Otaara Island Flare - Cattleya

[Paphiogirl]

Helo all i just recently purchased my first cattleya, it is an otaara "island Flare" and it has the most heavenly fragrance. I had visited an orchid house about 20 miles from my house . I guess Orchids can find there way anywhere after a 2 hour long tour of his Humongeous greenhouses just loaded with rare orchids and some Extravagant Tropical plants. My first choice for me new orchid was this stunning paphiopedilum with three blooms, very similar in appearance to the paphiopedilum philipenesum (sp?) with long tendril like petals and a neutrally painted hood with stripes of caramel and cream. well come to find out this Specific hybrid was worth about 3,000 dollars and had a wait list of about 3-6 years. I felt a little embarrased, but at the same time proud of myself for having limited orchid experience, or a sharp eye for detail yet leave it to me to hand pick in my oppinion the most stunning flower. I did a purchase a beautiful specimen plant of Cattleya Otaara "island Flare" i never had a cattleya due to my fear of not providing ample light

But considering this green house was in my basic region of new england and did not recieve full sun but rather a diffused light due to the glass ceilings being lined with cloth, i figured why not give it a shot, i absolutely love the bloom and the scent is overwelmingly clean and cheerful, the pot i purchased has 15 different pbs about 7-10 have previously bloomed, should i divide this plant, I was told to leave it so id have a lush specimen plant but i figure if i divide it but keep it on the same pot each plant would produce new growth to bloom the next blooming season. Im not 100% sure which route to take, i know once the flower is spent i need to repot it divided or not, what does everybody else thing?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

[kiwiorchids]

WOW! 3000 dollars!? did you really go for it?

[Paphiogirl]

LOL heavens no id feel it to be sin to spend so much money, mayybbbeee if i was a millionaire, but otherwise i was afforded the opertunity to see it,i just wish i had written down the name I am however tremendously happy with my cattleya.

[kiwiorchids]

well fair enough! the most ive ever spent on an orchid is my fabulous Phal and DTPS that cost me 20NZD each, thats a bargain for a phal here!

[catttan]

Welcome Hiza. I admit to being a little lazy about repotting but there is actually no need to repot after every flowering. I only repot when the plant has outgrown its pot, that is the next pseudobulb will be growing outside the pot.

[jrfehon]

I'm not an expert on dividing orchids but I know with cattleyas if the division doesn't have a lead on it it'll take a few years to bloom. Catts grow in a line until they get big enough, then they'll grow in several directions at a time. I've been told it's a lot like a family tree. The first pseudoblulb is the great-grandmother, then the next the grandmother, a so forth. So if you divide a six pseudobulbs cattleya in half, three pseudobulbs per division, one of the divisions will have the older growths, which haven't produced new leads in a number of years. The older division WILL start to grown new leads eventually but the orchid has to adjust to that, which can take a few growth cycles. However, your cattleya sounds like it's pretty big so there might be a few leads on it already. Has anyone else heard it explained this way? Hopefully this all makes sense.

-Jason

[gardenguysorchids]

Hi, sounds like a wonderful place to visit and also leave some money behind.LOL Could you private message me with the name and location for the greenhouse? We vacation in New England at least once a year and I would love to add this to my places to visit. Thanks, Bill