BLC George King "Serendipity" Rescue
 

I recently found out that my room mate has had an Orchid for years, but never had any luck with it. I recently came into this hobby by buying a Phal. at Lowes that was in late bloom, and also to take up some time and to show my room mate with a green thumb that I (with my black thumb) could keep an orchid where he hasn't had luck.

I asked him to show me his Orchid and found it was a BLC George King "Serendipity", I believe theyre called Catts for short? This orchid is in bad shape. It was kept under grow lights that are on 12 hours a day and was very dry. There are four leaves. They are very shriveled and two are brown at the ends. They are in an orchid mix soil with rocks in the bottom for drainage. It has been like this for a year. He bought it bare-root in a plastic bag as a "grow your own orchid" from either Lowes or Home Depot.

I placed it on a counter outside a south facing window to the left, so it is southeast. My Phal. has done well with that placement so far and I cant find any information saying otherwise for this Catt. I also started feeding it with Better-Gro Orchid Plus 20-14-13. Which, again, my Phal. has done well with. Since April the Phal. has started growing a new leaf.

I want to know; what substrate to use - if this is inappropriate, what fertilizer to use - if any, how much light to give it, do I keep it moist or let it dry a bit before watering again? Any help is MUCH appreciated! I want to get this little guy better and then maybe even a spike within a year!

Post 4 more times and then post some pics! (Plz)

Cattleyas like a well drained mix. I have had great luck with plain lava rocks or lava rocks with a bit of added bark. What he has his George King in sounded right. I always fill the pot at least half way with rocks. They do not like to be left dry but they are somewhat "water hogs" during their growing season (now in NA). They like full morning light and somewhat shaded light after that. I happen to have a BLC George King Serendipity that I bought the same way (Lowes Baggie). It is doing spectacular in the situation I described above...

But, I had them in semi hydro for about two months before they showed live root tips, and then I moved them to pots and lava.

It will probably be several years to producing a flower since those bag babies are still very young plants. I have 4 full sized BLCs and they are at least 2 feet tall with huge leaves.

I'm not 100% sure if it even has roots actually.. It seems rooted in the pot but very loosely. When I picked it up it was flopping all over in the medium..

Would you recommend I keep it in this medium? I do have a lava rock that used to have a bromeliad in it, so it is made to hold plants and that's a really intriguing idea..

How old are yours? And what size do they have to be to produce a flower, since I already know its around a year and possibly hasn't grown much?

---------- Post added at 09:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:27 AM ----------

I will ASAP! (posting this to have another post and so you don't think I'm ignoring you - lol)

The ones that have not flowered are small and 3 to 4 years old. The ones that have flowered are maybe 5 to 7. I'm just counting leads. My BLC pink empiress is a multi lead Catt. They are in 6 inch pots.

I use lava in most mixes. If you don't trust it totally, you can mix lava and bark. Logically, the bark is good if you have low humidity and or can water less. The more I learn about velomin and CAM plants, the more I favor lava. Small chunks by the way. I sort my bags for appropriate pieces.

Okay. I wasn't really sure about the size of the lava rock. I've only really seen larger lava rocks, since I mostly know lava rocks as fish decorations.

I replanted with miracle gro orchid mix. It's mostly small pieces of bark. The old mix was pretty black, which I've read can lead to root rot. Speaking of, it doesn't have many great-looking thick roots. Most are thin and spindly. One was long but it was half rotted..

---------- Post added at 03:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:34 PM ----------

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Cattleyas like chunky, fast drying media. They need some air to be able to get to the roots. They also like to dry out completely between waterings. They require brighter light than phals but some protection from the mid-day sun. The fertilizer you're using sounds fine. Here's a link to the AOS culture sheet.

https://www.aos.org/Default.aspx?id=195

Thank you! I couldnt find a care sheet initially with a google search. So i joined this forum instead - lol.

Do you think the fertilizer is good for the Catt and the Phal both?

Don't worry, just give it good sun and plenty of water, and I will grow roots. It takes any rescue some time to get going. You need to keep it warm and sunny. I've seen a huge amount of growth in catts I bought as rescues the winter before last. They just languished, not doing much. I put them outside in may, and they are growing like mad.

Catts do not like a lot of fertilization. These are the kind of plants that would love growing on a stone wall. They are desert plants. Mine are doing spectacular in lava rocks with no organic material at all. Under a tree in "dappled shade" is optimum.

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