Cattleya amethystoglossa - how big to bloom?

[smweaver]

Does anyone on this list grow Cattleya amethystoglossa--and if so, would you mind sharing your cultural regimen, please? I have four plants of this species, and unlike my other cattleyas, this one seems to like growing in extremely bright sunlight. In fact, it may sound a bit difficult to believe, but my amethystoglossas (which receive direct sunlight from around 7:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.) are able to take more light than the aerides (odorata, quinquevulnera and houlletiana) and vanda species (insignis and merrillii) that I have. Even so, for some reason I'm not having any luck getting them to bloom. Two of the four are seedlings (and therefore not expected to flower anytime soon). But the other two are adults (each of the tallest growths is approximately sixteen to eighteen inches tall). They grow easily for me and get watered and fertilized regularly. Nice upright pseudobulbs and hard, almost plastic-like leaves that are a uniform light-to-medium green, outlined and spotted in magenta, and loads of healthy white roots. But I must be doing something that's not to their liking since they haven't yet bloomed and I've been growing them for a few years now (the two adults, that is). Does anyone who has experience with amethystoglossa know how big they have to get before they will flower (usually)--or do you have any cultural "tricks" you do to encourage them to flower? Any advice I can get will be greatly appreciated.

Steve

[Intruder]

Cattleyas amethystoglossa
Look on this link, you will find good informations about his culture. Do you respect the winter resting period?
Claudy

[Gin]

Mine finally bloomed a couple of months ago was about ready to give up on it after 5 years It is grown about the same as yours . Hang in there it will . Gin

[Becky15349]

Maybe these need a change in temperature from day to night (usually at least a 10 degree change) to initiate flowering?

Also, since flowering is sometimes considered a survival tactic, maybe allowing them to dry out a bit more in between might "stress" them a bit and bring on some blooms. That has worked for me....but it was always on accident! haha...

Good luck!

[Gin]

You might have something Becky regarding the Temp. change I had mine on a screen porch (enclosed) with plastic last fall before moving it into the green house , it is about 10 degrees cooler out there in the fall . Gin