

[smweaver]

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Steve, the only C. walkerianas I've smelled are the coerulea varieties--but that's just because they're the only ones I've been able to flower! The standard pink-flowered plants grow like weeks for me, but the stubborn things have never bloomed. So, based on that limited first-hand experience with C. walkeriana's blooms, I would say that C. mossiae has a stronger scent which is more pervasive (you really can detect it from quite a distance away), but I like C. walkeriana's scent also, so I'm not sure I could say which one has a better scent. C. walkeriana, to me, has a bit of a lemony scent to it, which is (again, to me) lacking in C. mossiae. But since C. mossiae is by far the easier plant to grow and bloom, my preference for it is undoubtedly influenced by that.

[catwalker808]

[the only C. walkerianas I've smelled are the coerulea varieties--but that's just because they're the only ones I've been able to flower!undoubtedly influenced by that.][/QUOTE]

smweaver. Since you & Steve have taken this side street, I'll add my comments.

It sounds as though you're growing your pink C walkeriana plants ok & they are big enough & strong enough to bloom.

From my observations & experience, I believe that day/night length is a key determinant to initiate their blooms. From late spring through late summer, plants need 13-14 hours of light (2500-4000 foot candles if possible) , warm or intermediate conditions, lots of water & food. Then, in early fall, if temps drop, the pbulbs will fatten as the plants stop new growth & store up energy for blooming. The plants are primed for blooming.

Usually lower temps coincide with shorter day lengths; however, if you are providing supplemental lighting that extends day length to 13-14 hours, your plants may not bloom. To provide light conditions conducive to blooming, day length needs to be shortened to 10-11 hours. This also means DARKNESS for the remaining 14 hours of the day. Light from elsewhere other than your growth lights also counts as daylight hours.

For some reason, the coerulea form of C walkeriana seems much more flexible about blooming ... perhaps because the pbulbs are smaller & more pbulbs are produced. So the plants may be more prepared to initiate blooms at a given time.

I've suggested the light changes to a few people who had not been able to bloom their plants for many years. The following year, their plants bloomed. Incidentally, C walkeriana is a very seasonal bloomer. Mid fall to early winter ... late October to December, in the northern hemisphere. Probably late April/early May to June in the southern hemisphere. Flower spike initiation probably occurs 1-1/2 to 2 months prior.

Contrary to claims otherwise, plants need frequent watering throughout the year (allow the roots to just dry out, then water again). In nature, there are prolonged periods with no rain; however, there is also nightly drenching fog. Plants dry out each day, then are wet by fog each night.

[smweaver]

They (the standard-variety C. walkerianas) do get lots of light during the growing season, along with lots of water and regular fertilizer. In fact, they're one of the few cattleya species that I place outdoors near the cycads, and while they can't take the light levels that an encephalartos or a dioon can handle, they certainly do get lots of light from around 7 AM until 5 or 6 PM during the growing season. They also experience intermediate-to-cool winter temperatures, and there's a large temperature differential between day and night at that time of year too. I think where I'm erring is keeping the indoor lights on during the winter for too long. Although I don't supplement the winter light, the sunroom where the plants stay is a four-season room that's furnished and gets a lot of traffic at night (meaning that the lights in there are often turned on during the evening for reading, entertaining, etc.). Next winter I'll lock the door and bar anyone from going out there to see if the sustained darkness helps promote blooming. :-)

[catwalker808]

You could also put a Maxwell Smart "Cone of Darkness" over it for 14 hours a day.

[smweaver]

That's a wonderful idea! :-)

[WhiteRabbit]

Wow! Spectacular!

[Anglo]

Are your walkerianas receiving direct sunlight? If not, I'd try giving them a few hours per day in full sun.

And congrats on the mossiae!

[smweaver]

Originally Posted by Anglo

Are your walkerianas receiving direct sunlight?

Yes, they get direct sunlight from around 7 AM until noon, then they're protected (slightly) from direct sunlight by an open-meshed pergola for a couple of hours. After around 2 PM they get another 3 to 4 hours of direct sunlight. They get watered a lot during the summer growing season, and fertilized regularly. Pseudobulbs and leaves look great, but I think I'm making mistakes during the winter rest period, which I'll try to rectify next winter. And if that doesn't work, I may threaten to leave them outside for the chipmunks and rabbits to nibble on, which might scare them into cooperating. :-)

[Anglo]

So it’s not insufficient sunlight, water, or nutrients. They should be flowering. Could they be getting set back during the winter?

The first walkeriana I tried to grow did very well from spring, when I got it, through the fall. But during the winter, its roots dehydrated and died because I took the “winter rest” advice too seriously, watering only a little at a time and only when I thought the medium was thoroughly dry.

Since then, I have learned that while walkerianas don’t like prolonged sogginess, they don’t want to go for long without water either, not even in winter. In their natural habitat, there is very little rain during the winter, but they still receive water on a nightly basis as dew forms on them.

And the “fast-drying” requirement in cultivation isn’t a hard and fast rule either. The key is in ensuring that the roots are well aerated. Although I usually grow walkerianas in wooden baskets, they do extremely well in Sphagnum moss that never dries out completely, but is always kept uncompacted and airy. {I have seen better root growth with this method than any other, but it’s hard for me to get right when the plants are indoors in cold weather because the Sphag stays too wet for too long after watering.)

I have found that if favorable growing conditions are more or less maintained through the winter, walkerianas don’t even take a real rest; they just slow down. They continue to put out new growth and even bloom sometimes in winter. I have often had walkerianas in flower for Christmas.

Sorry to be so far off the C. mossiae topic, but I wouldn't want you to give up on walkerianas.

[smweaver]

Originally Posted by Anglo

Sorry to be so far off the C. mossiae topic, but I wouldn't want you to give up on walkerianas.

That's okay, getting the C. mossiae to bloom requires very
little on my part anyway; it simply seems strongly inclined to bloom, in spite of whatever I do.

As regards the C. walkerianas, I think you probably zeroed in on the main issue I need to work on: the winter "rest" period, which I assumed was what this species absolutely needed, per (as you correctly pointed out) advice from numerous books, articles, etc. I have the standard walkerianas growing in empty clay pots; their numerous roots seem to do quite a nice job of adhering the plants to the surface of the clay. I water them a couple of times per day during our hot and humid summers, and the pseudobulbs stay plump and carry nice turgid leaves that get a decent amount of red speckling from the strong sunlight. During the winter I've been letting the plants stay dry for at least a few days between very light waterings, which I'm guessing hasn't been to their liking (at least to the point where they were inclined to bloom). Although the pseudobulbs don't shrivel, the temperature in the grow room is cool at night, moderate during the day, and the plants don't seem to be doing anything at that time of year anyway (I'm certain they ARE, in fact, doing something, it's just not terribly noticeable to me). Every time the coerulea-flowered plants start to form their spikes, I dutifully inspect the standard pink-flowered plants, at which time I find them doing, again, apparently nothing, which has made me water them even less during the winter (under the assumption that, if they aren't actively growing, they probably don't want to receive quite the deluge of water they get every day during the growing season). This winter I'll try what you and others have helpfully suggested: namely, watering the plants regularly and not assuming that they're simply hibernating until the arrival of spring. Thanks very much for the advice. It's greatly appreciated.

Steve