I bought some on clearance for a dollar or 2 at a Lowes. Some Cattletonyas and Blc. They were on sale because they had been sitting on the shelf 2 or 3 months. The Cattletonya is growing new growth and roots and the Epc Serena Tinkerbell is growing like a weed in my window with 5/ 5 purplish PBs. Other were in poor shape and I cut off dead roots and PB and mostly are 2 PB and they are growing new leads. Also got for a dollar a Trichocentrum Ollie Palmer and the leaves were shriveled and bent now it perked up. new roots and 2 new ghrowths. SO I have been lucky with these bags. I am not sure if I can bloom them easily but I put some of these outside from Mid April to mid October. I also saw a Bc Kosh Wallis that had a ton of new growth and spikes. looks like a Brassavola nodosa somehow. And Bl Yellow Bird. I would go for it, pick one or 2, you can see what is healthy. stefano

@christine: these are the smallest pots i could find. the grower (hicks--he's probably the one who spoke at the orchid society meeting--he says he or his son attends regularly) said they'd work, but to be careful about overwatering. that's in part why i used such a fast-draining mix. no perched water table here! i like these pots a lot--the fact that i can see how much humidity is in the pot is very useful. i've been watering only when i could see no condensation on the inside of the pot. and, yes, it's dynamite. @anna--i went out and checked on the rhizomes. some of them were a little submerged--i GENTLY tugged them up above the medium line. i only added a tiny tiny amount of sphagnum, which i whizzed in the food processor. it's more likely that the dyna-rok will cause me problems, i think--it is pretty interesting stuff. looks like a tiny sponge. yes--i agree, they don't look much like catts, but they've been crossed lord knows how many times. they came with tags and reference numbers and i've looked them all up on the royal orchid website--they're all catts. i guess there's the chance that they've been mislabeled, but i trust not. the one that you ask about is Cattleya Yellow Bird: "Blc. Marquette Canary 'Yellow Bird' (Southern Bells x Golden Embers) Beautiful Yellow with a white edged lip. Fall Bloomer Flower size approx. 4 - 6" across" your advice about killing them is dead on! $5 per plant seemed like a reasonable risk to take on. if they die, so be it. @johnjsr--i've never had scale in my garden, and i hope that luck holds out. what do you use to treat scale? should i worry about orchids attracting scale where it's never been? from what i know about scale, it has a lot to do with poor air flow... that shouldn't be a problem where these are hanging. is anyone else growing in all-rock medium like me? hicks, the commercial grower i talked with and bought my media from, said that this mix was close to impossible to overwater with. he also said he's never had trouble with salt buildup.

Hi there! I am looking for any cattleya orchids that y'all are willing to exchange . I can offer postage or swap my fragrant white Australian dendrobium Please send me a message. Thanks .

I myself have never been good about growing babies like that unless they were kept in a mix that stayed consistently moist. They can dry out so fast, within hours at times in the heat and very small pots. Their roots are too tiny to dry out so fast and left to dry dry as a bone for hours on end. I found the answer to by problem was using a lot of spagnum in smaller pots. Just bark or mostly bark does not do and I live in New England. Smaller bark when I use it mixed with spagnum moss. Made a HUGE difference for all my tiny potted orchids.