cattleya and dendrobium
 

cattleyas are my favourites but they are the least flowering in comparison to den.what can be the reason and what can be done?

I have been reading up on them (both) since I have them, for about a week. From what I read, these are medium light orchids. They would need more intense light and can even tolerate some direct sun light. Like more orchids, they need a temp difference about 10 degrees F from day to night in order to trigger them to bloom. Dendrobium needs a Winter rest. Some hybrids may not need a Winter rest. Cattleya blooms in early Spring through Summer.

thanks for info

Not a lot. Denphal hybrids can flower for pretty much the whole year, but Catts are a bit more restricted.

I have 6 Catt. and suceeded to see blooming only once.

I went mad this year and stuck all my catts onto branch mounts. It is hard to tell, because I don't keep records, but they do seem to be flowering more.

That's how they are "mounted" in the wild. :) No need to worry about root rots because all excess water would either get drained or evaporated. Just makes sure the humidity is high enough to retain enough moisture until the next watering cycle.

I'm growing more and more of my cattleya species and hybrids on mounts and they're definitely happier. I've also started giving them more light, including direct sun to dappled shade outdoors for as long as the weather will cooperate (just brought them in last week, in fact).

Evidently I'm doing something right, since they're growing better, root rot is pretty much a thing of the past, and I've got sheaths and spikes forming on plants that haven't bloomed for the past couple of years.

The senior membership here (thanks, gang!) kept saying more light gets catts to bloom, and they were right....

Catherine

It does up the work you have to do.. Basically everything that I could think of went up on a mount this year, including an oncidium and an odontogossum. I went from zero to 80 mounts. Like I say tho, I do think they are looking better for it.