Cattleya Help !!!!!

[Janagolf]

Hi ! My Blc. Husky Boy 'Romeo' HCC/AOS has two beautiful blooms on one leaf and has 4 other leaves. Yesterday the smallest leaf (2 1/4") was yellow on one half of it. Today the whole leaf is yellow. Can someone please tell me if I should cut it off......I would assume so. This is my first Catt. and I know little about it. Purchased it about 11 days ago and have probably watered it twice. I have tested for dampness with a skewer before watering.
It need watering now. Maybe it hasn't been getting enough water ??? Thank you for your help, Janet (janagolf)

[wetfeet101b]

Hi Janet,

Please post a picture and we can see if the plant has any problems.

[wetfeet101b]

I am posting the photo for Janet.




Janet,
The yellowing of the oldest leaf is normal for cattleyas. When the leaf has reached the end of its life, it will wilt and eventually fall off.
The rapid yellowing could be attributed partially to the plant evacuating any available nutrients in the leaf in preparation for leaf drop. No sense in dropping a leaf loaded with nutrients - might as well take it back into the plant.

Rapid yellowing of ALL leaves at the same time though, is another matter and indicates a serious problem with the plant. Unless of course, the plant is deciduous.

Unless there are visible signs of infection, I would let the leaf fall off on its own. The reason is that when the plant drops the leaf, the junction is already calloused and minimizes the chances of pathogens getting into the wound.
If you cut the leaf then it creates a fresh, open wound that invites pathogens to come in.
I would only cut away leaves when absolutely necessary.

In younger plants, the leaf usually has a lifespan of one year. In older, more established plants, the leaves usually can live for as long as 3 years or more before showing signs of aging.

Cattleyas want heavy watering, and then allowed to dry almost completely before watering again. No spritzing of small amounts of water in between - unless it is mounted.

I hope this helps,
John

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Thanks, John. I am glad to see her photo.

Janet, to what John has told you. I hope you will be able to use the photo instructions and software I posted in the HOW TO POST PHOTOS 101 thread so you are able to keep posting your photos.

Cheers,
BD

[Janagolf]

John, thank you ! That yellow leaf was the newest one. This morning I gave the plant a heavy watering and a light spray of a triple action of Insecticide/Miticide/Fungicide. Hope that was okay. I don't want it to be permanently Dorment !

Thanks also BD ! I will try again to use the instructions in your video 101. Like I told John, I am stuck as to what to put after the http:// ? Am I the only one with this problem? I have self taught myself with the computer and am, therefore, limited as to what I can do. I can send pictures via email but that isn't helping here. Thank you both, Janet (Janagolf)

[Brutal_Dreamer]

John, thank you ! That yellow leaf was the newest one. This morning I gave the plant a heavy watering and a light spray of a triple action of Insecticide/Miticide/Fungicide. Hope that was okay. I don't want it to be permanently Dorment !

Thanks also BD ! I will try again to use the instructions in your video 101. Like I told John, I am stuck as to what to put after the http:// ? Am I the only one with this problem? I have self taught myself with the computer and am, therefore, limited as to what I can do. I can send pictures via email but that isn't helping here. Thank you both, Janet (Janagolf)

Hi Janet -

No problem. After the "http://" in the popup window you would simply put the link to your photo on the internet. So, for instance say you had a photobucket account (a place where you upload your photos to the internet - storage place online). Let's also say that one of your files was called "IMG_3009.jpg".

You would simply look at that image on-line at the photobucket site. Most of the time, there is a link displayed that you can copy and paste into a forum such as ours. That link is called the bbCode link. It would look something like this (using our example above)

[img]http://www.photobucket.com/janet/IMG_3009.jpg[/img]

You would simply copy that link and then paste it right into the message window (your reply or new post). OR you could copy from the "http://" through the ".jpg" and put that into the mountain activated popup as described in the HOW TO POST PHOTOS 101 link.

If you are emailing photos, then my *guess* is that your photos are not already stored on-line somewhere. If that is the case, then you will have to upload your photos using the "manage attachments" button below the reply box (as seen in the OrchidTalk help video # 3).

When you email a photo, you simply attach the photo to your message. The same is true here. It is very similar to emailing a photo. The only difference may be that you may be able to email photos that are any size, but here on the forum, the size is restricted to make sure that people can view the images you upload as quickly as possible and within the screen of their computer without having to scroll.

Please feel free to PM me or post any questions you have. I hope I answered the 'http://" question. (BTW that is called the URL (Uniform Resource Locator). In the pop-up it asks for your URL. That simply means the same thing as the "http://..." address in case that causes confusion. I noticed that when I posted the images in the HOW TO ... 101 thread. I should have explained that there.

Cheers,
BD