The numbers....... Did a little (grex) search on the Royal Horticultural Database of orchid names. Put Cattleya in the Genera Name. That will find Cattleya, Laeliocattleya and so on Not brave enough to try and find every name, so put "an" in the grex name search. Found 4424 names. Tried "en" and found another 2685 names. Even the letter z finds 1347 entries Now a grex is the name of a (registered) cross. A friend crossed two of my orchids a few years ago, we received 10 flasks back from the lab and have hundreds of plants that are just beginning to flower. Each one of those plants will have a flower that varies in shape or colour. They are not Cattleyas, but it doesn't make any difference..... the number of hybrids, plus the variation within each grex make an ID almost impossible, Your only chance is if your orchid is a species or a mass produced mericlone (copy) produced for an outlet such as a box store.

Two things: If you bought the plants from Santa Barbara Orchid Estates then you are home free as they grow all their Catts outside and there will be no change for the plants. If you bought them from another vendor the plants may have been imported from Taiwan or Indonesia or even Hawaii and they will have to adjust to SOCAL. You will need 63$ shade cloth, I tried 50% and got some leaf damage. Under a tree where they are in total shade is less satisfactory. I leave them outside unless things get really extreme. Up to 100, down to 28 seems to be no problem. If it gets below 28 as it did 2 years ago there is some damage. I made no provisions this Winter nor last Summer which was extremly hot and suffered no damage. During the Summer heat you need to water often. Good Luck, Nick

If someone doesn't come up with a positive ID on here try putting your query with the picture on the insect forum. They have some experts on the subject there. And be sure and let us know when you find out. Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Web Insect Forum

There is nothing wrong with your "Cattleya" . Little purple spots are not a problem.