My First Cattleya

[NYCorchidman]

I should find this farmer's market. lol

I avoided cattleyas for the same reasons, but now I have like 10 of them, most of them big! Who would have thought? haha

[Bud]

Lovely flowers....it is also a compact plant just right for the windowsill. The seller must have forgotten to write the name that is why it got a blank tag=if it was a NOID the seller wont even bother to insert the tag. It seems like a hybrid of rupiculous Laelia and a Cattleya specie by the looks of the flower.

[Optimist]

10 bulbs for 10 bucks? You got more than your money's worth. This is gorgeous.

[seaj]

Originally Posted by silken

What a cutie! I don't know what it is tho. As for when to expect it to bloom again, they all differ. Some only bloom once a year and have a rest and growth cycle. Others don't take much of a rest and produce blooms on every new growth. Many of the mini cats are known for blooming on most new growths. So you could get blooms several times a year.

When you say a plant blooms on every new growth, does that mean is blooms whenever a new pbulb matures, regardless of the season?

Originally Posted by Tindomul

Very pretty what ever it is. It does look unique though so ID might be easier than expected.

I have tried simple google image searches, but there are so many hybrids to sort through.

Originally Posted by FSUOrchids

Just a guess, but it looks like a Potinara hybrid

I'm not familiar with cattleyas at all, but it does seem to fit in with the potinaras. The closest match that I could find was actually a potinara.

Originally Posted by dounoharm

wow! you got a deal for $10!!!! heck you got flowers, buds, and a new growth which should flower too!! you cant buy cut flowers that last that long or are half as beautiful!! name or no name, you got a real deal there!! there wont be a way to identify it without a tag, there are just too many hybrids out there, but man, you sure got a winner! good luck with it!!

That was a hard $10 to part with, but your words have certainly lifted some of the guilt away. I probably wouldn't have bought this if I had more time to think about it at the time, but I was in a rush to catch the bus so I was significantly more impulsive than usual. Buy now, ask questions later right?

Originally Posted by cbuchman

Very nice! Noid or not, it is very pretty. Does the tag have the vendor name? Maybe you could call the person who sold it to you or the grower if one is identified.

This vendors at the farmer's market here don't exactly cater to hobbyists. They mostly focus on phals, and I don't think I've ever seen any of those tagged. Every once in a while you can find 1 plant among a whole tray that has a tag, probably used to ID the whole batch. I will try to get back on Sunday to ask the vendor anyways and to check if he has anymore of these plants with a real label.

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

I should find this farmer's market. lol

I avoided cattleyas for the same reasons, but now I have like 10 of them, most of them big! Who would have thought? haha

If you're ever in the area it's nice to check out the local growers, though moving plants in and out of California seems complicated. This catt may just be my gateway drug. At the rate I've been going, I'll soon have 10 too! I'll try to stick to the mini/compact ones though.

Originally Posted by Bud

Lovely flowers....it is also a compact plant just right for the windowsill. The seller must have forgotten to write the name that is why it got a blank tag=if it was a NOID the seller wont even bother to insert the tag. It seems like a hybrid of rupiculous Laelia and a Cattleya specie by the looks of the flower.

WHY DID YOU MAKE ME GOOGLE RUPICOLOUS LAELIA??? Now I have more plants to add to my want list... The compact size is definitley a plus, though it would have been nicer if the plant was even smaller since my plant stand is full.

Originally Posted by Optimist

10 bulbs for 10 bucks? You got more than your money's worth. This is gorgeous.

I'm gonna be counting pbulbs everytime I walk by the sales table now.

[plumania]

Very beautiful flower. I say it is worth every penny you spent on it. That is actually a great price for a blooming Cattleya . When I go to the shows, blooming ones sell generally for $25.

I also did not like cattleyas, or orchids much because the ones I came across sounded too difficult to grow (killed a white Phal which was a mother's day gift from hubby who was challenging me to grow something different) and had no scent. Cattleya looked to gaudy ....until I saw one in person.Then I attended Ft. Lauderdale Orchid show and smelled a Cattleya. Rest is history.

I have at least 20 cattleyas now. And first it started with compacts, now I have some large ones too.

By the way, we have a social group for florida growers. Please join. I learned a lot there . Before joining that, I killed a few Cattleyas and almost gave up on them.

[silken]

seaj, yes, regardless of season, when a new growth is mature or almost they produce a sheath or a spike. That could mean blooms 2 or 3 times a year. The mini Catts are being bred for frequent blooming and good colour and form.

So long as you don't over-water this and give it good light it should be happy. Catts. like to drain well and dry quickly and should be allowed to dry before you water again.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Beautiful, I love the Catt's.

[NYCorchidman]

Where is this market?
I'm serious!

I can always drive them into the next state and then fly back to NYC. hahaha

[seaj]

Originally Posted by silken

seaj, yes, regardless of season, when a new growth is mature or almost they produce a sheath or a spike. That could mean blooms 2 or 3 times a year. The mini Catts are being bred for frequent blooming and good colour and form.

So long as you don't over-water this and give it good light it should be happy. Catts. like to drain well and dry quickly and should be allowed to dry before you water again.

I think I'd prefer more frequent bloom times vs. only once a year. I guess that means I'll need more mini catts now since my other orchids are pretty set in their blooming schedule. The cattleya growth cycle still confuses me a bit since I'm only familiar with oncidiums and phals, so this plant will have to teach me the ways of the catt.

As for repotting, I'm thinking of plain leca or semi-hydro, though that's not a transition I'm looking forward to. It's currently in moss right now and I'm afraid to screw up the roots.

Originally Posted by plumania

Very beautiful flower. I say it is worth every penny you spent on it. That is actually a great price for a blooming Cattleya . When I go to the shows, blooming ones sell generally for $25.

I also did not like cattleyas, or orchids much because the ones I came across sounded too difficult to grow (killed a white Phal which was a mother's day gift from hubby who was challenging me to grow something different) and had no scent. Cattleya looked to gaudy ....until I saw one in person.Then I attended Ft. Lauderdale Orchid show and smelled a Cattleya. Rest is history.

I have at least 20 cattleyas now. And first it started with compacts, now I have some large ones too.

By the way, we have a social group for florida growers. Please join. I learned a lot there . Before joining that, I killed a few Cattleyas and almost gave up on them.

I was planning on going to my first orchid show early next year, but with prices like that I should probably just wait until I have a job to make the trip. That, or just go for the seedlings.

Cattleyas always seemed common to me, and their foliage can't really stand alone as appealing, but the mini/compact ones that bloom more often sound like the plants for me. I have purposely only collected mass produced orchids, thinking that if they must be vigorous and heavily hybridized if they were so readily available. Species seem to more specific about their growing conditions, and that's not a challenge I'm prepared for. All that I know now is that I'm a Catt fan too.

I'm actually in the San Francisco Bay Area, but Florida seems like the place to be if you want to grow happy orchids so maybe I will join one day.

[Laserbeak]

Beautiful and unusual. It looks almost like a phal.