I was unfamiliar with Cattleya rex and the dowiana rosita——just looked them up; striking form and colors. What special acquisitions, I look forward to you sharing photos when they bloom for you.
Thank you for the information below. Particularly interesting to read the distinction of a noticeable rest phase after a mature plant blooms versus a plant that is growing onto maturity. Also, I appreciate your observation about the roots branching even in a rest phase.
Although I’ve grown Catt hybrids for nearly 35 years, I’ve just begun growing the species types in the past year. Because the species can be traced back to their native habitat and the environmental conditions there, I feel the challenge and responsibility of trying to recreate those known conditions as best as possible. Knowing that the dowiana culture is a stretch for the growing conditions I can provide indoors in RI; I just needed to grasp onto some clues the plant was showing me and I was getting frustrated that cadence was not as obvious as I was expecting it to be.
Thank you all for the detailed and helpful comments; you all are the best
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Originally Posted by My Green Pets
Lots of good info here.
I've grown Cattleya rex from flask since 2014, and just got some dowianas a couple of years ago.
As Roberta, Jeff and others have already mentioned, resting will come once the plant is mature and flowering. Once the plant enters this cycle, you should see the different phases pretty clearly. You'll notice it doesn't do much growing after flowering, but it depends on the plant. Some of mine put out one or two smaller, non-blooming growths in the autumn after flowering.
The advice to keep watering during active growth is sound. So is the suggestion to be very wary of temperatures. Lately the number I'm seeing a lot is minimum 65F/18C for dowiana. If you're staying above that, and hopefully getting the plants warmer during the day (80F/27C), I see no reason why you can't continue 'growing season' conditions.
Currently one of my dowiana rositas is putting out a fat new growth, while its sibling has been sitting quietly doing nothing for a few months. So, I water the growing one more, and the resting one less.
One last observation, the plants' roots can continue to grow and branch vigorously during this rest period. I think that to keep them happy requires a certain amount of moisture as well. Maybe high humidity is enough, but mine get sprayed at least twice a week.
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