Cattleya warneri in my Greenhouse

December 7, 2011 in Cattleya Species, Orchid Notes & Culture by Masood Raja

According to Chadwick and Son, even though C. warneri “is not a difficult species to grow, it does have its own unique requirements.” It grows in winter months in the US, while other plants are dormant, so it requires good growing conditions exactly when they are hard to provide and balance with the dormancy requirements of other plants in the greenhouse.

I acquired my C. warneri coerulea x self from one my most trusted Ebay seller: In fact, this is one of the first five plants that I bought and thus one of the five that launched my Cattleya growing hobby. As a beginner, I made some early novice mistakes:

I repotted it immediately even when it was perfectly fine in its original pot.

The plant, thankfully, survived my early mistakes and is doing fine in a clay pot with cypress mulch + charcoal as its medium. It has already started its new growth.

I keep it in the brightest part of the greenhouse during the day so that it can get the maximum light for its winter growth.

I will report the progress of this plant as it, I hope, grows and thrives in my greenhouse.

Culture Notes (Cited from Chadwick and Son)

Although C. warneri is not a difficult species to grow, it does have its own unique requirements. It is actively growing, for example, during the winter months in the United States when most other Cattleyas are dormant. Because of this, it is sometimes difficult to give it the best growing conditions. Like most other Cattleyas, C. warneri needs a warm, moist atmosphere when growing and this can be difficult to provide in the winter in a greenhouse when the sun is at a low angle and the outside temperature is well below freezing. This is compounded by the problem that most of the other Cattleya species like cooler, drier conditions in keeping with their dormancy in the winter. Since C. warneri will tolerate less than the best conditions and still produce a satisfactory growth, it can usually be grown with the other Cattleya species if you put it in the warmest and sunniest part of the greenhouse in the winter. This means you may sometimes have to hang it near the glass to give it the heat and sun it needs to grow well.

If you have your C. warneri plants hanging near the glass during the winter, you should put them back on the bench as soon as buds appear in the sheath.

Like all the Cattleya species, you should water C. warneri thoroughly and then let it dry out completely before watering it again.

Repot C. warneri only when it begins sending out a flush of new roots and preferably during the warm summer months.