Project 2016: Cattleya walkeriana

[catherinecarney]

I found a short article on walkeriana that includes pix of it (and other orchids associated with it) in the wild.....Here's the link if anyone is interested:

Brazilian Orchids - Orchid News 33

According to this article, they are found growing on rocks, usually in the thin layer of detritus on top of the rocks and rarely on trees.

Catherine

[estación seca]

When reading about habitat, always remember plants grow in the microhabitats where they grow not necessarily because they like it there, but because they better outcompete other plants there.

[Leucadian]

There's a second article about C. walkeriana in the blog that catherinecarny mentioned:

Brazilian Orchids - Orchid News 33

Unfortunately the author doesn't permit clipping, so I'll paraphrase here. He writes that eventually flowering alternates between the leafless pseudobulb and the leafed pseudobulb. Has anyone seen this?

[catherinecarney]

Estacion seca--I agree that plants (pretty much all living things, really) grow in areas where they are best adapted to the conditions and therefore outcompete other organisms in those particular conditions. Orchids, by the very nature of their widely dispersed windblown seeds, often don't land on ideal sites. It's a testament to their hardiness and adaptability that they can and do grow in so many places when deposited by chance.

Leucadian--thank you for the link to the additional article! I've skimmed it (the translation/word choice is a bit rough) and will read it more thoroughly later.

I don't necessarily think we HAVE to ever duplicate conditions for any given plant in order to have it do well, but I DO think that taking a look at where an organism originates can give us insights into what we need to do to provide better growing conditions. I know from my own personal experience that I didn't start to get better at growing species orchids (and I still have a LONG way to go in that department) until I started to look at how they grew in situ.

Catherine

[No-Pro-mwa]

Wow Leafmite all of yours look so good. Yours all seem to be growing closer together than my biggest one. My 2 seedlings are close together but my other one is growing long between psb.

[gngrhill]

First photo is of my walkeriana, Carmela with it's one little 1/2 inch root., the second is my unnamed walkeriana with 2 live roots and one little new root and the third is the rock I plan on mounting it on. Don't know what kind of rock it is, but I thought the shape was just crying out for an orchid growing on it

[Leafmite]

That is one cool mount!

[No-Pro-mwa]

Ya it is a cool rock.

[Leafmite]

Originally Posted by No-Pro-mwa

Wow Leafmite all of yours look so good. Yours all seem to be growing closer together than my biggest one. My 2 seedlings are close together but my other one is growing long between psb.

Interesting. I think my walkeriana hybrids are doing the same, too. I wonder if this will change as these Cattleyas become more mature? It will be fun to see!

[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by gngrhill

First photo is of my walkeriana, Carmela with it's one little 1/2 inch root., the second is my unnamed walkeriana with 2 live roots and one little new root and the third is the rock I plan on mounting it on. Don't know what kind of rock it is, but I thought the shape was just crying out for an orchid growing on it

I'm a geologist, and I'm trying to puzzle out what the rock might be. Possibly some concrete that may have been placed around an iron post? (The red in the lower part suggests oxidized iron). You can do a simple test to see if it is concrete. Try putting some vinegar on it (both the light and dark parts). If it fizzes and bubbles, it is concrete.

I agree that it is an interesting shape and should make an interesting mount. Concrete is chemically similar to limestone; that could be beneficial for your plant. I actually use broken concrete in a pot as a substrate for one of my terrestrials (Bletia patula) that grows in the wild on limestone. It seems to like it.