Northern and southern hemisphere
 

Hi all :waving

Have a question regarding the rest periods for Cattleyas - given that their natural habitat in S. America is in the southern hemisphere, I am just wondering if that therefore means that:

Assuming for example purposes a cattleya with a natural winter rest period in the southern hemisphere:

1. Will this therefore translate to it having a natural 'summer' rest period if you were trying to grow it in the northern hemisphere?

2. If the cattleya is grown in the Northern hemisphere long enough, would it always stick with having a 'summer' rest period in the N. hemisphere, or would it eventually swop around back to having a winter rest (for the N. hemisphere) period?

3. Alternatively, is the answer simply based on the temperature differential during the seasons, and accordingly the rest period will just be triggered by whenever it is that such differential matches what the cattleya's natural environment is/was? :hmm


Thanks in advance, and hopefully I phrased my questions correctly or in an understandable fashion :D

The annual biological cycle of a Cattleya is regulated by a set of factors, acting together or isolated, like length of the day (actually length of the dark period), temperatures, dry or wet season and so son. When grown in the northern hemisphere the biological cycle is kept. This means that, for example, if the plant rests in the winter and blooms in the summer in the southern hemisphere it will continue to rest in the winter and bloom in the summer in the northern hemisphere too, because the mechanisms that trigger the rest periods, the new growths and the blooms continue to play their role no matter where the plant is.
If you take a Cattleya from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere it is possible that the first bloom after the change occurs in the wrong season. But, then the plant will adapt its vital cycle and bloom in the right time.
Hope this answers your questions!:)

If plants are moved from south to morth or vice a versa it can take up to five years before they become adjusted to the change in the seasons, A freind of mine imported some cymbidiums from Australia for use in a breeding program back in 2003 and they are just now beginning to show the possibility of blooming, and these were mature blooming species when they were purchased.

Thanks very much! That was exactly what I was wondering... :)