Cattleyas light cycles and blooming

[rbarata]

Shade cloth will help if you have a piece of that. You can put it inside a window or outside.

It's a south window. When the sun hits the window it's from the west side so put it in the glass won't solve the problem. I'll have to make a screen. No problem.

As I recall your nights cool down considerably. If they do, 100 F / 38C by day should not be a problem at all, so long as you keep the leaves from burning.

Yes, night are considerably cooler when compared with day temps, around 15 to 20 ºC (40 F range). But inside I get a stable 27ºC (80 F) and can't make it cooler.

But maybe the air conditioner is primarily for you and spouse.

Well, not quite! I turn it on for the catt, only when the sun is hitting. We like the heat.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by rbarata

Yes, night are considerably cooler when compared with day temps, around 15 to 20 ºC (40 F range). But inside I get a stable 27ºC (80 F) and can't make it cooler.

It would enjoy the trip if you moved it outside each evening to take the night air.

Originally Posted by rbarata

I turn [the air conditioner] on for the catt, only when the sun is hitting. We like the heat.

In this case a fan would serve as well as the A/C, and use less electricity.

[rbarata]

It would enjoy the trip if you moved it outside each evening to take the night air.

Tonight it is a lot cooler, meteo is predicting 59 F min (15ºC)...I have all windows open and I'm getting 76 F inside (24ºC) and 31% HR. I'll leave them open to let the fresh air get inside.

In this case a fan would serve as well as the A/C, and use less electricity.

Yes, economy is paramount. That's one of the reason why I don't use A/C all the time for orchids. Only at critical times.
Even in winter I rely on the usually clear weather to let sunshine warm up my orchids. A/C is working only at night until I go to sleep, when I turn it off. By opening the south windows when I get up, the warming cycle starts again.
That's my "home made warm climate" for phals and catts.

Anyway, I'm enjoying my catt a lot and this genus is starting to be my favorite. I get lots of surprises (I had no idea about this dry sheath thing) and I have been learning a lot of new things.
While I was a bit sceptical about it at the beginning (especially about the difficult bifoliates), now I see it is growing amazingly with lots of new roots, nice light green leaves, a drying sheath with a bud inside...it will be interesting to see how it will develop until the climax: a flower.

Indeed a very interesting genus.

[estación seca]

I'm guessing bifoliates acquired their "difficult" reputation when people were trying to grow them in the wan sun of northern Europe before electricity. In a warm and bright climate they're easy, so long as you don't repot them at the wrong time.

[gngrhill]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I'm guessing bifoliates acquired their "difficult" reputation when people were trying to grow them in the wan sun of northern Europe before electricity. In a warm and bright climate they're easy, so long as you don't repot them at the wrong time.

Please humor me and specify again: Right time is when new roots are growing ?? Any other time is not good ?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by gngrhill

Please humor me and specify again: Right time is when new roots are growing ?? Any other time is not good ?

Exactly. Best is to repot just as the first little root tips emerge (or just before they do if you can anticipate that) Once the roots start to elongate, it gets risky - those little green root tips have little hairs on them that are almost impossible to not damage when handling, and when damaged, a root will stop growing. If you repot when the process is just starting, there will be more roots generated after the handling is done. One trick that I learned from Fred Clarke, the owner of Sunset Valley Orchids, a very successful breeder of Cattleyas and many other genera, is that when you repot, instead of writing the date that you actually did it (when new roots were already showing), put a date several weeks EARLIER. Then next time, two or three years in the future when it is getting to be time again, you will hit that sweet spot just before the roots are going to emerge.

[rbarata]

I've repotted this catt twice without any problems but people here told me (and all the articles I've read, too) that reppoting is advisable only when new roots start to grow, in this case middle spring if I recall correctly.
As far as I understood this is true only for bifoliates.

[gngrhill]

Thanks, Roberta

[rbarata]

Noticed this today... the small dark area at the base... after reading about sheath rot and humidity accumulation inside...should I be worried about this? Or does it look good?

[Roberta]

If this were my plant, I'd open up the sheath. Sometimes I have done that to find the bud already rotted, sometimes it is fine. If it's oK, you may have to support the inflorescence more than if you let mother nature do her thing because an intact sheath gives support. If not, then you can stop hoping and waiting but if the bud is already gone,you've done no harm, of course. I don't think that I have ever lost a bud that would have otherwise bloomed by doing that. But others have more experience than I do... need more opinions than mine.