Cattleya × dolosa is a natural hybrid, whose parents are Cattleya loddigesii and Cattleya walkeriana. The native land of the plant is Brazil, where the orchid grows epiphytic on trees...
Cattleya × dolosa also called as Dolose Cattleya, The Crafty Cattleya, The Deceitful Cattleya, Cattleya x eximia, Cattleya x obrieniana, Cattleya × schroederiana, Cattleya walkeriana var. dolosa, Cattleya walkeriana var. schroederiana, Epidendrum x dolosum, is a species of the genus Cattleya. This species was described by Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach in 1874.
IDENTIFY CATTLEYA × DOLOSA ORCHID PLANT
Cattleya × dolosa is a natural hybrid, whose parents are Cattleya loddigesii and Cattleya walkeriana. The native land of the plant is Brazil, where the orchid grows epiphytic on trees.
It is a miniature to small sized, warm growing species with fusiform, 10 to 20 cm in length and 2-3 cm in width pseudobulbs carrying 2, narrowly elliptic or elliptic oblong, obtuse or rounded apically, about 12 cm long and 5.5 cm wide leaves.
Dolose Cattleya blooms in the spring on a terminal, to 9 cm single to few flowered inflorescence that has fragrant, heavy-textured flowers. The flowers are from pink to carmine-red, about 10 cm in diameter. Sepals are elliptical, with pointed tips, the top is 5.5 cm long and 2.3 cm wide, and the lateral 5 cm long and 2.6 cm wide, more sickle-shaped. Petals are rounded at the ends, measuring 4.5 cm long and 3 cm wide. The lip is triple, not strongly delimited, creamy-white or soft pink, its lateral portions slightly wavy on the outside, carmine-red inside and outside, the front part is usually cream-yellow, wavy at the edge, sometimes with a small fraction of carmine-red (more often in the form of veins), measuring 4.4 cm in length and 4 cm in width. The column is almost straight, the upper part pink or carmine-red, measuring 3 cm long and 1.4 cm wide.
CATTLEYA × DOLOSA ORCHID PLANT CARE AND CULTURE
Cultural information should only be used as a guide, and should be to be adapted to suit you. Your physical location; where you grow your plants, how much time you have to devote to their care, and many other factors, will need to be taken into account. Only then can you decide on the cultural methods that best suit you and your plants.
Light:
Cattleya × dolosa loves bright sunlight and in conditions of good air circulation can safely carry direct sunlight. The best place of cultivation are southern, south-western or western windows. Bright sunlight is one of the main prerequisites for the flowering of the orchids of this group, and if it is insufficient (especially during the development of new shoots), then the plant will simply not bloom, as new pseudobulbs grow underdeveloped, i.e. incapable of flowering. During the whole year, the duration of a day of light must be at least 10 hours.
Temperature:
This natural hybrid belongs to a moderately warm temperature regime, and throughout the year the plant is recommended to grow under the following temperature conditions: Summer temperature is not above 35 ° C; Winter temperature is about 15 ° C in the daytime and 10-12 ° C at night. For the successful cultivation at home, it is necessary that the night temperature of the content is always at least 6 ° C lower than the daytime temperature.
Humidity:
Dolose Cattleya needs relatively high humidity, not less than 60%, ideally 75-80%. Too dry air negatively affects the development of the plant and its growth is inhibited.
Substrate, growing media and repotting:
Cattleya × dolosa can be grow in pots and hanging lattice baskets, and placed on blocks. The substrate must be very well breathable, therefore the mixture of the bark of coniferous trees with charcoal and sphagnum moss (20-25%) is best in its quality. When growing orchids on blocks to prevent rapid drying of the root system of the plant, it is recommended to make a small interlayer of moss between it and the block. Above the roots, you can also put live or dry sphagnum.
Repotting is desirable only in cases of severe salinization or compaction of the substrate, at its critically high or low pH (the norm is from 5.5 to 6.5) or when the plant grows very large and the pot it will become too small for him (pseudobulbs will begin to hang from the edges of the pot). The best time for transplant is the time when new orchid sprouts reach a size of 5 cm and begin to build their own roots.
Watering:
Watering this natural hybrid directly depends on the overall temperature of the content, the higher it is, the more often and abundant it will be necessary to water. Plants growing on blocks should be watered daily in the morning, so that by evening the roots of the orchids could dry out relatively well. When watering orchids in pots, it is necessary to remember that excess water during watering should flow freely out of the pot, as the stagnation of water both inside the pot and in its pallet can very quickly lead to rotting of the roots and the lower part of the plant. The substrate between waterings should dry well.
Fertilizer:
During the new growth period, this natural hybrid is fertilized once a week in 1/4 of the fertilizer concentration indicated on the package. In addition to the usual root top dressing, it is also recommended to produce a foliar dressing, when a very much diluted fertilizer is sprayed on the outer part of the plant. It is best to feed the orchid, alternating both these methods. The best fertilizer is fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in equal parts, for example, NPK = 3-3-3 or 8-8-8. If you do not have such a fertilizer, then at the beginning of the growing season (the emergence of new shoots), feed the orchid with a fertilizer with a high nitrogen content, and when the sprout reaches 1/2 of its normal growth - fertilizer with a higher content of phosphorus.
Rest period:
Cattleya × dolosa undergoes a cool period of dormancy in winter, when orchids are kept somewhat drier and colder than usual and do not fertilize. Since mid-November, the orchids are placed in a medium-lit area (north or east window) and are kept at a temperature of no higher than 15 ° C during the day and 10-12 ° C at night. Watering the orchids should be coordinated at relatively lower temperatures and this procedure should be carried out only when the substrate does not just dry very dry, but at least 2-3 weeks will be completely dry. Watering the growing on the blocks of orchids is an easy spraying of the plant with an interval of 5-7 days. With the advent of new shoots (as a rule, in March), the dormancy period ends and the watering of the orchid resumes in the usual volume.
COMMENTS