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- - My first Cattleya (http://www.orchidboard.com/community/cattleya-alliance/91505-cattleya.html)

My first Cattleya

Yesterday I saw this lady and couldn't help buying it... it's my first Cattleya, let's hope I don't kill it.

Beautiful plant!

In my experience with catts (and I'm still a newb and have a long way to go), they do best with the following conditions:
1: high light levels--dappled shade and even some full sun--if they show purple markings on the leaves the light level is about as high as they can handle
2: good airflow--air movement either from natural breezes or fans
3: a reasonable day/night temperature difference--summer days around here are in the 85-95 range and nights may drop to 70 or lower
4: fast draining media that can be drenched thoroughly and then dry out almost completely before watering again

I'm a notorious over waterer, so most of my catt alliance orchids are on bark or stick mounts and I've noticed much better growth since I put the plants on mounts and started giving them almost full sun outside during the summer.

The parentage on your catt will also impact the conditions it will grow in--do you have any idea of the species in its background?

Hope this helps!

Catherine

What a beautiful one! Good luck!

Quote:

Originally Posted by catherinecarney (Post 814651)

I think I can give it good conditions - lots of light and a light breeze, and day/night temperature (when the current heat wave passes at last), but I must be careful with water...
As for its "parents", no idea. I found it in a supermarket, among a bunch of phals - I think someone placed it there by mistake, and it was the only cattleya in the store. The assistants in the store have no idea whatsoever about plants.

The good news is that most catt hybrids seem to be less picky than the species, so even if you don't know the parentage the odds are good you will be able to grow it!

A great part of learning how to grow orchids is learning how to "read" your plants and figure out what conditions they need to do well. Start with the general cattleya conditions of bright light, intermediate temps with a day/night temp drop, air flow, and careful watering and go from there. Most of my hybrid catts are hardy and forgiving, so with luck yours will be as well.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Catherine

Very pretty. Good luck with her.