Sick Cattleya

Hello!

Still new to the boards here, but I actually found this site while searching for help for my first orchid that I've had for a bit over 3 years now. When I got this orchid for my birthday, it had these gorgeous deep red-orange flowers and was bright green with upright leaves. For a while, it was happy in its tiny 2.5" square pot, blooming about every 6-7 months... but then it started to climb out of the pot and bloom less frequently.



So, about a year ago, I repotted it. ... I hasn't bloomed since.... Then... in the recent stress of packing up for a move, I made a fatal error in watering. I think I first under-watered it in combination with a southern exposure window... followed by perpetual over-watering for maybe a month. Now, poor orchid's leaves are yellowing, folding and wrinkling... some have even yellowed and fallen off.



After reading up here and on other sites, I decided to try repotting after trimming back all the dead roots in the hopes that I can save it.... I think there might be 2 plants fused together here... I have 13 p-bulbs on this plant.... I found only 4-5 healthy, green-tipped roots after it was done... better than none, even if they are only about 0.5" - 0.75" long.



I put it back into a smaller pot... about 4" since I thought that more stability with so few roots would probably be in it's best interest... I hope this works...



Any tips to help her get through this would be appreciated. I've had to pull all 3 of my orchids away from my new Eastern-facing window because I noted some purple-ish burns on the outsides of the newest leaves...

Also... I believe this is actually a hybrid and not a true cattleya, but I've lost the little plastic spike that told me... Any guesses? I remember it's a Gold Mine and I think it's Cattleya.. but honestly, I have no clue.

You are right in this is a hybrid catt. I'm thinking it looks like an Slc. (Sophronitis x Laelia x Cattleya).

Your plant suffers from dehydration caused by root loss. In addition to following correct watering procedures and repotting (which you did), I would keep the plant in lower light (an East window, maybe?) and keep the humidity really high (70-80%) while the plant is recovering. A hot South window is too much for most SLCs (as evidenced by burn in your photo). When it plumps up, you can keep it in your South window, but do add some shading...a sheer curtain, another larger plant, etc.

Good luck!

I've pulled all my orchids back away from the window so direct sun isn't on them but for an hour or so after sunrise and only ambient light after that once I recognised that burning. Thank you for the feedback!! Good to know that I'm on the right track...


As long as I'm trying to ID varieties .... This one was bought at the same time as the sick one.. This one grows 2.5" - 3" pale purple flowers what actually have a faint sweet scent to them! I haven't seen it bloom since my mom bought it years ago so I can't remember if it blooms 1 or several flowers from the same spike. I'm not sure if this is the same kind of hybrid or a different one? Thoughts? Ideas? .. Too bad we couldn't DNA test these!

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Ok! Mom found the tag for her old plant and this is what it says.. although I'm not sure what the abbreviations mean or if I should change my general care for these two hybrids at all? Can someone please help me translate this and let me know if I should change what kind of light or watering schedule I use?

The second one is: Bc. Hamana Soft
CC. Angelwalker 'OC'x B.digbyana

And the flowers look a lot like this that I found... which has the Angelwalker in its name, too...

This hybrid is a Bc. Hamana Soft. The cross that makes up this hybrid is C. Angelwalker 'OC' x B. digbyana. The 'OC' is the clonal name of Angelwalker. I've found that most B. digbyana primary hybrids can take must more light than say, SLCs. You can probably put this one closer to your South window, but watch for burn. It needs same watering and humidity as your other hybrid--wet to almost dry before watering.

Angelwalker = (C. Little Angel x walkeriana)
C. Little Angel = (C. Obrieniana x C. loddigesii)
C. Obrieniana = (C. dolosa x C. loddigesii)
C. dolosa = (C. loddigessi x C. walkeriana)

Once again, thanks for the info, Clint. It helps me understand my plants! Although, I already think I understand them better than I understand me!

Anyway...

An update on my sick catt - I was looking at the newer side of it this morning and I saw two eyes starting to push through from the base of the 2 newest leaves!!! If it's still trying to grow, that means it's going to make it, right????

Yep. If she's got active eyes..then she'll live. (Catts are much stronger plants than we initially give them credit for.)

Keep us updated. We want to see you current blooms!

That orchid has been my non-mammilian baby for the last 4 years and I've been beating myself up for the neglect.

The only thing I have in bloom right now is my new phal I bought at the grocery store this past weekend. I have 2 catt hybrids that probably won't bloom till at least fall and 4 newbies on the way from online orders - which I won't get till after I get back on the 26th from my best friend's wedding back in Michigan! I'm excited to see them (plants and friends)! One orchid was a growers choice vini paph in a 2.5" pot!

But anyway... here's my pretty lil phal! I'm not exactly sure what she is because she had 2 different label stakes. One said "wedding promenade" and I can't recall the other... But she just opened another bud late last night and it was half-open this morning!

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Hmm, no idea, but it's very pretty.
Connie

Ok, so I get home from work and the above shown phal was on the floor!!! Strong breeze or curious kitty are my suspects, but leaning towards feline fault.

I'm panicking because I basically had to do a repot and she's in bloom with one bud only about half developed and 5 flowers. The original potting mix was mostly rotting mulch that was probably bark and a lot of the inner roots were black and icky.. I found that trying to do a one-handed repot (using the other to support the spike) is tricky! One of the roots managed to force its way thru a 1" thick chunk of wood (easily split with fingers).. I gave her some new bark mix and removed as many of the dead/broken/rotted roots as I could one-handed... I hope she's ok and doesn't lose her pretty blooms!!! ... Oh, and the other tag on her says "Dtps Long Pride Fancy 'MP-0553' CR" (whatever that means).

I'm fairly certain this fat guy is my culprit...


Meiko has been VERY upset that my orchids are taking up space on my desk that he used to sit on and watch out the window while I was trying to avoid typing on his tail... This cat also has a shoe fetish.... and once peed in my ex's shoes after we'd had a very heated argument. But he's also the jealous type.