Laelia sincorana, now reclassified as Cattleya sincorana is one of the smaller species in either Laelia or Cattleya and a real jewel. It is from Brazil and blooms here in the spring. The round pseudobulbs with their leaves are 10 cm tall and the flowers the same size or a bit larger. The flower spikes emerge from within the leaves just as the leaves begin to unfold and the flowers are usually born singly, though occasionally I get two flowers from a flower spike. I grow the plant with the highest light I can give it in cool to intermediate temperatures and mounted on a piece of tree branch.
I've had a coerulea form of this for a long time that FINALLY produced a spike last year. A snail or slug ate it before it opened.
ReplyDeleteHigh light seems to be the key; it also seems to be the sort of plant that might possibly need some drought in its life - very succulent leaves suggest drought in its natural habitat.
High light does seem important but I don't ever dry it out. It gets watered every day year around and blooms faithfully for me every spring.
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