Cattleyas light cycles and blooming

[rbarata]

Love them, that's the best sign I could have at this point.
I'm really eager to see how the flowers look like.
If this one flowers, it means I have the right conditions for catts...and I've found a store that sells agricultural items. Among the pesticides, corn seeds, wheat, etc, there are a lot of catts in need to be rescued.
Do you see my plan?

[Gthumbz89]

I just provide as much light as possible without burning them. Unfortunately I don't know if there is a critical time to provide good light for blooming. From what I have seen on my cattleyas they like high light all the time so that they can maximize their vegetative cycle before blooming. Some cattleyas need changes in day length to bloom though....Those ones make sheaths and just sit there until they get that cue.

---------- Post added 06-14-2016 at 12:10 AM ---------- Previous post was 06-13-2016 at 11:59 PM ----------

Your plant looks great by the way. I see lots of freckles from good light which is a good sign. Be patient, fertilize with proper pH, and water when dry. Eventually it will get its act together.

I had to wait years for some of my cattleyas to start blooming. I almost threw some of them away until one day they just exploded with flowers. Turns out they were too young to bloom and had just reached maturity.

Moral of the story is....you have to wait for the plant to bloom....there is no forcing it.

[Jenascrich]

I got it! Yes. That's what mine looks like! Doesn't it seem to happen overnight? So has anything new happened?

[rbarata]

Hello, my friends

Update on the new cane of my catt...it's looking good!



The sheath is growing fast... I wonder how much time it will take to bloom from this stage.


And the rhizome is growing fast too, as well as lots of roots that I mist almost everyday to prevent theyr death.

[silken]

Can't wait to see this one in bloom!

[rbarata]

Hello, my friends

I wonder if I should worry about this sheath colour...

[estación seca]

I've had bifoliate Cattleya and rupicolous Laelia hybrids bloom from dry sheaths.

[rbarata]

I think this one blooms in the autumn, at least there was a bud when I bought it. Even if that's the case, isn't it too soon for it to get dry?

[Roberta]

For some Catt species, this is normal behavior - they bloom from dry sheaths instead of green ones. (It's one of the distinguishing features between C. loddigesii and C. harrisoniana, which are very much alike), It looks like you may have a bud at the base of that sheath. Once the sheath is totally dry, some growers open it up so that moisture doesn't collect and kill the bud. I have done that with success sometimes but not always. Others likely have other advice on the subject. But the yellowing (and eventually drying) of the sheath is very likely normal for this plant

---------- Post added at 08:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:08 AM ----------

Originally Posted by rbarata

I think this one blooms in the autumn, at least there was a bud when I bought it. Even if that's the case, isn't it too soon for it to get dry?

Not at all. When it's getting ready to bloom, the sheath dries. It'll be another month to six weeks before that bud emerges... it'll be autumn.

[rbarata]

It looks like you may have a bud at the base of that sheath.

In fact there is but... isn't it too small? Shouldn't it be bigger at this stage? It has been approx. this size since I noticed it for the first time, maybe one and 1/2 months ago. The sheath is 2 in long and the bud something like 1/4 in.

Once the sheath is totally dry, some growers open it up so that moisture doesn't collect and kill the bud.

Well, with an HR of 20% inside I don't thik I'll need that.
And I wouldn't venture into such procedure unless strickly necessary.