my cattleya ramblings

[oscar freak]

so i have a whole lot of questions and ideas about my orchids,was going to put this in the beginner discussion and list all my ramblings about all my different orchids but maybe its better to seperate the issues though their all kind of similar.first off is my latest baby my catt and the one that scares me the most as it cost me a lot of money.hopefully i will get it to flower like the pic one day for me.

01.i know its like asking how long is a piece of string,but when can i expect the plant to fower?the guy i bought it from pointed to a "bulge" on one of the stems and said i could expect a bud soon,turned out be a new leaf so either he didnt know what he was talking about or he lied to me.i dont know how they propogated it but a guy from my orchid society said he bought a flask(cant remember what variety) back in the 80s and it only recently started flowering.so thats a bit scary.

02.posted another thread about whether to repot it or not yet,still havent decided.will come back to that later

03.its summer here(aka the growing season) and how to go about making the most of it?i had it inside in the best possible position i could find east facing big window only problem not much air circulation,at work all day and house is empty and open windows interfere with the alarm system.so moved it outside to the verandah where its getting less sun,more air circulation and is drying faster.i soaked it for 10 minutes on saturday pot felt weighty,monday a lot less weighty.let it get some of the rain we had here last night and then put it back to dry off.i know that catts prefer the drier side of moist so iv been adopting the "its dry now but wait a day then water " approach and so far so good.back to the making the most of the growing season before i have to bring them inside,i have my 1 cymbidium outside getting full sun till midday,its doing very well(i have another 4 not doing so well but thats for the cymbidium thread coming later)its potted in rockwool which i didnt like at first but have come to see the merits of it and im keen to try it on the other orchids when the time arrives.i was wondering if the catt could be placed in the same position?these warm sunny days arent going to last forever would like to make the most of them.

03.with reguards to fertilizing,i'v always been an organic fan but with the orchids i'v been going the chemical route,can i incorporate organic fertilizer into the regimine?i had an idea of of alternating different types of feeding ie if i water 3 times a week:
1 day chemical
2 day organic (i'v started collecting worm tea)
3 day pure h20

thing is if i move the catt to the same position as the cym getting full sun will 3 waterings a week suffice?how long can it actually stay dry before it starts taking strain?

well these are some of my cattleya issues,wishing i had bought a starter one first.im sure there are some things i missed will probably come to me as soon as i press submit.hope i didnt ramble to long.