Cattleya dowiana

[Nataliwind]

Oh My Goodness!

Your plants are amazingly magnificent!

Your photos are beautiful. I am new on this board, and I am glad I have seen your beauties. I live in Fl. too. Central Fl.
Karen

Hi Karen!!
Thank you for your message and your likes!
Here is one of my message in this thread which I posted two years ago:

I have 5 dowianas in my collection: this one , C. dowiana var. rosita (another Black Rot survivor, remaining 2-bulb division), C. aurea (should bloom next year), C. dowiana Chrysotoxa (in sheath) and C. dowiana (Costa Rica) in bud. The last one is a young plant with two buds on spike and should bloom very soon, probably next week.

The first and last plants on the list have died. C. aurea is the one in bloom and C. dowiana Chrysotoxa (Panama form) is another one in bloom. Very stubborn plant! It produced sheaths in 2012 and 2013 but never bloomed till now! C. dowiana var. rosita is still alive. Since 2012, I added to that list three more plants, two "aureas" and one "rosita".

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Great collection of dowiana . Who can resist those gorgeous lips on them. Nice shots of them, Natali !

Look at those lips. Stunner!!

Wow. good collection of dowiana. congrats on the bloom natali. have not seen this many variants. sad we don't get these here.

Thank you, gentlemen!!

[Catt Mandu]

Great story and photos! I hope yours continues to recover from the rot; I hear this is a common problem with this species.

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Oh, realized that some of the plants in the early post may not be the same ones as in your most recent posts!

Anyway, I hope they continue to grow and bloom well.

[Nataliwind]

Great story and photos! I hope yours continues to recover from the rot; I hear this is a common problem with this species.

---------- Post Merged at 11:48 AM ----------

Oh, realized that some of the plants in the early post may not be the same ones as in your most recent posts!

Anyway, I hope they continue to grow and bloom well.

Thank you!
Unfortunately, that Cattleya did not recover; both divisions died. Anyway, it was an interesting experience. Another blooming C. dowiana, s. page 4 of this thread, died one year after from Black Rot. I still have three plants from my original dowiana collection which I mentioned in this thread. Two of them just finished blooming.
I agree, the species is very rot-sensitive and does not like to be disturbed. You should not divide the plants unless absolutely necessary.

[Dorsetman]

Temptation, thy name is dowiana....
I love them, and I hate them - the latter because I just don't seem to be able to grow them - at least not to any level of success that I can recognise.
But I expect that I shall succumb, the next time I see a one on a dealers display - which actually does not happen very often in England.

[angel]

soooooooo beautiful. That lip is exquisite. And all-day fragrance when other orchids are fragrant only at certain times of the day, or not at all!

[phraggy]

Talking to an old orchid lover today and we were talking about rot. I have been plagued by this on my phrag collection of which I have lost over 50% of my stock
collection. He said he had also been troubled by this a few years ago but overcame the condition by using either bleach or Dettol ( don't know the dosage) and spraying them with the solution. That's about all I know but I will try it next time I see any problems of any description be it mealy bug,spider mite or any of the pests we encounter.
Thanks Natalie for all the info in this thread,
Ed

Ed

[kdennis14]

I do hope you find out why and get it under control.
Good Luck to you.
Karen

[nightwings]

I certainly hope all has turned out for your dowianas since this thread goes back a ways. I just found it while researching the species as I have an adult of Costa Rican origin arriving with a shipment next week. I now live in Sonora, Mexico and really appreciate all of the advice gleaned from this thread and can prepare myself for the challenge. As they say down here, "Bien hecho!" with all of your efforts. I do plan to mount it in a basket of proper size and watch for any rot issues. I suppose I should use some preventative fungicide treatments also.

[Dorsetman]

Patience pays off !. Well done.