Toshie's Magic in bud again!

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by terracotta7

Thanks so much, NYOrchidman!
I have so much to learn!
Although I am sorry that some of your orchids don't bloom like they should, it is a small comfort to me that I am not the only one in this world who cannot get the foolish things to make the beautiful flowers come. If someone as experienced as yourself can have trouble with some orchids, then I don't feel so bad. Like you, I have these orchids right up by my best window. I left them outside during the summer. They are growing new leads all the time and the leaves are a good color. So frustrating.
So....I am going to look around for the Toshie's Magic and give that a try. I also have some hope for this potinara I already have, although it seems to be taking its own sweet time about things.
Thanks again to taking the time to reply!!!
Kathy

No problem, Kathy.
We are all here to help each other out, right?

One thing I heard about cattleyas is that some plants just refuse to bloom. I'm not sure if that's no bloom at all or just very infrequent blooming, but some hybrids are just genetically inferior that way and do not bloom well. When I clear out and have more space in the future, I plant to buy a bunch of cheap seedlings, and find out which ones bloom the best and keep only those as some people do.

Most of mine are quite young plants that flowered for the first time (when they did), so I'm yet to find out more about who's naughty or not.

Also, even the ones that are supposed to bloom off every new lead, may sometimes skip blooming once.
They will make new lead with no sheath or bloom, but then on the next mature lead, they will flower.

The one that I have most problem with, it's been growing like crazy with not a single sheaths!
Very frustrating! but it's an awarded clone and the first flower was very satisfactory. I am waiting for another season before I decide to dump it.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by silken

NYC, I would love to be your dumpster when it comes to you tossing your orchids! I don't have many yet but from what I have read and my own few, it seems the mini Catts quite often are reliable bloomers on every lead compared to some of the larger hybrids.
Some of the Catts need a cool dry winter rest which maybe you can't give in an apartment. Also I know there are some that only bloom at a certain time of year so other leads don't bloom if not mature at the right time. My Lc. Canhamiana is that way. Its a very vigorous grower (I recently split it into 3 nice sized plants) but for me it only blooms in spring/summer and many leads have never bloomed. It's in the greenhouse where it does get a lot of light.

I'm becoming more interested in the mini Catts because of their size and bloom productivity.

If you have several in particular that won't bloom, I can look in OrchidWiz and see if there is anything in particular that they need such as cool rest or really high light.

PM me with your address and I will ship you a few orchids. I'm not sure how tough the Canadian customs are, but we can certainly try, right?
I do buy a lot and dump out a lot too.
and not all that I dump out are bad. they are just not right for me I guess. or the other way around.

Can you tell me which ones in particular need cool dry rest? some of the newer catts I obtained are not even found anywhere on the internet, but I can sort of figure out what's in the background based on the look of the flowers and the plant.

I too have Lc Canhamiana (Azur Sky), it grew nicely but then it turns out it had some white soft bodied scales. I removed them as much as I can, but it's still around. One new lead that grew in June has a large sheath. Scale attack left some damage ( those yellow blotch spots). I thought about dumping the plant because it might serve as a spread of scales. I found small but decent sized colony of white scale on one tolumnia that's sitting right next to it. I cleaned them all off right away and keeping a close eye on them.
I checked all other orchids and so far, haven't found any scales, but I'm quite scared as scales can spread via air movement when small and I have lots of good orchids.

Anyway, I also have one other Lc, that's yellow flowering, and it grew two nice leads with sheath on each.

I think the grower told me those two LCs are spring bloomer. So like you mentioned, those sheaths might just dry up and go away, or bloom at the end of this winter.
I'm on the lookout for similar looking but more frequent bloomer.

[NYCorchidman]

Empty sheaths: LC Canhamiana "Azur Sky" AM/AOS, LC Golden Sands "Elizabeth Off" AM/AOS

No sheaths but good growths: POT (now RLC or something, isn't it??) Cinnamon Stick "Susan Fender" AM/AOS.

A few others are already gone. lol

and some with walkeriana in the background are probably not registered as I can't find them anywhere online.

Cool rest is something I can't offer. I have one ceologyne hybrid (but no correct ID so not sure if it's cool growing or not, but mostly cool I guess) and one nobile hybrid. I am not sure if they will bloom here although they are sitting right next to window that does get cooler than the rest of the house, but not that much.
I will eventually get nobiles just for blooms in the winter and spring. I love them, but if I can't make them flower again, there's no point and they are pretty cheap, or I found a store where I can get them cheap. hopefully they carry them every winter/spring.

[NYCorchidman]

Being terrible with cattleyas, I'm happy to see just one bud from this group of orchids, but as the bud grows out of the small sheath, I see another bud, so I'm expecting to have two flowers.
This picture is about one week old, and the buds are getting big quite fast.

[silken]

Way to grow!

[NYCorchidman]

Thanks!
I'm so excited. I killed the last blooms by spraying some mix to get rid of thrips. well, all I removed was my flowers.
I got to enjoy the bloom less than two weeks.

There are no thrips now and with cooler temperature, I expect to have the bloom for a long long time this time around. will see.

[james mickelso]

Please don't throw any orchids away. Take them to your nearest orchid club and let someone else kill....er....grow them. Lots of newbees out there who need practice killing....er....growing orchids. Even if you don't belong to that club give the orchid a chance. On another note, orchids usually have color differences. Even with the same environment. Especially the hybrids which are made of different parents and that is what comes through changing the color of successive blooms. Empty sheaths are a sign of immaturity or environmental stress. The proper amount of nutrients at the right time will usually solve the problem. Usually with catts, about two thirds of the way through the pbulbs growth, a change from high N to low N and higher P and phosphorus will solve the problem. Also micro nutrients are esesential for good blooms.

[escualida]

I would also like to volunteer to take in unwanted plants, I'm in NYC so I could easily pick them up from anyone in the area. I'd also be willing to pay for shipping if you're not close by.

[terracotta7]

Thanks for the input, James!

Two (beginner) questions: When you are talking about micronutrients, what are you specifically thinking of and how would I "feed" my catts the proper amount?

How do you judge when a pb or new lead is two thirds grown? Do you compare it to the others on the plants? Do you look at length and circumference of the growth or just length?

Maybe that was three questions...

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by terracotta7

Thanks for the input, James!

Two (beginner) questions: When you are talking about micronutrients, what are you specifically thinking of and how would I "feed" my catts the proper amount?

How do you judge when a pb or new lead is two thirds grown? Do you compare it to the others on the plants? Do you look at length and circumference of the growth or just length?

Maybe that was three questions...

Micronutrients are things like copper, iron, manganese, boron, magnesium, calcium, cobalt, molybdenum that plants need in minute amount but essential for proper growth and function of cell activities.
You can buy any fertilizer that contains these elements. The label on the product usually lists what is included in it.

By saying two thirds, I think he meant approximation. You cannot exactly tell when it is two third way mature. Even under maximum condition, each pbs size may or may not be the same, making it nearly impossible to tell. so measuring the length or circumference of pbs is no good.
You sort of have to tell by just looking at how much of growing pb is out of the pb cover (or sheath whatever the term is for the structure that surrounds the leaf and pbs in the early stage, the part that eventually brown and dry up as pb matures).