Cattleyas in the rain
 

Hi ya'll,
I'm new to cattleyas. But in love big time.
Question,
Since we are approaching the semi tropical rain falls of summer - is it a good idea to put the cats out in the rain?
For instance, today is 60-70F but spray rain. It will go up all the way to 90 over the next few days. I bet that is too much.
Can anybody school me on this? Thanks!

Cattleya can handle rain in general, and down to 60F is no problem really.

But just watch it with the potting conditions. If a lot of rain is dumped into some media and pot combination ------- and if the media and roots become wet for too long with no air-movement - such as for a day or two days (I'm not sure exactly just how long is the danger time), then roots can run out of oxygen. This is for regular roots of cattleya.

It is however possible for catts to handle long rainy periods ----- such as raining all week. I think good air-movement and airy-enough media (eg. shallow pot and airy media) can help the situation. When we think of it, in some places ----- out in the wild, it really can rain for long amounts of time. But some differences between catts in the wild and catts grown at home include what the orchid is growing on, or growing in. That is, in the wild, the orchids don't grow in pots covered with some kind of potting media.

What SP says.
As long as the media is very course allowing the rainwater to run right through, they will love it.
When I grew in a GH all my plants were moved outdoors to a shade bench for the summer. Only drawback to doing that is you need to keep a sharp eye out for critters.

I sure agree with both those comments. And would add to the sharp eye out for critters. Over the years I've had some really nice orchids get really chewed up by grasshoppers, seemingly overnight. I still put 'em out every spring and leave them. But you have to be willing to deal with possible critter attacks... some of those bug bites will be on the leaves for a loooong time.

thankfully, gritters and grasshoppers is no big deal. my rooftop is 4th level. my only problem is, light is typically 10000- 15000 fc and full sun. Therefore, I have to keep them inside and have the fly screen open that they get air movement. my vandas are on the 2nd floor and get 1-2h full sun, my phals and the other cold growers are ground level and get indirect light and 68F AC air + humidifier. thats the set up.

can you make a shade sail or small shade house on the roof?

i second (or third or fourth) the above info and i grow my catts in full rain exposure year round in south Florida but i grow them in rock and coal and empty clay pots...nothing to get soggy

you know what, that is a great idea! I have a cabana up there but have to take it down when wind comes. I also have a telescope umbrella which is garbage. We are getting sails here for the company and I'll look at them first. If thats something useful I'll may get one myself.

on a side note,
I have my cats in terracotta and spaghnum moss. Reading all this I'll take them in today after work. I'm still very new to all this and need to learn. My biggest mistake was to start off with a lot of different things. If I look back I shouldnt have done that and concentrated on one or two different types to grow first.

We live in that townhouse for at least another year. After that we most likely want to move to the westcoast. Than I'll set up a dedicated greenhouse or something similar anyway.
When the summer is gone I probably give my plants to Chadwicks to board them for me.

thx

If you have regular summer rain, plants in tight sphagnum might stay too wet and suffer root rot. Sphagnum works great for those disciplined enough not to overwater.

this is one of the most accurate things I have ever read on the internet

Yep, and you KNOW he ain’t talking about you! :rofl: