cattleya drooping flowers, HELP!

[pinkieorchie]

Hello, I'm a newbie here and to the orchid world. I recently bought a beautiful white cattleya from an orchid exhibit which has a lot flowers and buds. However, it only has been a couple of weeks, and I notice the flowers now are drooping, falling down quickly; those buds also are not likely bloom either. I checked the moist level by using the stick to check the medium. It seems fine. The bulbs also seem begin to wrinkle. Please HELP! Here a few pictures attached here.

[tucker85]

One frustrating thing about growing cattleyas is that the flowers only last about 2-4 weeks even under the best conditions. Also cattleyas are very sensitive to a change in environment while they're in bud. So moving the plant to you home could stress the orchid enough to keep some of the buds from opening well or staying in bloom long. It's a beautiful plant though.

[pinkieorchie]

Thank you Tucker85. So in your opinion, nothing is wrong with the plant? Is there anything I should check?

[tucker85]

Originally Posted by pinkieorchie

Thank you Tucker85. So in your opinion, nothing is wrong with the plant? Is there anything I should check?

I'm just saying that the problems you describe are typical of a cattleya, in bud and bloom, being moved into a new environment. As far as moisture, cattleyas prefer to dry out completely between waterings.

[Leafmite]

If the skewer shows that the medium is drying out in the middle/bottom of the pot, the roots are probably not rotting. I'm not sure where you are from but if you bought this from somewhere warm and then your house is cooler, it might, as Tucker said, need to adjust. I live in Ohio and when I buy a cattleya, I have to put it into a faster draining medium or, during the dreary, darker, cooler days of winter, my roots rot. My house is not a nice, hot, lighted greenhouse. Rats. The pot looks small so that will help with faster drying. If you live somewhere cold and miserable and grow with natural lighting (south-facing window for cattleya), wait until spring to repot it. If the medium isn't drying quickly, just cut some holes in the pot to add better air-flow.
If there are drafts or dry air, that can sometimes put an end to flowers and buds, too. Good luck and keep asking questions. That is how we all learn.

[pinkieorchie]

Thank you Leafmite! I live in San Diego, Southern California. I got this plant from a local orchid exhibit. I initially put this pot by east window, and then I moved it to south window when I noticed the flowers drooping. The weather here is great, but air might be a bit dry. I checked the medium by a stick after I saw your reply, the bottom seems dry now. So I hope the roots are okay. As I also mentioned, the bulbs seem to start shrivel (from the pictures), could it be an indication to dry air? My Phalaenopsis orchids seem doing fine, by the way.

[FSUOrchids]

It looks alright to me. I do find that sometimes cattleya flowers don't last that long, some seem to not last more than a week or two. The bigger the flowers are, generally the shorter they last. Smaller cattleyas can last for a month or two.

[Leafmite]

If it is hot and/or dry, the flowers don't usually last as long. Is the wrinkling new or was it there when you bought your orchids?