How do you know when there will be a sheath?

[escualida]

Hi everyone, this might seem like a silly question but I've only been growing orchids for a short time and in that time I have never had a new lead form a sheath. My question is, when a new lead is growing, at what point do you know if it will have a sheath? I think I read that it develops at the same time as the lead so if the new pbulb reaches full height and doesn't have a sheath does that mean it won't grow one?

Thanks in advance!

[isurus79]

The flower sheath should start forming as the leaf is opening up on the new growth and is getting fairly large. A flower sheath is no guarantee of flowers, however. It just means that the plant is old/large enough to flower.

[NYCorchidman]

You should be able to see the tip of sheath as the new leaf of about half way or less above its protective cover (don't know the name for that structure).

Then I have a mini catt that makes no sheath but flowers regardless, but I think that either depends on the variety or up to some weird plant as mine. lol

I found that some hybrids make sheath and flowers follow almost immediately while many other just have sheath that sit there forever until it's time to flower.
My Golden Sands that flower each spring make sheath in the middle of summer and they stay that way until late winter when you see the buds developing inside.

then I had some that made sheath and never flowered from it but dried up.

[escualida]

Yes I know that a sheath doesn't necessarily mean flowers.

So I'm asking because I have a L. tenebrosa that I bought a few months ago, it's fairly big, probably about 20 or so p bulbs, but it looks like it's never flowered or even produced sheaths. Is it possible that it may never flower? I don't know if the previous owner didn't give it enough light or what but regardless of light shouldn't it at least produce sheaths?

[isurus79]

Interesting. It sounds like it is big enough to bloom unless its a whole bunch of immature plants still potted together. Can you post some pics?

[silken]

Originally Posted by escualida

Yes I know that a sheath doesn't necessarily mean flowers.

So I'm asking because I have a L. tenebrosa that I bought a few months ago, it's fairly big, probably about 20 or so p bulbs, but it looks like it's never flowered or even produced sheaths. Is it possible that it may never flower? I don't know if the previous owner didn't give it enough light or what but regardless of light shouldn't it at least produce sheaths?

My Laelia tenebrosa flowered last summer with 5 or 6 pseudobulbs for the first time since I had it which is a couple years. At the moment it has two new growths. One is about 8 inches tall with the leaf not fully developed and a large sheath protruding from it. the other is several inches smaller and the leaf isn't long or open yet and I can't tell if it will have a sheath. Mine bloomed in summer last year. I have it under 2 HO T5's thru the winter and it has purple speckling from the light. In summer it gets good light in the greenhouse without the T5's. Hope that helps.

OrchidWiz suggests light of 3500 to 4000fc and says if it doesn't bloom, it is likely not getting enough light. Increase it gradually so it doesn't get sun burned.

[CR7cristiano]

Increase the light enough but not so much that the leaves are really warm to the touch and also increase Phosphorous to help roots and flowers develop. Good Luck

[NYCorchidman]

The fact that you bought that plant in such a large size and you don't see any sign of previous bloom spikes or whatsoever, to me it means the plant was not grown properly or it is just one of those nonflowering catts.

I see one particular eBay seller based in Florida who sells large multigrowth catts that (based on my examination of the posted photos) never bloomed and have only very few spikes when there are TONs of pbs.

[escualida]

Here's a picture of the plant. I haven't had it for that long but I've definitely increased the light in the past month, hopefully it will be enough to get it to bloom next time around. Right now it has 17 pbulbs and 2 leads so it's definitely blooming size...



I should also add that the pot it's in is 6 inches, you can't really tell from the picture

[isurus79]

If that is in fact one plant, it looks to be of blooming size. Increasing the light should assist greatly in getting flowers. When you eventually repot it, I would definitely check to see if it is one plant.