Cattleya bloom bends and face downwards.

[Jeremy T]

Thank you so much for all your advise.

All her cattleyas are hung at least 5 feet above ground (to prevent slugs and snail's mischieves).

As per all your advises, I will try to help my mom (late 70s) with more watering(maybe setting up an auto watering system), get someone to help her add more calcium and mag, monitor future spike growth and discourage any animals that might be hanging around her orchid shed. I remembered seeing frogs hiding in some of the pots too, so will ask someone to help setting something to get rid of frogs in the area.

Thank you so much again for your help.

[Roberta]

Why worry about frogs? They eat insects. I have a friend who grows completely outside, has a stream on the property and lots of frogs - some just live in the enclosed shade house. And do a very good job of keeping the bugs under control. The only concern is that if you have frogs you don't want to use pesticides. But if you have frogs you are less likely to need them.

[Jeremy T]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Why worry about frogs? They eat insects. I have a friend who grows completely outside, has a stream on the property and lots of frogs - some just live in the enclosed shade house. The only concern is that if you have frogs you don't want to use pesticides. But if you have frogs you are less likely to need them.

Oh ok. That makes a lot of sense. it crossed my mind of the possibility the frog pushed/added weight to the spike while jumping/ hidding away from their natural predators(snakes). Yes they do have snakes in the garden.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Frogs, as opposed to toads?

Frogs are generally awesome for the above mentioned reasons as are some toads. There are toads you don’t want like bufos but you’d know if you had them. They get HUGE

I have probably 50 Cuban croakers on and around my property. They love chilling on the orchids. Same with the lizards, geckos and anoles...spiders too. All helpful to orchids

[Jeremy T]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

Frogs, as opposed to toads?

Frogs are generally awesome for the above mentioned reasons as are some toads. There are toads you don’t want like bufos but you’d know if you had them. They get HUGE

I have probably 50 Cuban croakers on and around my property. They love chilling on the orchids. Same with the lizards, geckos and anoles...spiders too. All helpful to orchids

Hi, yeah its frog (pic attached). We have toads too but they tend to hide on the grown instead of on hanging plants. Oh yeah, theres lizards, something that looks like pogonas, spiders and occasionally the Zebra Doves that makes nest in the orchid shade.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Jeremy T

Oh ok. That makes a lot of sense. it crossed my mind of the possibility the frog pushed/added weight to the spike while jumping/ hidding away from their natural predators(snakes). Yes they do have snakes in the garden.

It's a definite possibility. Were those orchids in a position where frogs may have been able to get to? I initially discounted it because they were hanging in the air.

[Jeremy T]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

It's a definite possibility. Were those orchids in a position where frogs may have been able to get to? I initially discounted it because they were hanging in the air.

Well, I have seen these frogs ended up on the roof. So there must be some ways that they managed to hopped up from the ground to a lower hanging pot and continue to jump to other higher pots.

[SouthPark]

Jeremy ----- there's a real possibility that could be what it is too. Because the whole sheath getting bent right over like that is something that draws attention. The nice thing is that the flowers are ok ..... looks quite nice there.

[Jeremy T]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Jeremy ----- there's a real possibility that could be what it is too. Because the whole sheath getting bent right over like that is something that draws attention. The nice thing is that the flowers are ok ..... looks quite nice there.

Thank you. It is good to take into every consideration and hopefully come up with a plan to get better future blooms. Just spoke with my mom and she is still very happy to see the flowers. She has waited for over a year to see the bloom for the very first time. And she is very happy to leave the current blooms alone so that she doesnt damaged it.

She did ask me to call her again later when she has a paper and pen ready so that she can write down everyone's recommendations. She has a few more cattleyas that havent bloomed yet and she wants to get as much knowledge as possible hoping to get best bloom display.

Once again, thank you so much for everyone's help.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Jeremy T

And she is very happy to leave the current blooms alone so that she doesnt damaged it.

Good call on that one. Because just bending it back upright could end up getting into a situation worse than what we started with.