Thanks for the tip. We now don't water Clowesia, etc. when the leaves are gone but its harder to figure the ones that keep leaves.
Eric, you might have read the catasetum care instructions or advice from people. I think those guidelines are literally just guidelines and do not apply to all the plants in the big group of Catasetinae as a whole. The dormancy period can vary a lot form species to species, some lasting only a couple of weeks and others for months.
Many of the hybrids contain genes from a bunch of different species, so the behaviors of these plants may not be even along rigid spectrum.
Basically, I let my plants to be my guide.
I water as long as there are green leaves. I try to keep up with good watering during the entire growth stage, but I try and water especially more during the pseudobulb expansion stage in the latter part of the growth stage. Some Catasetums will bloom early in the season well before the pseudobulb starts to expand. Others will bloom a few times in the course of months. Other will wait until after the pseudobulbs have fully fattened up for the year.
Once they start to drop leaves, I continue to water but I ease on them by lengthening the interval between watering.
Once fully bare, then, I only water if the pseudobulb develop any signs of dehydrations. wrinkles. I prefer to keep the pseudobulbs plump at all times.
Some plants that do not lose all the leaves but maintain one or two top leaves during the winter, I treat them the same as the bare ones. Water only when there are any signs of dehydration. It depends but generally it comes to about every 2-3weeks or even less often for some. It's not on schedule but by plant's demand. So observation is the key.
Clowesia and Mormodes generally bloom out of bare growths late in season. Just make sure not to allow them to get dehydrated and you'll be fine. Hybrids that contain these species can behave very differenty. So, again, let your plants be your guide rather than treating them on schedule. For example, FDK has Clowesia among others in its genetic makeup, and they can bloom on bare canes late in season like Clowesia but it can bloom much sooner with all the leaves. I have bloomed some FDK in the middle of summer. My FDK After Dark 'SVO' bloomed in late November with all the leaves on. This same plant also bloom later in winter with no leaves based on other examples I have seen.
Now, I have yet another FDK (the genetic make up is very similar to After Dark in that one parent is Mormodia Painted Dersert) in bud that just started to pop open.
This plant last bloom in January with all the leaves on. It is blooming again now with all the leaves on. So, go figure!
With Cycnoches, they will bloom as soon as the growth matures and the pseudobulb reached its full "fatness" and this can be any time from summer into winter. They can bloom multiple times in season.