Recent acquisitions - sheath and pseudobulb newbie questions

[Kim Brown]

I have fallen in love with Cattleyas and ordered a bunch. They arrived in huge boxes, carefully packaged, and seem no worse for wear in spite of nighttime temperatures dipping below freezing during shipping. There are however two I’m concerned about:

Lc. Drumbeat ‘Heritage’ came with a yellowing sheath that developed black spots over the course of a few days. The rest of the plant is fine. I applied a little fungicide to the sheath, but is there anything else I can do? Is a spike from that sheath now out of the question?

C. Orglades Grand ‘Orchis’ came with slightly yellowish pseudobulbs. Is this a sign of stress/freezing damage? The other Catt in the shipment looks super healthy and has a nice sheath.

For your trouble, my first Catt. It’s C. mossiae, and it’s bloomed twice for me. It also taught me the lesson that Catts don’t like standing in water. Still alive, though

[Ray]

Hi, Kim.

I don't think that's damage at all to the sheath. More likely, it's a "blind sheath" that is drying up. Sometimes, if the conditions aren't right, or the plant has not built up sufficient reserves, a sheath will grow, but with no subsequent bud formation.

[Kim Brown]

Thank you so much for weighing in, Ray. I’ve read as much as I can about care - watering, light, etc. - but I still don’t have enough experience to read my plants. So I’m hoping some of the experienced members here don’t mind helping me interpret what I’m seeing. I know a pseudobulb will only produce a spike once, but if it produces a blind sheath, does that mean it’s blown its one shot at flowering?

I need all the help I can get. I’ve acquired/ordered:

Cattleya maxima (lowland type)
Cattleya Orglades Grand ‘Orchis’
Laelia (well, Cattleya) purpurata var. werkhauseri
Lc. Shipbuilder’s Oatmeal Stout ‘coerulea’ (technically just Cattleya)
Cattleya warneri var. coerulea
Cattleya warscewiczii
Blc. Mahina Yahiro ‘Ulii’
Blc. Pink Empress ‘Jih Sun’ (‘Ju Shen’?)
Lc. Drumbeat ‘Heritage’
Lc. Blue Angel (clone or seed plant, I don’t know)
Lc. Memoria Robert Strait ‘Blue Hawaii’

...hope I’ll eventually have some nice flowers to share.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Nice blooms. Your probably not going to get blooms just yet but the plants look fine.