Cattleya orchids empty sheaths?

[Carie]

Hi Yew Sung, do you put your cattleyas out in full sun? I've read that cattleyas require lots of light but when I tried putting a couple on my east facing balcony with my vandas, they got scorched so they're parked against the window behind mosquitoe netting.

I'm not complaining though. From starting out with everything dying to having new roots and new pseudobulbs, I'm still happy. Will work towards the blooming part.

[TwoStems]

Not to threadjack, but as I haven't had a blooming catt yet I'm curious: what's with the nubbins in the center of p-bulbs with leaves? I know they bloom from the sheaths there, but will these nubs ever amount to anything or is it done growing for now?


Best of luck to you and blooming your catt!

[serama]

Ali, the "nubbins" won't amount to anything and are normal in immature pseudobulbs. Mature plants should in theory boom from every single new pseudobulb that they produce if they are grown correctly, BUT not all cattleyas and their hybrids produce sheaths (this depends on the parentage as some species, particularly intergeneric hybrids, naturally lack sheaths). Those that don't produce sheaths flower directly from the centre of the leaf axis, but then you can already see the young buds when the leaf unfurls, they don't start out with those nubbins and then produce buds later on. I even have a hybrid that can't make its mind up and produces both pseudobulbs with sheaths and pseudobulbs without sheaths ... and it blooms from both of them.

[catttan]

@Carina : not in full sun, but under 50 percent shade cloth. I grow 24/7 outdoors and the daytime the temp average 32 deg C and night.time temp 26 C . Humidity is always over 75 percent.

@ Ali : your plant looks like a seedling and that nub won't grow any more.

[TwoStems]

Thanks guys! I bought it as a "bag baby" a couple of years ago, so it's probably still got a year or two before it's mature enough to flower. It's a Blc, so it might be a compact grower?

[angela]

" Never cut the dried brown sheaths off. They can surprise you with buds when you least expect it sometimes."

I agree with Tucker85. This is particularly true with C. skinneri. Almost all the sheaths will dry off and just when you think that all is lost, the whole plant will burst into bloom from those dried sheaths.

[Awkward Orchid]

Hello Remo, how did you go with this Cattleya? Did you get any blooms from the dry sheaths? I purchased one a month ago with 2 very dry sheaths and they are both starting to get a tiny bit of a green growth at the bottom (directly under the sheaths). I have my fingers and toes crossed!!