Blc. Chia Lin 'New City' AM/AOS youngster

[silken]

Originally Posted by CR7cristiano

The key thing for you with this Catt Silken is temperature, temperature, and temperature! You seem to be fine with fertilizing etc. Keep it nice and warm! My bloom has faded and I await the current sheath to burst open with the new buds. I think I will just wait for the current bloom to fade on its on rather than cut it off now...I want these new blooms to really develope nicely so I can show off!

P.S. On a side note. Do any of you know of a pure white cattleya with a nice 5" or more size bloom? And I mean PURE white.
Thanks!

I think I'll move my Blc. Cornerstone 'Fine Circle' to the warm area too as it has a little more than 1/4 Dowiana and hasn't bloomed yet. I am out of warm space tho

Sorry, I don't know a pure white one. They all seem to have a bit of pink or yellow, but someone will help out I bet.

[CR7cristiano]

I have so far found C. Hawaiian Wedding Song 'Virgin' as well as C. Christ Church 'Newberry snow', and to a lesser extent the C. Intermedia var. alba.
But not of those have really large classic cattleya-esque blooms

[CR7cristiano]

The sheath that this one had when I got it which had not yet developed has now come out and developed into two lovely blooms! Enjoy. You can clearly see the further development of the petals on this one with a more ruffled look now and the are bigger and no damage to these!
I have another lead with sheath that is developing rapidly which I also took a pic of.
Note: These both opened in the last 2 days so they arent full yet.

[CR7cristiano]

Several more. This has a scent that can fill a large room!

[silken]

Very nice! I love the ruffled edges on the petals. Oh well, at least my plant is alive and on a heat mat so maybe it will eventually bloom!

[CR7cristiano]

Originally Posted by silken

Very nice! I love the ruffled edges on the petals. Oh well, at least my plant is alive and on a heat mat so maybe it will eventually bloom!

I believe it will

[james mickelso]

If you feed it every day or even every watering Like I do, make sure you flush the media well every 4th watering. The salts build up in the media and you will quickly stunt the growth. Also the plant doesn't know when to lower it's nitrogen intake and increase it's intake of potassium and phosphorus. You must do that. Once I learned that, my chia lin new city took off blooming.

[tucker85]

My eyes always seem to be drawn to the big red cattleyas. I don't know why they always attract my attention. Your's is beautiful.

[silken]

Originally Posted by james mickelso

If you feed it every day or even every watering Like I do, make sure you flush the media well every 4th watering. The salts build up in the media and you will quickly stunt the growth. Also the plant doesn't know when to lower it's nitrogen intake and increase it's intake of potassium and phosphorus. You must do that. Once I learned that, my chia lin new city took off blooming.

I do these things, but maybe the heat mat this winter will help. It was on the shelves in the greenhouse without heat mat last winter and didn't do a lot thru the cool months. It does have very good roots and I re-potted it this past summer.

[CR7cristiano]

You will be fine Silken...I'm sure.

For cattleyas I definitely don't fertilize everyday. I do probably twice a week full strength. No matter what orchid, you should always soak them with water and follow up with fertilizing. This increases absorbtion and also prevents any kind of salt build-up. Unlike the Vanda which I can fertilize every day bc its a havy feeder, the Cattleyas really only feed heaviest when you see active growth.