Cattleya iricolor is found in Peru and Ecuador, where it grows epiphytic on trees in moist forests and on the eastern slopes of mountains at an altitude of 450 to 1700 meters above sea level...
Cattleya iricolor also called as Rainbow-colored Cattleya, is a species of the genus Cattleya. This species was described by Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach in 1874.
IDENTIFY CATTLEYA IRICOLOR ORCHID PLANT
Cattleya iricolor is found in Peru and Ecuador, where it grows epiphytic on trees in moist forests and on the eastern slopes of mountains at an altitude of 450 to 1700 meters above sea level.
It is a rare, hot to cool growing, erect epiphytic species with clavate, slightly compressed, 10 to 40 cm long and about 2 cm wide pseudobulbs that become sulcate with age and carries a single, apical, narrowly oblong-elliptic or oblong, acute, conduplicate towards the base, coriaceous, 10-25 cm in length (but can reach up to 40 cm) and 2-2.5 (less than 3.5 cm) in width leaf.
Rainbow-colored Cattleya blooms in the late winter and spring on a terminal, erect, 6.25 cm long, 6 to 10 flowered inflorescence arising from a conduplicate sheath on a newly emerging pseudobulb and is held at mid-leaf. The flowers are fragrant, cream-yellow, 8-10 cm in diameter. Tepals narrow, linear, at the edges bent back. Sepals with a size of 4.5 to 5 cm long and 1 cm wide, lateral more crescent shaped. Petals are almost the same, only a few are longer and longer. The lip is triple, measuring 4.5 to 5 cm in length, its lateral parts are raised and cover the column inside. The front part of the lip is white, 1.5 cm wide, its tip is bent back, wavy along the rim. Inside the lip is golden-yellow, and in front there are a few carmine-red strips and strokes. Column 1.5-1.8 cm long, arched, front thickened, creamy white with a small pink.
CATTLEYA IRICOLOR 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 iricolor loves bright sunlight and is able to safely carry the direct morning and evening sun to 40000 lux. As a place, south-east and west windows are ideal. In clean southern windows in the hottest period, it is desirable to clean the orchid for the tulle curtain on the table or shelves near the window, as in a low humidity environment on the windowsills the plant very quickly overheats and can mass yellowish. The suitability of the eastern side should be looked at according to the situation, since the eastern window in one city does not match the eastern window in the other, it is likely that it will be on your light not only to develop the green mass, but also regular flowering.
Temperature:
This type of orchid refers to a moderately warm temperature regime, and throughout the year it is desirable to maintain an orchid under the following conditions: Summer temperature at 17-30 ° C; Winter temperature at 15-21 ° C. For the successful cultivation at home, it is necessary that the night temperature of the contents is always at least 10 ° C lower than the daytime temperature.
Humidity:
In the natural habitats, the relative humidity of the air rarely falls below 60%. In conditions of high humidity, it is necessary to regularly ventilate the room where the plants are kept, since wet, stale air is an ideal medium for the mass reproduction of various fungal and bacterial diseases.
Substrate, growing media and repotting:
Cattleya iricolor can be grow in pots and hanging lattice baskets and placed on blocks. As a substrate, a mixture of a large bark of coniferous trees with charcoal and sphagnum moss is best. 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. When choosing a container or a block for planting, it should be borne in mind that the plant grows quickly enough and gives many branches of the rhizome, so the pot, basket or block should be chosen on the basis that the orchid will be there for at least 2-3 years and will increase many new shoots.
Repotting is desirable only when it is really necessary, for example, in cases of a strong salinization or compaction of the substrate, at its critically high or low pH (from 5.5 to 6.5) or when the plant grows very much and the pot becomes too small (pseudobulbs will begin to hang from the pot edges). The best time to transplant is the time when new orchid sprouts begin to build up their own roots.
Watering:
The frequency and abundance of watering the orchids of this species directly depends on the overall temperature of the content and intensity of the illumination, the higher they are, the more often and abundant it is necessary to water. Plants growing on blocks, it is desirable to water daily in the morning, so that by evening their roots could dry out relatively well. When watering orchids in pots, it must be remembered 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 quickly lead to decay of the roots and the lower part of the plant (rhizome). The substrate between waterings should dry well.
Fertilizer:
During the new growth period, this type of orchid is fertilized for every third watering in 1/2 or 1/3 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. At the beginning of the growing season (the appearance of new shoots) it is recommended to use fertilizer with a higher nitrogen content, and when the new sprout reaches 1/2 of its normal size - a fertilizer with a high content of phosphorus.
Rest period:
Cattleya iricolor have a winter period of rest, caused by a general decrease in the intensity of illumination, and as a consequence - a cooling temperature. The temperature in winter must be 18-20 ° C in the daytime and about 15-16 ° C at night, watering should be organized in such a way that the substrate not only dried very well, but it was completely dry for 10-14 days, for block culture - not more often than once a week, even in conditions of low humidity. With the first rays of the bright spring sun, the orchid wakes up, forms and blossoms. If the sun and from October to March was the same as at least in September, then flowering would come much earlier.
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