How is growing a Cattleya different from a Phal

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

In general, Cattleya need bright indirect light in order to thrive. This is one of the biggest differences between growing a Phalaenopsis and growing a Cattleya.

They are in general intermediate to warm growing.

They do like to dry out completely before needing to be watered again. They tolerate being dried out between waterings a bit longer than Phals do.

I think Cattleya tend to be much sturdier plants than Phalaenopsis are.

Cattleya grow a bit faster than Phalaenopsis do.

The above are some of the bigger differences between growing Cattleyas and growing Phalaenopsis.

In terms of size, Cattleya luteola, Cattleya schilleriana, Cattleya forbesii, and Cattleya kerrii tend to be some of the smaller growing Cattleya species.

Some of these species that I mentioned above can be a bit challenging to grow if the habitats these orchids come from are not properly researched and taken into consideration.

[Gthumbz89]

You can easily grow compact catts under lights. I bloom my 12-15 inch catts under Par 38 15 watt 3000-5000 kelvin leds. I buy them at home depot and use clamp work lights as the fixture. You will need more than one bulb though to light old catts.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

They are in general intermediate to warm growing.

Please don't tell my plants! I have found that nearly all of the mini and compact Catts (and many species as well) do just fine outside in my back yard with winter night temps close to freezing. (Can't do THAT to a Phalaenopsis!) They CAN grow intermediate to warm, and except for Sophronitis maybe they'd prefer it, but I have found them to be extremely forgiving, especially the hybrids.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Please don't tell my plants! I have found that nearly all of the mini and compact Catts (and many species as well) do just fine outside in my back yard with winter night temps close to freezing. (Can't do THAT to a Phalaenopsis!) They CAN grow intermediate to warm, and except for Sophronitis maybe they'd prefer it, but I have found them to be extremely forgiving, especially the hybrids.

It is a generality. I mentioned it was general culture. I have my Cattleya amethystoglossa outdoors all year round. I didn't want to mention this at the outset because this is not the general rule of thumb for the majority of them. Of course there will be outliers.

Some of these species can tolerate cooler temperatures, as do some hybrids as you mentioned. I used to own a Cattleytonia 'Why Not', and I had this growing outdoors all year round too. It does get pretty cold during the winters here as well. I have noted that it can at times drop down to 36 F at night during the winters here. On average it is between 45 F to 55 F at night during the winters. So, yeah, I'm aware of this.

I've also attempted to grow some other Cattleyas outdoors too, and I wasn't very successful. A large proportion of the Cattleyas I tried growing did not like the cooler temperatures, this is why, in general, I stated they are intermediate to warm growing. An example of ones I tried growing outdoors all year round would be Cattleya leopoldii, and another one was Cattleya velutina, yet another one was Cattleya iricolor. Cattleya intermedia var aquinii took cooler temperatures, but when it approached 36 F, it declined. So, not all Cattleyas are all that temperature tolerant.

I'm kinda on the fence about the temperature tolerance of Cattleya schilleriana, but I have reason to believe this one does not tolerate temperatures below the ballpark of 55 F very well. This was another species I tried growing outdoors all year round and did not succeed with.

Tried with Cattleya maxima too. Didn’t work.

Given this kind of track record, can you blame me for my assessment of Cattleyas as a group for being intermediate to warm growing as a majority?