Rlc. Liu’s Joyance care/advice
 

First and foremost, I do not have very much experience at all with Cattleyas, so please forgive my inexperience/overanalysis. I grow in zone 10b.

I purchased a Rlc. Liu’s Joyance on an impulse while at the hardware store and would like to eventually mount it(if I can manage to not kill it) where it will have support/wind protection. With my first Cattleya(Rth. Chief Glory ‘Red Ant’;another hardware store bag baby in a 2” pot), I followed advice to not disturb the root zone until new roots began developing; over a month ago I mounted it when a new root emerged to a length of about 0.25”. Since then(and after a week of transplant shock at first), the initial root has grown and attached to the mount and has been joined by three new ones since the beginning of June.

While I am tempted to follow suit with the Rlc. Liu’s Joyance, I hesitated and figured I would ask first. It has a new growth and what seems to be the beginning of a root, but I’m not sure. The biggest reason I am hesitant is because the Liu’s Joyance seems to have a lot of C. dowiana in its ancestry while the Chief Glory seems pretty C. coccinea dominant; I don’t want to generalize and assume they’re going to react the same.

I’ll try to include a decent picture so we can be step closer to being on the same page. Thanks in advance!

Good call on your caution... C. dowiana produces new growth like you ut see, but the new roots likely won't show up for months. That's a reason that C. dowiana has a reputation for being difficult because people don't pay attention to that habit. The species tends to root in the fall, which is totally counter-intutive for potting. So you're wise to wait until you're sure that it's rooting.

Thank you Roberta!

Having things mounted is such a time saver in my specific scenario, but I’ve been playing catch up, so I nearly rushed to ruin with this one! While it adapts to its new environment/decides to grow roots or not, I will be reading up on this counterintuitive C. dowiana habit!