New to Cattleyas
 

Well, sort of. My first cattleyas were Pot. Susan Fender Cinnamon Stick and Blc.Kuwale Gem. I got them both in sheath last summer from Kawamoto orchids in Hawaii.
Cinnamon stick bloomed shortly after bringing it home and it was amazing in color, frangrace, and all else!
The other one grew new growths and the sheath dried up with no flowers. I ended up dumping that one although now I think I should have kept it.
My cinnamon stick grew two new leads but they are relatively small and no flower sheath, I believe my condition didn't provide enough sun. now each of those two new leads are making two new growth. I'm moving to a new place with south facing windows, so I hope I will have some great flower show on that cinnamon stick this summer.

Now, two days ago, I went back to NYBG store and picked up a mini catt called Lc. Secret Love "Angel". It smells very sweet, which I love, and is spreading in two directions, so I'm excited about its potential. Its color is much more intense than in the picture btw.

Just yesterday, at a farmer's market, I picked up yet another cattleya, but much bigger one called Lc. Golden Sands "Elizabeth" AM/AOS. The vendor had five of these, each of different size. I was very tempted to get the biggest one with tons of flowers, but after the owner told me these grow really fast and the smallest one (5 pbs) would reach the largest size he had that day (20+ pbs) in about 3 years, I took the smallest one. I must have a thing for yellow because now I have yellow oncidium, golden girl, yellow paphs, yellow dendrobiums, yellow daffodil (also picked up from the market) and now yellow catt! :biggrin:

Now, one thing I'd love to know about these guys, Lc. and Blc. and Pot. do they need different care or is it pretty much the same? also, do they require some "chilling" to flower again?
Mines will all be sitting in warm apartment year round.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Ooh sounds like your collection is growing fast! I love that yellow Catt!!

In general most catt, pot, blc, etc take the same conditions.

So they all need chilling to induce flowering?

The little pink one is filling up the room with its sweet scent by the way. so nice~ :)

They all take basically the same culture. Cattleya alliance orchids usually don't bloom because of temperature change. Mostly the photoperiod (length of daylight) tells them what time of year it is and they bloom accordingly.

Welcome to the realm of Cattleyas! My favorites are the white fragrant ones, coccineas and micro-mini Cattleyas...I have a yellow Catt that is fragrant and its one of my prized posessions...

Thanks for the tip: Tucker ! Phals and Cyms need to feel the cold , whereas Cattleyas feel the long days and short nights...

Ok, then I don't have to worry about them. My Cinnamon Stick bloomed in the middle of summer, then they grew two new leads, which had no blooms. Maybe that's because they were responding shorter days and longer nights?
This yellow one is supposed to bloom late winter/spring, so I guess this one response to shorter days and longer nights to flower.
The little pink one is supposed to bloom all year long, so I would have to find out myself.

My phals are indoor year around and they bloom around winter time. They are tropical and cannot take nearly as cold as Cyms REQUIRE to flower unless if they are Aussie cyms that take heat all the time. I'm thinking of getting Black little sambo. :)

Sometimes when an orchid that normally blooms in the fall is crossed with an orchid that normally blooms in the spring, it may lose it's tendancy to bloom at a certain time. Some of those hybrids can bloom throughout the year on each new psuedobulb. That can be a desirable trait for some growers. There are also a few species that can bloom throughout the year. C. walkeriana is one that I have that blooms several times a year. Other species will bloom at the same time each year like C. percivaliana that usually blooms at Christmas time.

Thank you, Tucker.

By the way, C. walkeriana is a difficult one to grow. what's your opinion?
I'd love to try if it's something that blooms several times a year! :)

The little pink catt stayed in bloom for a long time for catts. It just dropped flowers the other day after being in bloom for over two months.

My yellow catt has been growing a new lead since March and is now reaching up to 10 in tall. It is also growing quite a few roots as well.
I just noticed today that there was a small sheath developing in the center of the leaf. I was so excited to see that.

The person I bought this catt from told me that this catt blooms once a year in the winter/spring.
It already had flowers in March.

So here's my question. is this sheath going to sit for a while until if it finally make some flowers next season or is it going to be just an empty one and flowers are going to be found on the next new growth?