The Gus Orchid. (Laelia Amoena coerulea x Laelia Nina Bonita "Barbara")

We got this orchid from a friend of Steven's Gus, and it didn't have a label so we don't know what it is. We know it's the 2 leaf type of cattleya and it flowers off of a long stem laelia style rather than out of the sheath in typical cattleya style. It's pale purple and white in flower, and it grows like crazy! It was in a 4in plastic pot when we got it, but we potted it into a 6in basket shortly after that. It was only in the basket for about a year before it was totally overflowing, and needed repotting. We had always fertilized with Grow regularly, but hadn't had much experience using the Bloom booster and weren't really sure when to use it. The plant put out several sheaths that looked like they were going to be flowers and we got super excited, but then nothing happened. I eventually decided that it was because it needed Bloom boosting, so next time it put on a sheath I boosted like crazy. By boosting like crazy I mean I use only Bloom fertilizer and pour several scoops of it over the plant once a week or so when I water. That finally got it to flower. That was possibly one of our most exciting accomplishments to date. We waited so long for it, and it was really lovely.

After it was finished flowering we potted it up since it was busting out of it's previous home. We put it in a 10in octagon basket. We cut off all the old pseudobulbs that had no roots and are propogating them separately to give to friends. We cut the overall plant in 3 and potted the parts all together. True to form it is going nuts growing new growths and roots. We were worried the basket would be way too big and there would be too much medium and it wouldn't dry out fast enough, but not anymore. It has put on a ton of new roots (of course out of the basket already). We use just a basic fir bark mix. When we use baskets we line them with a thin layer of coconut husk similar to what they use in hanging baskets only very thin, just enough to keep the bark in. We water it only once it dries out like all the other cattleyas. I put a bit of sphagnum around the new growths and new roots so they didn't dry out too fast and shrivel and die. I mist that maybe once between waterings to keep the humidity up a bit.

Update!: We found out what this plant actually is from Gus. It's a Laelia Amoena coerulea x Laelia Nina Bonita "Barbara". Gus brought over the one he still had of these, because he hasn't been able to do anything with it. So now there are two. Probably we will send it back once it gets flowering, as a thank you.