My mini catt (secret love "Angel") in bud!!!
 

I'm so excited because this is going to be first time that I rebloom a cattleya.

This was bought in bloom back in February and stayed in bloom forever! then it is in bud again now already! gotta love this one for sure!
By the way, it has two new leads, one with a small sheath that just popped open today and the other one with two leaves with no sheath. bummer! but at least I got one lead with buds on it. :)

The first picture below is when I found out the sheath had some buds inside a few nights ago.

This is amazing to me because I have other cattleyas that have formed sheath, but it's not doing anything but just sitting there forever.

For me, when they bloom it is really a nice treat. I love the flowers because it is the final reward. But when they have new buds or you can see buds in the sheaths....it is heaven for me. Anticipation? Excitement? Breathless anticipation. And checking day after day (or in my case, hour by hour). Congratulations dad!!!! Please send along some pics when the delivery is complete. I love to see other peoples flowers know how much labor pains they went through.

I have trouble being patient with Catts. So many times I have had sheaths that never did anything. I'm having better luck these days, but they do require more patience than many other orchids.

Light, warmth, good quality water, and the right ratio of N-P-K at the right time. And enough old pbulbs to help things along. Given the right conditions they will bloom as three year old pbulbs. Two old pbulbs and the newly matured will bloom.

woo hoo! :wtg:

I know what you mean. I have one BLC (well, I don't really follow the new name change lol ) that I bought in bloom last summer. It made four new smaller leads without bloom. I thought about dumping it many times, but I'm almost shocked that I still have it. My paphs, phals, oncidiums all bloom nicely almost like clock. no bloom means valuable space wasted for me. Maybe I'll dump it when I'm done posting this one. :rofl:

I have one LC that has a large (or otherwise promising?) sheath but not doing anything for months now. hmmmm
That plant is now growing another new lead. I'm hoping and guessing that these two latest leads will eventually bloom together during the winter time. I think I can wait for that to happen. :)

This little guy though, stayed in bloom for a long time for catts (nearly 3 months), as soon as this new lead grew to be as large as the previous one, there was a small sheath, which at first disappointed me for the size, but then it turns out that's normal for this plant. I now see three little buds poking out that little sheath.

The funny thing is the other lead with two new leaves is overall quite small and has no sheath. I wonder why. Somehow the plant decided to focus its energy on one of the two new leads, or something is not right...

When I bought it, it had two seperate bloom spikes. Two flowers on each.

Well, I'm still very excited about the second bloom as I have always felt like I'm a loser when it comes to cattleyas, or angry and thought about throwing them away all together! :biggrin:

I would have a hard time throwing an orchid out because it's not blooming. I know what you mean about valuable space though! I'm a windowsill gardener in a house that isn't very big. I would experiment with changing the amount of light it gets and perhaps a drop in temperature. I have a few that I fought with for a few years before I finally got bloom. I'm still waiting for the 7 year old phrag that I got as a seedling.

I'm a windowsill gardener myself. Trust me, if I had more space, I wouldn't throw them out. lol

I love to see plants grow and bloom when they should. If I don't see flowers, I don't like it too much. hehe

The most problematic catt I have, was in the west window while the last two leads were growing. Since I moved to a new place in the spring, it's been sitting in a south window. The newer leads are exactly the same size as the two leads that grew in the west window. strange...The grower told me it's an "easy" grower that should bloom off each new lead.
Maybe it is one of those "bad" catt. I read somewhere that sometimes cattleyas just don't bloom ever. The author of the same article recommended buying cattleyas in bloom or ones that had previously bloomed to make sure they are not non bloomers.
Then again, mine did bloom although it was just one flower. I wonder if a cattleya can bloom once and then never bloom again. well, everything is possible, right?

It's been an easy grower for sure, just not great grower (reduced size since flowering) and non bloomer. lol

They certainly are a challenge. Maybe that's why we love them. I like to try a little of everything, though vandas are what have been the most rewarding for me.
I bought an asco Suksamran spot last year in spike and it dropped the spike. Here it is a year and a half later in perfect health and no bloom! This is supposed to be a good bloomer and I have no problem with Vandas. Weird. I'll hold on a bit. I don't want to throw it out yet.

Now the three buds are getting really fat and about to open very soon. I see some pink purple tips on two of them.

The other new growth with two leaves are not as big as th previous one and has no sheath with dried up spike.
I noticed that it is growing one small bud. Hopefully it will flower eventually, but I'm happy with three healthy buds on the other growth.

It makes me think what causes one growth so large while the other one doesn't, and these are all on the same plant.

can't wait to see the flowers open and smell that wonderful fragrance!