purple pigmentation problem with Cattleya aclandiae

[professor plant]

I have had a Cattleya aclandiae for about a year and a half now. When I got it, the plant was stressed from shipping. Since I brought the leaves have blushed very heavily with purple pigment under the same lights that I grow Lepanthes, Restrepias, Masdevallia's and other, generally lower light plants.

I do not know why this is happening since my care. One thing I have noticed is the plants new leaves, although smaller, only have the more acceptable spotting on the leaves. The spotting is very minimal and natural from what I have seen in some aclandiae's. I have also heard that it can also have an indication of plants with darker flowers, but I could be misinformed.

Can anyone please help with some advice on what my error may be? Did the plant have a difficult time adjusting to the contrast of natural and artificial light? I have not had this problem with other plants if I adjusted the distance of the plants to the lights. Shouldn't this plant demand a higher amount of light than what I have been giving it already?

[escualida]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the blushing, if the leaves were burning on the other hand, that would be a problem, but from what I understand the blushing on orchids is like when humans get a tan, but not harmful lol.

[WhiteRabbit]

It does seem odd that this species would show signs of getting high light under the same light given to lower light plants. I'd go slowly introducing it to higher light.

[Leafmite]

Purple spots on the leaves are perfectly normal for C. Aclandiae.

---------- Post added at 11:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:53 AM ----------

I grow my aclandiae in nearly full sun outside in the summer and in a south-facing glass door in wintertime, mounted bare-root.

[RJSquirrel]

they turn purplish and can even border on being completely black.

The tale of 2 aclandiae

I have 2 of these one on the top shelf in high light and the 2nd on a lower shelf unit outdoors in the same rack but gets a little more cover from the surrounding plants.

The one on top that gets brighter lights new growth (1) came out almost black it was so purple. Its starting to turn back to green but its looking more like the remnants of a bruise with it being almost yellow.

The 2nd one got lower light and stayed pretty much green and shot out 4 new growths all looking normal green. Ill get pics of this and show you what I mean. I might seem haphazard in my approach to some but I can still tally results

So my feel on this is too much purpling, the plant spends a lot of energy producing this for protection. It doesnt hurt them but re allocates the plants energy output to purpling the leaves.

While the other one grown under slightly lower light has put out more growths bec it didnt have to protect its leaves and spent its energy making more plant.

There is a fine line between too much and not enough and that line is Just Right

I really cant say about whats happening under your lights but I myself in 3 years have never bloomed one under lights in any condition purple or not. Always been outdoors with these.
but good luck they are nice flowers and worth waiting for

[isurus79]

Catt aclandiae loves sun. I grew mine in full Hawaiian sun from sunrise until about 2PM or so and I got 2-3 separate flushes of growth/blooming cycles each Jan-May (yes, 2-3 separate cycles in the first half of each year!) and then it would basically go dormant for the rest of the year.

Growing under lights should work, but not at a Lepanthes brightness.

I have to ask though, what part of the aclandiae is red/purple? Is it just the new growth or is the fully matured, older bulbs/leaves too? The redness is perfectly normal for new growth, but a pure aclandiae will never have purple on its adult growths that have hardened and whose sheaths have dried up. If you are seeing this redness on older leaves/bulbs, your plant is not pure aclandiae. These guys will turn a light yellow/green when getting the appropriate sun. On other Cattleyas, however, a good purple/red coloration will mean that it is getting optimal amounts of sunlight!

Edit- Getting darker flowers from Catts with more red pigmentation is true for many species, but not others. Redness in the leaves is actually one of my criteria when picking out seedlings that I use to get better colors, but again, it only works with some species. Since aclandiae is naturally pretty dark, this method is not necessarily as useful as with other types.