Cattleya hybrid lost its only new growth…
 

Up until this year, I’ve never grown anything Cattleya-related in general. Since February, I bought a couple of bag babies from the hardware store over the course of a couple months, but I wanted to have something a little more curated than the leftovers on the Better-Gro rack. I recently obtained 6 Cattleya hybrids from SVO(first time buyer) and they blew me away upon unpacking; they dwarfed the bag babies! While unpacking, I found that one plant(my favorite of the bunch, a Lc. Mini Purple ‘Coerulea’ 4N x Lc. Blue Design’Huge Blue’) had its only new growth break off but otherwise the rest of the plant seems like it is doing fine.

Digging around Orchid Board, I found a thread(in Advanced Discussion) where some seasoned vets had mentioned cutting new growth on Cattleyas(and other genera) to generate new leads; do you think that my plant may be able to put out another growth along those lines or does that “pruning” apply to larger, more established plants? Could this damage have been too much too soon for this plant or will we survive with just some set backs?

If it helps any, I’ve included a photo of the plant in question.

Thanks again!

Image at this URL
D1 C66856 D238 43 EB B230 ADE25 C6 BD457 — Postimages

Nooooooo... Don't cut anything! Pruning is for fruit trees not orchids! You will not help it grow, you will kill it for sure! It makes a new growth once a year. When it gets bigger it may make more, it is the new growth where the flowers come from.

There are lots of crazy notions around that people find on the 'nwt. Not here, swatting down misinformation is a never-ending process.

When the plant starts to climb out of the pot (maybe with the next growth) it will be time to repot but it doesn't need it yet. Most orchids like "tight shoes". Putting an orchid in a too-large pot exposes it to a wet, airless environment - root death. Your goal is "humid air", so fairly large bark, especially for Cattleyas, is very good.

Forgive me for any misunderstanding; I didn’t cut anything from the plant—the new growth snapped off either in transit or during unpacking. That thread seemed to me to simulate the damage that had occurred; the picture isn’t the greatest, but it was a very clean break at the what I guess was the beginning of the leaf.

This is the smallest of the bunch, so it’s gonna have to stay put till recovery, the others are already climbing out to meet the world!

Sometimes growths break... (happens to all of us!) With Catts, usually at the growth point there are actually two - called "eyes". Sort of an insurance policy. So if a new growth gets broken (they are fragile) very likely the other eye (little bump) at the same point along the rhizome, will "activate" and produce another growth. So just be patient, and observe. Very likely, you'll see some action soon. The plant will be fine.

The Fairy Orchid Mother has Spoken!

I’m so glad that something so fragile isn’t a dealbreaker, but then again I shouldn’t be surprised by something that evolved a work around for that kind of thing…No excuse to behave in a brutish manner though!

Thank you again, and this won’t be the last you see of me here in the Cattleya section!