Leaf or Sheath on Potinara Island Girl?
 

I have 3 totally nube questions here and greatly appreciate your advice.

1. In the attached photo, is the 1-inch growth in the center of the leaf, another leaf or a sheath?

2. Do Potinaras usually send up sheaths or do the buds just kind of pop out and get bigger?

3. Does anyone have a photo of what new buds on Potinaras look like in the very early stages?

The photo is a Potinara 'Island Girl' (Little Toshie 'Gold Country AM/AOS x BLC Goldenzelle 'High Nooon') It's a new cross.

Thanks again for your help!!!

Signed: Totally Anxious Nube:lol:

I think this is a second leaf. If it does have a sheath, it will be very flat and papery. If it doesn't have a sheath, the immature buds will look just like that, buds that are very very small.

A1. Are all of the other pseudobulbs on your plant carrying 1 leaf or 2? If 1 leaf then I am inclined to think it is a flower sheath, BUT cattleya hybrids sometimes produce 2 leaves on a usually 1 leafed plant.

A2. It has been my experience that Cattleyas (including Potinara) generally produce a flower sheath and when the culture is right, buds will develop within. Sometimes young plant can form a bud or two without a sheath, but generally they fail to develop fully and yellow and fall off.

A3. Sorry no picture. Try an internet image search. Once the leaf/sheath has fully emerged you may be able see something by shining a flashlight through the sheath. Often the buds develop later on as the plant progresses toward its flowering season.

Potinara Island Girl
parentage Pot. Little Toshie x Blc. Goldenzelle, registered by Fender's Flora in 2007

Thank you for answering my nube questions. The P. Island Girl is currently a single leaf plant. Like Dave says, it might do a double leaf and the growth looks kind of thick. My only comparison plant is my P. Hazel Boyd. It has almost all single leaves, but one or two doubles to confuse the issue. I got Hazel Boyd in bloom so didn’t see the sheaths develop. Hazel has thicker and shorter leaves than Island Girl and I suspect she’s pretty far removed on Potinara family tree.

No luck on the Potinara or Cattleya sheath photo search. I haven’t tried the word bract yet in the search. Maybe that will work. If I get one with buds, I’ll post a photo for the other nubes like me and hope the buds don't blast.:D

When the growth gets bigger, I’ll try the flashlight trick. The waiting is killing me. I need to buy another orchid to relieve the pressure.:rofl:

Thanks BlazingAugust. It does look kind of thick for a sheath.

I agree that it looks more like a leaf than a sheath. Many of my catts will grow a double leaf once in a while. Sheaths are not reliable indicators of anything. Normally leaves grow with sheaths and then buds form inside the sheaths maybe months after the sheath formed. Some leaves will get sheaths that never bloom. Some psuedobulbs will bloom without any sheaths forming. You just never know. Good luck.

Tucker,
Thanks for looking. I'm eager to get a bloom to validate my current attempt at Cattleya culture. I just need to be patient. At least my phals are spiking in the phal culture window.

So I am curious what the outcome of this was! Did you get a leaf or a sheath?

Thank you for asking. It was a leaf and there are no sheaths yet. However my Laelia Santa Barbara Sunset Showtime has a bud. It's a spring bloomer and I am eager for it to open. The Pot and Laelia are in the same window so I hope the conditions are right for the potinara too.

You have two catts that are on my wish list. I haven't found them that are available to me in Canada yet. I'll look forward to pictures when your Santa Barbara blooms!