My first Cattleyas; dowiana & tokyo magic

Looking good! The Tokyo Magic is beautiful, I remember seeing them recently

Originally Posted by smartie2000

Looking good! The Tokyo Magic is beautiful, I remember seeing them recently

I'll be sure to run out and check on that today! (I'm sure it will frustrate my SO even more... hehehehehe)

As per the advice received I checked the pot for any rot and removed most of the sphag to avoid any in the future. I've replaced most of it with new bark (soaked overnight). Here are the pics.

This was actually the first plant that I bought and still had a very healthy root system. I've also tied up the p-bulbs a bit to "force" it to grow into a bit more manageable plant.

PS Please let me know if it is too much to add pictures to nearly every update.

What is the blooming size of dowiana? I have new p-bulb on my now. It is about 30 cm. The leaf is still closed. Could i hope for blooming this season?

My last bloom (and first of the plant) came from a 40cm p-bulb/leaf (from rhizome to tip of leaf). Some p-bulbs are not as long but thicker so I say it might not be a good guide to go with. The one before it that didn't bloom was 33cm.
Hope that helps.

Thanks Phyrex. I think my dowiana will bloom next year.

The current weather conditions here have been sweltering. The temp has been in the 90s with a heat index of the mid 100s, and 80 to 90% humidity. The orchids I purchased last week seem to be doing well. There was the beginning of a new pseudo on one of my Cattleya when I purchased it. It has grown an inch in the last week. All 8 of my purchases from last week are indoors with access to either south or north lighting, and one with filtered eastern lighting. The one with the eastern lighting has opened up the remaining half of its blooms. The real upside to this is that it is sitting on the night stand in our bedroom. My wife loves waking up and seeing it. With the extreme temps we are having, I sprits them about every three days, once is a good watering on Saturday. I did a sprits run yesterday, and the roots above the medium turned from a nice white to a medium green. I figure this is surely a sign that they are happy. I purchased 2 newbies yesterday. They were in bags and had a couple of the outer leaves were brown, but they each had several healthy pseudos, and the roots were a nice white color with little shriveling. That is to be expected due to their time in bags. One is marked COLMANARA WILDCAT ‘RAINBOW’, and the other is MTSSA. SHELOB ‘THE WEED’. From the pictures with them, they look like they are going to be a great addition to my others, and more of a darker and richer color than the pastels that I already had. Will post pics of the tags, maybe someone will be able to give me more info on them. I also went to a very reputable nursery in the area, and I cannot even describe what those orchids looked like for $25.00 and up. Most of them were in a pile of broken pots on the ground, and looked about 15 minutes from death