Cattleya rex 2022

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Light - I grow them under LED lights in a tent. The tent has one transparent side facing a window so the plants get eastern sunlight until about 11:00. Lights kick on at 11:00 and kick off at 18:30.
Temps - 28°C high, 18°C low (average) all year, relative humidity average around 65%.
Media - Most are in granite chunks in clay pots. A couple are mounted on hickory bark, and the mounts sit in clay pots.
Water - (March-October) Every other day on average, when pots are mostly dry. (November-February) Slightly less often, checking that pots are completely dry. I rarely flush the pots, but my goal is to do it once a month.
Fertilizer - (March-October) I am currently using K-lite 12-1-1 at 0.5 g per gallon combined with fish fertilizer 5-1-1 at 0.5 tsp per gallon. The result is around 45 ppm Nitrogen per watering. I am also experimenting with adding 1 tsp per gallon Epsom salts monthly as a magnesium supplement because many of the leaves have large yellowish patches. (November-February) mixture is reduced to around 15 ppm. I also drench the plants in 3 tablespoons/gallon of Inocucor in distilled water once a month.
 
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Light - I grow them under LED lights in a tent. The tent has one transparent side facing a window so the plants get eastern sunlight until about 11:00. Lights kick on at 11:00 and kick off at 18:30.
Temps - 28°C high, 18°C low (average) all year, relative humidity average around 65%.
Media - Most are in granite chunks in clay pots. A couple are mounted on hickory bark, and the mounts sit in clay pots.
Water - (March-October) Every other day on average, when pots are mostly dry. (November-February) Slightly less often, checking that pots are completely dry. I rarely flush the pots, but my goal is to do it once a month.
Fertilizer - (March-October) I am currently using K-lite 12-1-1 at 0.5 g per gallon combined with fish fertilizer 5-1-1 at 0.5 tsp per gallon. The result is around 45 ppm Nitrogen per watering. I am also experimenting with adding 1 tsp per gallon Epsom salts monthly as a magnesium supplement because many of the leaves have large yellowish patches. (November-February) mixture is reduced to around 15 ppm. I also drench the plants in 3 tablespoons/gallon of Inocucor in distilled water once a month.
Thanks so much for this info! Very helpful!

A question re: light: approx how much light? Regular cattleya light or more? 3000 fc?
 
Hi Leslie,

That's really difficult for me to say because I don't have a very accurate measure. I have a light meter that measures lux. The sunlight registers at over 50k, the lights at around 30k. A PAR meter might be more useful. I have two Spider Farmer SF1000 LED panels about 50 cm above the tops of the plants. I'll include a photo to show the setup.

Thanks so much for this info! Very helpful!

A question re: light: approx how much light? Regular cattleya light or more? 3000 fc?

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Hi William,
What do you have do to to give a plant a variety name Like 'illapu' ?
And our orchid society's speaker yesterday was also talking about lights I use Mars Hydro do you use them to?
Patrick
 
Next to bloom this season is 'Qoyllur', a first bloom for this plant. There is another spike coming, about a week behind this one.
I'm encouraged about the form of these flowers, for a first bloom they look pretty nice, and those dorsal sepals are nice and perky. I would guess that by the time judging rolls around next weekend, they will have flexed backward a bit, but we can be hopeful that it won't be too much.
They have a nice vanilla fragrance if you put your nose right up to the flower.
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'Urqu' was mounted to a piece of hickory bark as a tiny seedling and has grown into the largest plant in my collection over the years. A few years ago, I sat the mount in a large pot and the plant has continued to grow well.
This is its third blooming, and the flowers have consistently had open tubes and not great form. The petals are nice and wide, but the dorsal sepals reflex all the way back.
It has half the number of flowers this year as compared to last year, and I suspect suboptimal fertilization as the culprit.
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