Help with laelia purpurata
 

I am new to Laelia's and I recently acquired one. It is going like crazy. There are many growing roots and a new lead. I am giving it a lot of light and I water it once a week. However, when I was reading a culture sheet I read something about letting it dry over the winter. I am wondering how you grow this orchid. (light, water, temp., humidity, etc.)

PRC11,
First up Purpurata's are Cattleya's, it sounds like you have it growing well and have the correct info on how to grow it.

Warren

I think there are care sheets on the forum somewhere but I can't find them now that I want to share it with you! lol Laelias are treated just like cattleyas. After they flower or produce new growth (if they are not of flowering age) they enter a dormant period through the winter whereby you give them no water at all until the fallowing spring when they start to grow again - then you start to water them again. If I can find a care sheet for them I'll let you know unless someone else gives you the link or details how to find them - I'm new to this forum :) they like a lot of light all year round really, with seasonal variations in night and day temps. You'll find your own watering frequency depending on where you grow it - in the house, greenhouse etc. Summer max temps should be around 85F and down to around 60 - 65F at night. In the winter I allow mine to go down to 50 - 55F during the night and up to around 70F during winter days. They can tolerate slightly more or less though. The seasonal and day/night temps should be followed. I have a temp difference of up to 20 degrees between night/ day in summer and winter. This will stimulate your plant to flower. I used to get masses of flowers following this method but my method may not work for you. hope this helps a little. Good luck!

Temperature, water and light.
 

PRC11,

Kelo is right about the Summer max. temperature.
The winter temperature can be even a little lower. 45ºF is no problem.
The difference in between day and night temperature doesn't need to be 20ºF.
10 to 15ºF is also fine.
Cattleya purpurata is blooming late spring and some of them early summer.
In their natural habitat they receive less rain during summer right after they finished blooming. In autumn and winter they receive a lot of rain.

I don't recommend to water them a lot during fall and winter, but never let them get dry.
As a general rule they should get regularly water during the growing period.
When the pseudobulb and leaf are full grown you can let them dry in between watering. Also after they bloomed you should let them get dry in between watering.
But never stop watering totally.

Cattleya purpurata need as much light as other Cattleya. The leaf color is the best indicator for the right amount of light. If the leafs are light green the light is perfect.
Dark green leafs indicates to much shadow and your plant might not bloom.
Yellow leafs indicates to much light.

Hi, I only have a young plant of this - I've had it about a year and it's still maybe a couple off blooming size, so I can't add much to what's already been said. I did give it a dry winter rest (watering only a little every 4 weeks to stop excessive shrivelling) and it's all plumped up and growing again now.

However, if you're interested, there was a long thread on here (I think late summer/ autumn last year) where it was discussed whether the correct classification is sophronitis, laelia or cattleya. I seem to recall that it was quite interesting, but I can't seem to find it at the moment!

Mine have gone down to frigid temps this winter. Now would I recommend that for anyone....no. Some of mine are just too large to hoist around any longer. Nothing came in this winter, unless there was a sheath with bud potential.
I have an old clone of Laelia purpurata 'Carnea' that never left the back porch. It has several sheaths for late spring early summer blooms.
I seldom water these guys during winter.

I have three and have been unsuccessful re-blooming them primarily because I cannot get the temp variation in my house necessary to provoke them to flower. One is huge with more than 12 pseudobulbs!
I have dried them out through the winter, supplement the sun with grow lights etc. and I get tons of "happy growth".
Each of the three or four years I've had them I have done this....but foliage is foliage :_(
Fortunately, I will be solving this problem shortly and expect great results :D

Species are a lot more finicky for this and fortunately, the hybrids are bred to be less so.
Thus, the reason I have BOTH :rofl:

PS. C. percivaliana is by far imho the easiest cattleya species to flower in the house.

This leaf colour can be an almost crucial indicator of how your plant is doing. Personally, I'm not wary of a little sunburn on my catts leaves - but not too much!

Also don't forget the age of the plant. L. purpurata by average is a very large plant w a foot long bulbs and another foot + longer leaf. I haven't seen many purpurata clones that stay smaller than 2 feets, except var. canea with tent to be more compact.