Any Recommendations on How to Make Cattleya Grow Upwards?

[jhodgson]

My plants are in a sunroom with all glass walls, but the roof is solid with only skylights. I have noticed new growths on some of my plants tend to grow horizontally towards the sunlight. Does anyone have any recommendations to make them grow upwards?

I was thinking of staking them, but I don't want to damage them in any way. Also is there any point where staking would not damage the plant?

[Kmac]

If you are careful, staking should be fine. They even make wire rings on stakes for those catts that like to grow sideways. You should also be sure they are getting enough light...but some of them do just like to grow that way.

[Cjcorner]

I have several cattleya that no matter where I put them, how much sunlight they get...they grow sideways. So...rather than fight with them I put them in baskets and put a skewer in a couple places to hold them in until their roots grow some.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

The easiest way is to repot and stake the orchid plant. Make sure the light is coming from the top of the plant and the plant should grow toward the light.

cheers,
BD

[pavel]

IME, trying to stake a new growth when it is very young is a recipe for disaster. Often the new growth snaps off or gets crimped and dies. If the growth is very new, you can place something snugly under the new growth. This usually prevents the growth from continuing downwards and starts to push it up. Additionally, turn the pot so that the growth is now facing away from the sun. It should start bending upwards in order to reorient on the sun. Once the growth gets longer and has started to form the pseudobulb, it can be staked bending up the new growth by small increments over a matter of days or weeks until it is upright.

Having said that, then there are still those plants which will stubbornly refuse to cooperate. I actually have a minicatt which has stupidly sent 3 growths straight down into the media, never to resurface.

[wetfeet101b]

You cannot really fight phototropism long term. You can stake and train the stems but they will keep veering towards the light.

How far are the plants from the glass walls? and what direction are the glass walls facing?
You could move the plants closer to the wall with a brighter sun exposure and see if that voids the plants' need to grow sideways.
You could also try placing supplemental lights under the ceiling to try and cancel out the dominance of the light from the side.