Executive summary By Robert Roy
How popular is the cattleya orchid plants? Are they grown by hobbyists or not? How big is the flower? Cattleya orchids have been named since the early 19th century.
The earliest named cattleya was the Cattleya labiata. From the hobbyist perspective they are probably the most popular plant.
The cattleya orchid plants have one of the largest flowers, 5 inches across. Although the hobbyists are the ones particularly taken with cattleya plants now. They are becoming popular with non-hobbyist because of the size of the flower. For the cattleya orchid plants to become a main-stay of orchids several things are happening today. Cattleya orchids also will show the flower for more than 2-3 weeks and some of the hybrids have been shown to have flowers for up to 5 -6 weeks.
Some of the nurseries across the country will "board" your cattleya between blooming seasons.
Currently the orchid registry in England has not added many hybrids.
Cattleya Care: a bit more in-depth.
The bright light helps them to develop hard pseudopods. Humidity is the friend to cattleyas. The plant roots cannot sit in water for a long period of time or else they will get root rot. Cattleyas are orchids that can and should get dry between watering. To check to see if a plant needs water stick your finger about 1 inch into the potting material and see if it comes out dry or damp. If dry it needs watering. When watering allow the water to flow into the plant and then drain right out into the sink and not into the humidity tray. You can let the water water flow onto the plant for about 20-30 seconds and the pseudopods will get enough water for storage.
If plants are blossom in the winter or spring this means that these orchid plants deserve a rest period of about 6 to 8 weeks. If the plants blossom in the summer time no rest period is needed.
I have 4 cattleyas already bought as a very young plants. I hope they will bloom next year. I love their flowers, those colours . They smell well, do they ?
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