Ridiculous, I mean rupiculous Laelias are not beginner's plants. Many experience growers have trouble blooming them. Besides Carter and Holmes consider Kawamoto and Carmela in Hawaii and check out their hybrids. Pick any to your liking, most BLCs and LCs have hybrid strength and should do well for you.

Nick

Agree with Nick about the "ridiculous" laelias, not beginner's plants.
Maybe start off with compact types that grow a lead and then flower late summer/early autumn.
There are some that need a cool winter "rest" to flower in spring, best to avoid those in unsuitable climates.
I like some of the B. nodosa hybrids for ease of culture but maybe they would be difficult under lights.

My bad, overlooked the subject.

That said, I didn't realize they were so hard, I must be lucky with mine. Now that I do know, I'll probably lose it...

Thanks guys :-),

Bob

Thanks for all of the info, everyone! This has been a pretty good help. I'm glad to know that the mini's and compact's tend to be multiple bloomers! - As much as I love my phals, I would love to get blooms more frequently! I have been able to find some good ones at marblebranchfarms.com to start! Here's to trying minis! :D

I notice that you are in Chicago area, why not pay a visit to Hauserman orchid farm. Plenty of orchids to choose from and no shipping cost.

http://hausermannorchids.com/

I only have about 7 months experience with orchids but fell in love with cattleyas after an unexpected stop at a local show. This is what I have purchased so far and all are doing extremely well for me. Hopefully, I will be able to say the same thing a year from now.

From Kawamoto:

Lc Gaskell-Pumila 'Azure Star", Blc Waianae Leopard 'Ching Hua', Blc Golden Chieftain Akukii, Otr Burgundy Splash 'Paradise'

From Odoms:

Blc Fatari 'Carmela' and Blc Cornerstone "OG"

All are supposed to bloom more than once a year and all were described as "easy growers" or "good for beginners.

I'm glad to finally be able to contribute some info on this forum after lurking for the past few months.

Good luck in your search!

This post was edited by gg24 on Thu, Jun 6, 13 at 16:10

Most "Cattleyas" are strongly seasonal and will bloom once a year. Maybe, if grown under lights and kept warm all year there may be some that will bloom twice.

Does anyone know which ones are more likely to do this?

I suspect that the primary hybrid C. Walkerinter might be a candidate.

Arthurm,

There are a ton of cattleyas that are that strongly seasonal type and will only bloom once a year- from what I understand, many of the extra large types of catts are like this and many are even so specific in their seasonality that they only bloom during a particular month.

From what I have been finding, as Bob said, there are quite a few miniatures and compacts that will bloom more than once per year if given the correct conditions (light mostly). From comments from friends at Orchidboard.com, Catt. walkeriana is supposed to be a multiple bloomer, but can be large and sometimes picky...

I've been growing for many years and cannot think of one Cattleya which bloomed more than once a year. I have had a few minis and had the same experience. One blooming season.

Jane

Jane,

The information I'm getting about these multiple bloomers has come from several vendors. My question now is- are they multiple bloomers under the most ideal conditions (ones that unless you are a commercial grower, you really can't replicate)? I think I will have to get in touch with some of these vendors to try and clarify. Have you grown any that were marketed as "free-blooming" or "will bloom 2+ times per year"?

Bill

I think if you look at hybrids where one parent is a spring bloomer and one is a fall bloomer, they will have a good chance of blooming more than once a year. I've had BLC Yellow Tang bloom 3 times in one year, early spring, summer and fall. I don't thing you need any special care, just a plant big enough to have multiple leads.

My LC Gaskell-Pumila 'Azure Star' has developed 3 new growths since I received it in the beginning of April. One is about 3 inches tall and the other 2 are about 1-1/2 inches. I'm sure that this growth development, though not visible when I received it (or I didn't notice it), was the result of the perfect environment of a commercial greenhouse and nothing magical that I, with a total lack of experience, did.

Multiple vendors have described this as blooming "summer-various". So if all 3 of these new growths eventually bloom (late summer/early fall?), it will have 3 "blooms" but within weeks of each other. Maybe that is what the vendors mean...multiple blooms within a few weeks of each other. In my mind, I was thinking it meant blooming throughout the year. Whether this type of growth could be duplicated outside of a commercial greenhouse remains to be seen.

I would be thrilled if each of the orchids I purchased bloomed once a year. I was attracted to the supposed multiple times a year bloomers because I figured that it wouldn't be locked in to a particular blooming season and would give hope throughout the year of a bloom (please, no eye rolling lol).

Bill, please let us know what you find out from the vendors.

I have a few that bloom more than once a year can only ID one. Lc Sea Urchin blooms all year long. It continuously makes new shoots and blooms out of each one. It comes in a purple and white variety. The purple one grows like a gang buster, my white one is very shy. It seems to have no particular blooming time and since the plant is large with 20 to 30 pbulbs and forming new ones all the time it can be in bloom off and on all year long.

Nick

Nicks post reminded me of one. It was a mix, Lc. Purple Cascade 'Fragrance Princess' (C. Interglossa x Lc. Tokyo Magic).

Totally forgot this one as I was never crazy about the flowers but it was constantly making new growths which flowered whenever they matured. So, I had flowers on and off throughout the year.

The main bloom time was December and ran through Spring, but you would get a flower in summer and fall. Nothing great but if you want flowers, this one will do it.

Very large plant as it kept making growths from every growth. You need room for it. Didn't seem fussy about light as I grew it in the window SW window along with everything else. You couldn't kill this orchid!

Very fragrant and looked the best in winter when it would have over 30 blooms. Looked like a big bouquet.

Sold it when I left NY. Was always a big hit because it had so many blooms and would fill the house with its perfume.

This shot was taken in Dec.
{{gwi:168470}}

This one around Easter, April
{{gwi:168471}}

I got it as part of a gift basket from Normans. I just looked it up on Normans and they still sell it.

Jane

Jane,

The information I'm getting about these multiple bloomers has come from several vendors. My question now is- are they multiple bloomers under the most ideal conditions (ones that unless you are a commercial grower, you really can't replicate)? I think I will have to get in touch with some of these vendors to try and clarify. Have you grown any that were marketed as "free-blooming" or "will bloom 2+ times per year"?

Bill

I don't think it has anything to do with the conditions but more the nature of the plant. I have a number of Laelia anceps which will bloom from Dec to Feb no matter what. Most of the Catts and their hybrids have a specific time when they'll bloom. The Sea Urchin I referred to and the plant Jane mentioned will bloom whenever a new shoot matures which, in their case, is anytime. Put both of them in a dark closet and they won't bloom at all, the frequency, however is not affected by conditions.

Jane, do you remember who you sold that plant to, I'd love to buy a piece of it.

Nick

If you have limited space indoors, stick to so-called mini-cattleyas. Hybrids like Blc. Cornerstone and Susan Fender are large, standard cattleyas: too big. Smaller compact plants can involve the influence of Laelia pumila, Sophronitis species, Cattleya leuddemaniana, Broughtonia saguinea, some epi-catts and Diacriums. Multiple flowering on a cattleya is dependent upon the complexity of the hybrid; most cattleya species will only bloom once per year: the combination(s) and complexity of the multiple genera can add to a multiple flowering, but usually twice a year is about the limit. We are not talking about Phaleanopsis here.
The best commercial growers of compact cattleyas are:
Gold Country Orchids (Alan Koch), Sunset Valley Orchids (Fred Clarke) and those from Carter and Holmes that involved the breeding work from the late Frank Fordyce: like Slc. Circle of Life hybrids. Most of all the compact cattleyas from any or all of the aforementioned growers owe much of their work to Frank Fordyce.

Alright, I have heard back from 1 vendor so far.

According to Marble Branch Farms (marblebranchfarms.com) any of the minis or compacts that say they will flower 2+ times per year are verified that they will bloom whenever the new lead is matured, leading to a "various" blooming season. This is apparently due to the nature of the complex hybrids that they used in their breeding lines to create mini/compact catts that are relatively free-flowering.

I have sent an email to Carter and Holmes to try and clarify, but I have yet to hear back from them- I will post whatever I hear from them about any of their "various" type bloomers.

Way back above I mentioned C. Walkerinter as a possible bloomer at different times during the year. This was just from a casual observation of my very large "Cattleya" collection grown in various enclosures in the yard. The micro-climate might be zone10.
There, Cattleya intermedia is a breeze to grow and bloom while i've never had much success with
C. walkeriana.

Maybe, you have more chance of getting some "Cats" to bloom under lights and constant warmth in zone 5 than here where they all get a "winter".

The other problem is plant size. Some plants might be a problem for the space challenged, beware of those sizes Mini, Intermediate and Large or Standard. Nurseries sell on flower sizes.
I've just measured a few in-bloom plants.
C. Bactia 'Grapewax' - Intermediate about 4 feet
B. nodosa 10- mini about 10 inches
Blc. Dream Trader - Standard about 18 inches
Blc. Momilani Rainbow - intermediate about 18 inches

I agree with lumpi I that the BLC Golden Tang blooms more than once a year, a glorious gold and red flower.