Stephen, Thanks for answering a 2 year old original post. I also wanted to say for some reason with mine, light doesn’t seem to be a problem. In the fall, it stays out to around mid October central Virginia just depends on how cold it gets. This year for example it got really cold fast, then it decided to get warm again so I put a few that seem to need chilling like my phals. But then a couple later, they came in and I just left them in. Too lazy to deal with the back and forth. But my neighbors on both sides leave their big overhead garage lights on. Doesn’t seem to bother it. For me, it’s the temps in the fall that make a difference in how many blooms kind like the phal. When I was pretty much keeping them inside once fall got here, I might get one bloom. Once I started letting it get the cold temps sometimes down to 53-54, I would get 4-6 blooms. It’s not all that big Hopefully next year it will get 8. I wish we could post photos RUclips. I have a photo where it had 4 on one side and 2 on the back which I got caught up and forgot that I didn’t do but the front side. So maybe next year. My biggest issue once it reach maturity was cutting off the bloom stalk like you do regular cattleyas and I cut off the growing area I guess. Now I don’t touch anything. Whatever it wants to do, it’s like go ahead since I’m afraid to do damage. I have looked up and down for a specific book just for walkerianas and how to manage them. Seems like someone would have at least written a really in depth article. They are certainly different from other catts in the way and where, how they bloom. I wonder how many people made some of the same mistakes I made. I grew orchids first time in mid 70s-late 80s. Then about now 8 years ago, I decided they had been out of my life for too long so I started building the collection again - from one to now 80. And it would be many more if I hadn’t realized 5-6 of my catts were getting to be monsters and had up to 20 pseudobulbs each that should have been divided 2-3 years ago but I wanted to have a specimen to have all the blooms. The issue there is you have to work hard keeping enough nutrients so they can all bloom and not do dry sheaths or abort blooms newly in the sheath. My other realization was I collected all these young plants that need to be repotted which will take up more space with larger pots. Like you my grow tent is severely limited (5’x5’x 6’+ high and could be another 12” if I had the ceiling space. But with 80 plants it is more than stuffed. 🤦♀️🤣. I desperately need a greenhouse but you know how that goes. I did want to give you and your readers a tip I’m going to buy in the next week. I noticed the shelving units you have. They look similar to mine which I got from Uline. They are heavy, have wheels, and you can add parts to add shelves. Some come with wheels and some you have to buy separate. I had gotten a similar unit from Walmart, but they were not as strong and heavy as these were and basically fell apart. But the thing I just noticed was there are all kinds of accessories to add and they have baskets that fit anywhere around the unit, seem to just hook in the “wire edge. I figure each one would hold at least 12-15 of my young plants in 2.75” square pots. Could be more/less but it depends on how much space the plants take up: spreading vs growing straight up. I will leave the link below. Just thought it might help with your space situation or anyone else’s. If not familiar with Uline, they have everything you didn’t even know you needed and nice folks to deal with. They aren’t cheap, though some items are when you consider the quantity you can get. But I know I will have their shelves for decades and can get parts if needed for repair and expansion. They also have a chrome corner shelving unit that might help give you some more space. And they offer shelving in various surfaces but a multitude of sizes and it seems if you can’t find what you need, you can buy the parts separately and make up your own. The only thing I didn’t say was by tent and light is in my kitchen so people see it and I’m sure they think I’m growing weed.🤔😀. www.uline.com/Grp_476/Wire-Shelving-Accessories I don’t know if you are familiar with Greenhouse Megastore but I find them to be pretty inexpensive on all kinds of growing “stuff” but when looking at the price, don’t get sticker shock, check the quantities for that price. I get all my shade cloth from them and do customized size with seatbelt type binding and large brass grommets. They have a little calculator right there and you pick the percentage of shade and color. It’s pretty darn inexpensive and you get what you want. Even more inexpensive if you just buy the footage in the various set roll widths. I like mine with the binding and grommets but for folks who want to save the most on a large area the set widths is probably pretty inexpensive and everything they sell is meant for commercial applications thus much more sturdy than big box store. I thought of you for their shade cloth in the hot summers. It’s hot here too and I have off my back porch and deck sun all day - nothing to block the south-west exposure. Don’t forget to order enough to drape on the sides and then with the grommets you could run cording through them and sorta roll it up. Check but I think all the cloth they sell is the type that you can cut and it doesn’t unravel ie lock stitch. But check to make sure you get that with the non customized selections. They also offer all kinds of shade cloth connectors. On the gorilla tents - from all I looked at, they have the heaviest cloth, zippers and enhanced reflective material on the inside including a second flooring which can be replaced but it’s meant to hold water in the case of an issue. The framing is also strong and it too has accessories which you can buy. You can buy them separate, or in a kit which includes the tent of any size you need, the Kind led light (it is stronger than needed in a grow tent for orchids- as I have mine cut way back and used this year white shade cloth), great inline filter you can put a timer on. I have the 2nd channel Red+UV+IR almost off. ). They do say if you buy a Kind light from local hydroponic store, you have to take it to them. The 5 year warranty is only if you bought from Kind/Gorilla ie are owned by same people. Hope this info helps anyone wanting to move to a grow tent. It does have a steep learning curve - a dependable humidifier which holds at least 1 gallon and more and an inline filter. The kit I got came with a surge protector which is GFCI and and also a smart plug that allows you to set your light at whatever timing you desire to come on and off and work from your phone, tablet, etc. I will admit, I found the smart plug to be a pain to figure out, no book, nothing. If you were to be as dumb as I seemed to be, I found just taking my tablet in next to the device and it seemed to kick in correctly. But got the scenario I’m currently using on at 7 am, off 7 pm I swear by accident. The smart plug is definitely smarter than me. You have all kinds of options and if you have your house already “smart”, you probably won’t have an issue. I didn’t and it plucked all my nerves. If you have 6 year old handy, they can probably set it up in minutes. At 70, not so easy.
I have to agree with you and thanks for putting it out there. I was very surprised about how much more humidity this plant prefers than what everyone keeps suggesting!
I bought a walkeriana thinking it would be just like the other cattleyas I can grow as houseplants but then I heard abt the darkness thing the day after I got it. It was my wishlist species cus I only heard good things abt it for a while and when I finally saw it I got it but I just had to hear abt the requirements the day after I got it. I grow my orchids in a bedroom window and I am up till 12 typically with some amount of light on in my room. Best I can do is go to bed a little earlier (which is probably good for me as well lol) but even then it would still only be 11pm-8am of complete darkness. In household conditions I might be able to get away with coarse bark+charcoal in a slotted pot tho. Best case scenario is it happened to have Loddigesii in it which changes the care requirement do not as much darkness is needed would be good in my scenario but I don’t think my division has any loddigessi in it based on what I know about it unfortunately. Otherwise should I just give up and get a hybrid/something else instead?
I would give it a couple of years to acclimate and either give you blooms or not. If nothing happens, then I'd trade it or sell it. Most of the "walkeriana" sold today have loddigesii in the background, so you're most likely good to go.
Great info, thanks Stephen😀. I got a little walker earlier this year, a small part of it seperated and so I potted that small part up in sphagnum, the larger part I put into a much faster drying net pot with bark mix. To my surprise it was the small piece in sphagnum that did much better; so good observation to ensure sufficient moisture during the growing season👍
Ah, makes sense! I think many people grow these ones too dry. It just takes a bit of experimentation to figure out and it sounds like you have an accidental experiment happening!
Thanks so much for another fantastic video on walkeriana culture. Much needed & highly appreciated. I fell in love with this species following your videos. Awaiting when I can bloom some of these beauties myself
You explained how to grow Cattleya Walkeriana very well. I think they are lovely, but would not do well in my grow space. I grow my orchids in my dining room so I could never keep it as hot as they would like. I do have a few Cattleya’s that bloom but they are Lc or Potinara or crossed with Brassavola. Thanks for sharing.🤗👏
Hi Stephen-hope you’re doing well. In an attempt to save my very young walkeriana from SVO, I repotted into a more moisture retentive mix. Someone commented and got me researching walkeriana specifically. I have learned so much from your videos. Thank you! If you have a second to see the 2 part video and have any other suggestions, I’d appreciate it. But I know you are very busy…no expectations. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
@deedeeblooms7896 I also notice that Tom Furmby is commenting on your videos. You might consider blocking him now. He’s been banned from every orchid forum and just about every RUclips creator out there. He’s a very unhinged narcissist who will write novels about how great he is…while simultaneously giving you really bad advice. Then he’ll start attacking you and your plays because you did something he didn’t like. I encourage you to chat with some other RUclips folks about him if you have any questions.
Stephen.. I’m not so sure on the light. I believe I have a species - at least as far as I know. But it gets me forever turning lights on couple times a night to go into the kitchen and 😊get a drink. And in my tiny house, the bathroom light just down the hall is on every night so I can see to get around at night. In winter, It’s sitting on a hospital bedside table over near a sliding door so the plants stay cooler at night and away from a heat vent in ceiling. Always out summer/fall. But my next door neighbor leaves his light on over his garage at least 3-4 nights a week all night. So not only in the winter from the sliding door but also in the summer on the porch it’s exposed. I have asked them if it’s possible to cut it off - they say yes but then it’s forgotten. I have only worried on getting them chill down through Mid to late October and then down around 10 degrees cooler at night all winter for general good health. I generally try to keep my orchids as dark as possible at night as I believe it’s important for most orchids and other plants to have dark nights except as you say the moon. But these new neighbors over the past few years are proving an issue and interestingly my two walkerianas just started blooming over the time they have been living over there. By late September, mid October they have formed spikes and then buds and in full bloom by first/mid November depending on weather. They have moved up a spike of 2 buds each year. This past year we got a really quick cold streak in September, freezes, had to come in but got to go back out til end of oct/first November. Strange year. This year got 6 buds (3 spikes) and then it’s rebloom in just one spike now, not quite open but very swollen and will be in a couple days. So mine is not a species as it was my understanding or maybe light isn’t as important as night temp. In Virginia at least. That’s the funny thing with orchids, how someone grows in Maine, or CA or Florida can be very different. Even if in grown all inside house under lights or all outside. Maybe I should say the infuriating thing or at least the most challenging. Now that I shall worry how to black out the light at night - they will decide not to bloom at all. 🫣😣😎
hi Stephen I've written to you in orchidboard buy I'm not sure you can read my message. So I repeat here (sorry). Following your videos I fell in love with cattleya walkeriana e nobilior. Last week I bought 4 plants online that arrived in plastic vases with medium bark. I would like to know when I can repot them using your method. I live in Florence and cultivate cattleya on a south-west facing terrace and since October I have grown orchids on a glass veranda next door with the same exposure. Thanks for your reply and congratulations on your videos.
Hi Stephen, thanks for the great video and explanation, I really enjoy it. Too bad, C. walkeriana and C. nobilior are very expensive in my country, Indonesia. In here, Taiwanese hybrid are abundance and pretty cheap 😀.
I still have a walkeriana and nobilior, surprisingly. I nearly killed my nobilior last summer 🙁. I rotted all its roots, it was all shrivelled up so I put it on a shelf in my greenhouse and left it. Didn't water it, didn't touch it, this summer it started to grow again🎉.
Is the Spanish Moss living? I had a 'Kenny' maybe 30 years ago - it was a reliable bloomer for a couple years and then died... But it never produced a "bloom only" growth, it always had a small sheath between the leaves and would bloom from that - I guess in that respect it is like loddigesii - but the fragrance was amazing!
Another clarification, sorry, you said a light freeze, do you mean a frost ie above freezing weather or do you mean they can go down to 32 and less. Kelpmax gives you higher potassium so if you are supplementing with it as I do - you are adding potassium though not phosphorus. I unfortunately don’t agree with MSU formula nor K Lite either as a year in year out fertilizer (one study and everyone except the professional growers jumped on that plan) and beautiful grown plants with large flowers are typically getting higher phosphorus and potassium for large blooms. Probably much less than 40 years ago when growing cut flowers but more than 12-1-1. For example Akatsuka states on the website if you want large flowers use higher of these nutrients. And I went with and still use a MSU formula or a Rays K Lite (12-1-1). I only use it because it’s 10% calcium, 3% magnesium, has all the trace elements and it’s easy to use at 25-50 ppms daily for my Vandas in summer, and about every 3-4 days on the catts and up to 75 ppm in middle of summer for most of my plants. My Vandas grow hanging on a wire so they need thorough watering not misting 2x a day, high humidity and in my area July and August they get watered 3x day. That’s how you get nice fat roots. If you have string roots you aren’t getting enough water on them. But in summer I feed them every morning with the Klite plus the weekly to every two weeks the Better Grow. Now I also use a more balanced Better Grow 1/2 strength once a week to every other week. Depends on what’s going on. If you know that super hot weather is coming down the pike, feeding a month in advance to 2-3 weeks in advance with a a little pinch of RAW potassium or if you use a good kelp product like Kelpmax that’s been protected from heat, cold, light so it’s still effective than it will help the plants with heat. The past two years when we have had A good spell of these 95-100+ days I believe it really helps them. After about 5-7 years I find that with orchids or any plant, needs sufficient potassium and certainly more than 1% phosphorus to grow roots. And plants growing in bark need more than 12% nitrogen. I find the balanced 20-20-20 to perform much better but none of those have adequate calcium or magnesium. Now this is just me and my environment and it helps me. But if you read reputable agricultural literature- they can tell you how each of the nutrients works to help plants. And yes folks were using phosphorus in excess and it was running off into the rivers. But these MSU formulas I don’t feel are what’s needed ie not the middle of the road. Everyone has a different environment. For example I have my plants in a gorilla grow tent with a powerful light (I have it shut down to the last setting and a shade cloth up. The light is from Kind it’s a LED actually came with the tent as a kit but was much more expensive than the tent by far. Used in California for growing medicinal weed indoors and or hemp. It, like tomatoes, grows out in the middle of fields with not a tree in site. Orchids can’t take that. It’s a X750 two channel dimmable light and the 2nd channel is a RED + IR + UV. It’s meant to get weed to bud all together so they can harvest and then get the next crop started quickly. But I don’t know of a use for orchids except if you are trying to get super healthy plants in bloom at one time for maybe an exhibit or show. I had set very low, almost off and my gosh even catts that had boom twice in the summer were coming back into bloom. It was like what the heck is going on in here. I had the main channel set to 50% but it burned some plants badly so I turned to 25% but then this winter I added the white cool shade cloth at 40%. I think it could go to 20%. But as long as the plants look apple green I will leave it this winter and maybe try the 20% next winter if not into a greenhouse. I grow all mine (about 80) outside in the summer under 50% shade cloth. I find or feel orchids need the changing of light, humidity that the grow tent just can’t do. It’s on at 7, off at 7 and the light strength doesn’t change and you don’t get that higher humidity at night like outside gives you. Not to mention they need fresh oxygen. I use an inline filter but it’s not the same. I seen such a change when they move outside. Maybe it’s because I can water them more easily outside but I do feel they need the changing of dappled light across them as the sun moves from east to west every day which they don’t get in the tent as it’s pitch black dark in there if the lights not on. The humidity in the tent works well if the unit itself is outside but the sensor and delivery tubes is inside. The humidity is between 70 and 75%. It’s sometimes difficult to keep the humidity at the right level sometimes it can drop down to 65% it just depends on what’s going on in my house. But based on the ones I’ve tried in in the past this one has been a good one. The only thing I don’t like is having to clean it every three or four days. And it holds about a gallon and a half of water which is gone usually by the end of the day sometimes it’s it’s a little bit longer. Depends on how much my heat in my house has been running and if I’ve been running the in-line filter more or less it makes a difference because it’s pulling the stale air out of the tent and pulling in fresh air Which gets changed every time the back door or front door opens. Pulling in I agree with Stephen.. I like my plants to look healthy, filled out bulbs as much as possible. Some of the older growers like to do what I called stress blooming. They really dry them out to almost dead in my mind. But in the late 60s-80s I would see plants in greenhouses that were so starved down water wise that the puesdobulbs were 1/4 of their filled out size, and the many leaves were so yellow. Now they had huge beautiful flowers because all plants - whether house plants, trees, shrubs, etc have a phenomena where if it thinks it’s going to die, it starts making lots of flowers which produces seeds which perpetuates more of its kind for the next generation. And then these grows I believe would rescue them until several months to get ready for flowering. I thought they were the ugliest plants. Orchids don’t give us lots of flowers like a rose, or butterfly bush, or many annuals that bloom most of the summer or African violets where they can be in bloom most of the year except when you pinch the blooms off and let it rest for a small period of time. So why would I want some ugly plants sitting in my home. Let’s face it orchids aren’t that pretty a plant anyway except those of us who love and live for that maybe one or two every year, some more than others. So I want them as pretty and healthy as they can be. I can do with flowers a little smaller. And I think if you can grow great looking plants with tons of beautiful roots that bloom out of good health - not forcing - well you have done a darn good job.
Yes, they can take temps briefly right at freezing! I started on my K lite journey when Roy Tokunaga gave me a bag of his fertilizer using low P and K values. He was the best Cattleya grower I'd ever met at the time, so it was easy for me to switch to K lite when Ray Barkalow made that available. Best fertilizer I've ever used and I haven't looked back! I do add Kelpmax (also from First Rays) once a month.
correct me if I am wrong, but the Kiwi bark that Fred offers is the same as Orchiata but in the untreated form. I tried the kiwi bark this year, even though it ends up almost double the price as me buying a bag of Orchiata locally, I have to say I'm impressed with it, I like it better than Orchiata.
That’s right! Same bark, just no lime treatment for the kiwi. I love my orchiata, but I also typically use rainwater. Fred uses super hard well water, so he doesn’t need the lime on the orchiata.
Great videos and more experienced thought process not the typical ones where it’s a lot of hocus locus. Or what I call the wantabe experts who just started growing over the past 6-12 months if that. And throw out all this stuff and you can’t even tell if it’s the same plants and you don’t see any results. You see a dead 2 leaf phal, they put it in some concoction and then a month later they show it as a gorgeous big 5-6 large spread leaf plant with big bloom spike. I hate these because you know as bit more experienced grower - that’s not even possible under any conditions. And it gives such false info and expectations to the beginning grower. And you see these beginners talking about how great they are, best video on orchids they have ever read, please do more of these top videos, etc. etc. Then they get frustrated and give up because it’s not going to work. Those people doing those types of click bait videos are just trying to get enough views to get where they can collect ad money. SAD. Not so with your videos plus like your bringing in other well known, experienced growers to give their opinion. So keep up the good work. Best of luck.
Thank you for the kind words! And I definitely share your frustration with some of the RUclips types disseminating information that is dubious or just plain wrong.
You said cutting… did you mean division. As far as I know most cattleyas you don’t do cutting like other plants. You make a division and then it roots and grows but maybe I’m wrong on this. I grow orchids mostly cattleyas and want many more walkeriana as they have really grown on me. I have 2 that don’t seem to have the same issues as you mention about getting night time light. My large one gets about 6 flowers looks a bit strange because it’s large but low growing but the flowers dwarf it. I find, like phals, if I give it fall cooling sorta like Christmas thanksgiving cactus … they need the cooling and once you see spikes bring them in. Mine seem to enjoy and deal with east coast humidity and heat up to the high 90s and small number of 100s. Pretty miserable. Do you know who grows large numbers of them. Are there mericlones? Mine grows in sorta broken net pot in Power Plus Orchiata sitting down in a clay pot. Now mine are more Apple Green not as dark green as yours. Most of my orchids in general are Apple green
Yes, I use the words cutting and division interchangeably! There are a handful of walkeriana clones out there, mostly coerulea types in the USA. H&R Nurseries have a lot of walkeriana and Miranda Orchids as well. I recommend both of those vendors. Sunset Valley has a few also.
Thanks bunches… I knew about H&R but he does have a bit of a bizarre catalog meaning you have to print the photo list and match it with the price list. Since I don’t have a printer this makes it hard for me but will look back at theirs again and the others too. Thanks.
@@plips71755 I don't think I've printed their list in 15 years! You can open them on your computer and send an email with what you want. They're definitely the best breeders of nobilior and walkeriana in the USA, and they've almost finished selling plants since they're retiring. Definitely gives that catalog a look!
Stephen, Thanks for answering a 2 year old original post. I also wanted to say for some reason with mine, light doesn’t seem to be a problem. In the fall, it stays out to around mid October central Virginia just depends on how cold it gets. This year for example it got really cold fast, then it decided to get warm again so I put a few that seem to need chilling like my phals. But then a couple later, they came in and I just left them in. Too lazy to deal with the back and forth. But my neighbors on both sides leave their big overhead garage lights on. Doesn’t seem to bother it. For me, it’s the temps in the fall that make a difference in how many blooms kind like the phal. When I was pretty much keeping them inside once fall got here, I might get one bloom. Once I started letting it get the cold temps sometimes down to 53-54, I would get 4-6 blooms. It’s not all that big Hopefully next year it will get 8. I wish we could post photos RUclips. I have a photo where it had 4 on one side and 2 on the back which I got caught up and forgot that I didn’t do but the front side. So maybe next year. My biggest issue once it reach maturity was cutting off the bloom stalk like you do regular cattleyas and I cut off the growing area I guess. Now I don’t touch anything. Whatever it wants to do, it’s like go ahead since I’m afraid to do damage. I have looked up and down for a specific book just for walkerianas and how to manage them. Seems like someone would have at least written a really in depth article. They are certainly different from other catts in the way and where, how they bloom. I wonder how many people made some of the same mistakes I made. I grew orchids first time in mid 70s-late 80s. Then about now 8 years ago, I decided they had been out of my life for too long so I started building the collection again - from one to now 80. And it would be many more if I hadn’t realized 5-6 of my catts were getting to be monsters and had up to 20 pseudobulbs each that should have been divided 2-3 years ago but I wanted to have a specimen to have all the blooms. The issue there is you have to work hard keeping enough nutrients so they can all bloom and not do dry sheaths or abort blooms newly in the sheath. My other realization was I collected all these young plants that need to be repotted which will take up more space with larger pots. Like you my grow tent is severely limited (5’x5’x 6’+ high and could be another 12” if I had the ceiling space. But with 80 plants it is more than stuffed. 🤦♀️🤣. I desperately need a greenhouse but you know how that goes.
I did want to give you and your readers a tip I’m going to buy in the next week. I noticed the shelving units you have. They look similar to mine which I got from Uline. They are heavy, have wheels, and you can add parts to add shelves. Some come with wheels and some you have to buy separate. I had gotten a similar unit from Walmart, but they were not as strong and heavy as these were and basically fell apart. But the thing I just noticed was there are all kinds of accessories to add and they have baskets that fit anywhere around the unit, seem to just hook in the “wire edge. I figure each one would hold at least 12-15 of my young plants in 2.75” square pots. Could be more/less but it depends on how much space the plants take up: spreading vs growing straight up. I will leave the link below. Just thought it might help with your space situation or anyone else’s. If not familiar with Uline, they have everything you didn’t even know you needed and nice folks to deal with. They aren’t cheap, though some items are when you consider the quantity you can get. But I know I will have their shelves for decades and can get parts if needed for repair and expansion. They also have a chrome corner shelving unit that might help give you some more space. And they offer shelving in various surfaces but a multitude of sizes and it seems if you can’t find what you need, you can buy the parts separately and make up your own. The only thing I didn’t say was by tent and light is in my kitchen so people see it and I’m sure they think I’m growing weed.🤔😀. www.uline.com/Grp_476/Wire-Shelving-Accessories
I don’t know if you are familiar with Greenhouse Megastore but I find them to be pretty inexpensive on all kinds of growing “stuff” but when looking at the price, don’t get sticker shock, check the quantities for that price. I get all my shade cloth from them and do customized size with seatbelt type binding and large brass grommets. They have a little calculator right there and you pick the percentage of shade and color. It’s pretty darn inexpensive and you get what you want. Even more inexpensive if you just buy the footage in the various set roll widths. I like mine with the binding and grommets but for folks who want to save the most on a large area the set widths is probably pretty inexpensive and everything they sell is meant for commercial applications thus much more sturdy than big box store. I thought of you for their shade cloth in the hot summers. It’s hot here too and I have off my back porch and deck sun all day - nothing to block the south-west exposure. Don’t forget to order enough to drape on the sides and then with the grommets you could run cording through them and sorta roll it up. Check but I think all the cloth they sell is the type that you can cut and it doesn’t unravel ie lock stitch. But check to make sure you get that with the non customized selections. They also offer all kinds of shade cloth connectors.
On the gorilla tents - from all I looked at, they have the heaviest cloth, zippers and enhanced reflective material on the inside including a second flooring which can be replaced but it’s meant to hold water in the case of an issue. The framing is also strong and it too has accessories which you can buy. You can buy them separate, or in a kit which includes the tent of any size you need, the Kind led light (it is stronger than needed in a grow tent for orchids- as I have mine cut way back and used this year white shade cloth), great inline filter you can put a timer on. I have the 2nd channel Red+UV+IR almost off. ). They do say if you buy a Kind light from local hydroponic store, you have to take it to them. The 5 year warranty is only if you bought from Kind/Gorilla ie are owned by same people.
Hope this info helps anyone wanting to move to a grow tent. It does have a steep learning curve - a dependable humidifier which holds at least 1 gallon and more and an inline filter. The kit I got came with a surge protector which is GFCI and and also a smart plug that allows you to set your light at whatever timing you desire to come on and off and work from your phone, tablet, etc. I will admit, I found the smart plug to be a pain to figure out, no book, nothing. If you were to be as dumb as I seemed to be, I found just taking my tablet in next to the device and it seemed to kick in correctly. But got the scenario I’m currently using on at 7 am, off 7 pm I swear by accident. The smart plug is definitely smarter than me. You have all kinds of options and if you have your house already “smart”, you probably won’t have an issue. I didn’t and it plucked all my nerves. If you have 6 year old handy, they can probably set it up in minutes. At 70, not so easy.
I find that the walkeriana with loddigesii in the background don't mind the nightlight. But the pure species won't bloom unless it's dark!
I have to agree with you and thanks for putting it out there. I was very surprised about how much more humidity this plant prefers than what everyone keeps suggesting!
For sure! Seems like everyone wants to grow these as if they're from the Sahara.
I bought a walkeriana thinking it would be just like the other cattleyas I can grow as houseplants but then I heard abt the darkness thing the day after I got it. It was my wishlist species cus I only heard good things abt it for a while and when I finally saw it I got it but I just had to hear abt the requirements the day after I got it. I grow my orchids in a bedroom window and I am up till 12 typically with some amount of light on in my room. Best I can do is go to bed a little earlier (which is probably good for me as well lol) but even then it would still only be 11pm-8am of complete darkness. In household conditions I might be able to get away with coarse bark+charcoal in a slotted pot tho. Best case scenario is it happened to have Loddigesii in it which changes the care requirement do not as much darkness is needed would be good in my scenario but I don’t think my division has any loddigessi in it based on what I know about it unfortunately. Otherwise should I just give up and get a hybrid/something else instead?
I would give it a couple of years to acclimate and either give you blooms or not. If nothing happens, then I'd trade it or sell it. Most of the "walkeriana" sold today have loddigesii in the background, so you're most likely good to go.
Thank you Stephen 👌I thoureghly enjoyed this video. Well done 🤗🌱🇵🇹
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Great info, thanks Stephen😀. I got a little walker earlier this year, a small part of it seperated and so I potted that small part up in sphagnum, the larger part I put into a much faster drying net pot with bark mix. To my surprise it was the small piece in sphagnum that did much better; so good observation to ensure sufficient moisture during the growing season👍
Ah, makes sense! I think many people grow these ones too dry. It just takes a bit of experimentation to figure out and it sounds like you have an accidental experiment happening!
Very informative thank you! I’ve just won a Walkeriana hybrid so I watched your video again.
Let me know if you have questions!
Another EXCELLANT Tutorial ! My walkeriana's are doing better outside once I left them alone... to die or grow !
Orchids thrive on benign neglect!! 🙌
Thanks so much for another fantastic video on walkeriana culture. Much needed & highly appreciated. I fell in love with this species following your videos. Awaiting when I can bloom some of these beauties myself
You’ll love the scent!
@@SVKLOrchids Yeah awaiting for it next year 🙂
Spot on as I just bought a walkeriana. Thanks for the growing tips. Lovely cholla mount btw 😃❤️
I hope to see blooms on your walker soon!
You explained how to grow Cattleya Walkeriana very well. I think they are lovely, but would not do well in my grow space. I grow my orchids in my dining room so I could never keep it as hot as they would like. I do have a few Cattleya’s that bloom but they are Lc or Potinara or crossed with Brassavola. Thanks for sharing.🤗👏
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Hi Stephen-hope you’re doing well. In an attempt to save my very young walkeriana from SVO, I repotted into a more moisture retentive mix. Someone commented and got me researching walkeriana specifically. I have learned so much from your videos. Thank you! If you have a second to see the 2 part video and have any other suggestions, I’d appreciate it. But I know you are very busy…no expectations. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Glad to help! I’ll check out the video
@deedeeblooms7896 I also notice that Tom Furmby is commenting on your videos. You might consider blocking him now. He’s been banned from every orchid forum and just about every RUclips creator out there. He’s a very unhinged narcissist who will write novels about how great he is…while simultaneously giving you really bad advice. Then he’ll start attacking you and your plays because you did something he didn’t like. I encourage you to chat with some other RUclips folks about him if you have any questions.
@@SVKLOrchids thanks Stephen…I can tell he’s intense. 😬 I’m just using kid gloves with him right now. Maybe he’ll get bored and move on 🙏
@@deedeeblooms7896 🤞
Thanks Stephen. I love C.walkeriana
You and me both!
Stephen.. I’m not so sure on the light. I believe I have a species - at least as far as I know. But it gets me forever turning lights on couple times a night to go into the kitchen and 😊get a drink. And in my tiny house, the bathroom light just down the hall is on every night so I can see to get around at night. In winter, It’s sitting on a hospital bedside table over near a sliding door so the plants stay cooler at night and away from a heat vent in ceiling. Always out summer/fall. But my next door neighbor leaves his light on over his garage at least 3-4 nights a week all night. So not only in the winter from the sliding door but also in the summer on the porch it’s exposed. I have asked them if it’s possible to cut it off - they say yes but then it’s forgotten. I have only worried on getting them chill down through Mid to late October and then down around 10 degrees cooler at night all winter for general good health. I generally try to keep my orchids as dark as possible at night as I believe it’s important for most orchids and other plants to have dark nights except as you say the moon. But these new neighbors over the past few years are proving an issue and interestingly my two walkerianas just started blooming over the time they have been living over there. By late September, mid October they have formed spikes and then buds and in full bloom by first/mid November depending on weather. They have moved up a spike of 2 buds each year. This past year we got a really quick cold streak in September, freezes, had to come in but got to go back out til end of oct/first November. Strange year. This year got 6 buds (3 spikes) and then it’s rebloom in just one spike now, not quite open but very swollen and will be in a couple days.
So mine is not a species as it was my understanding or maybe light isn’t as important as night temp. In Virginia at least. That’s the funny thing with orchids, how someone grows in Maine, or CA or Florida can be very different. Even if in grown all inside house under lights or all outside. Maybe I should say the infuriating thing or at least the most challenging. Now that I shall worry how to black out the light at night - they will decide not to bloom at all. 🫣😣😎
Sounds like you’ve got quite a nice grow space!
Just bought one today at the Exposição Internacional de Orquídeas de Lisboa, where I spent a great time and a lot of money 😁
Let me know if you have questions about it!
hi Stephen I've written to you in orchidboard buy I'm not sure you can read my message. So I repeat here (sorry). Following your videos I fell in love with cattleya walkeriana e nobilior. Last week I bought 4 plants online that arrived in plastic vases with medium bark. I would like to know when I can repot them using your method. I live in Florence and cultivate cattleya on a south-west facing terrace and since October I have grown orchids on a glass veranda next door with the same exposure. Thanks for your reply and congratulations on your videos.
Hi Saverio - I think you’ll really enjoy the nobilior! I’d repot in the spring when the new growths are just starting to put out new roots.
@@SVKLOrchids Thanks Stephes and walkeriana the same?
@@SaverioPestuggia Definitely!
Hi Stephen, thanks for the great video and explanation, I really enjoy it. Too bad, C. walkeriana and C. nobilior are very expensive in my country, Indonesia. In here, Taiwanese hybrid are abundance and pretty cheap 😀.
That’s unfortunate that they’re expensive! Are the Taiwanese not breeding species too?
What’s your favorite simple or complex hybrid that has mostly Walkeriana in it?
Oh, interesting question! Cattleya Memoria Robert Straight is the first that comes to my mind!
I liked he video a lot - can you recommend sources - thanks
H&R used to the best vendor of walkeriana in the USA. Now I’d recommend importing from Brazil or getting cuttings from folks here in the US.
Is it possible you do something on this one.
labiata (blooming size) × 1
Amnesiana ‘Canaima’s Select’ x coerulea ‘
I was thinking of doing one on labiata, actually
I still have a walkeriana and nobilior, surprisingly. I nearly killed my nobilior last summer 🙁. I rotted all its roots, it was all shrivelled up so I put it on a shelf in my greenhouse and left it. Didn't water it, didn't touch it, this summer it started to grow again🎉.
It wants to live! What will you do with it?
Is the Spanish Moss living? I had a 'Kenny' maybe 30 years ago - it was a reliable bloomer for a couple years and then died... But it never produced a "bloom only" growth, it always had a small sheath between the leaves and would bloom from that - I guess in that respect it is like loddigesii - but the fragrance was amazing!
Yes, the “moss” is alive! It’s native to the area, though it’s actually a Tilansdia. I’m pretty stoked to smell it!
Have any advice on lalia anceps?
Their care is pretty similar to walkeriana
Another clarification, sorry, you said a light freeze, do you mean a frost ie above freezing weather or do you mean they can go down to 32 and less.
Kelpmax gives you higher potassium so if you are supplementing with it as I do - you are adding potassium though not phosphorus. I unfortunately don’t agree with MSU formula nor K Lite either as a year in year out fertilizer (one study and everyone except the professional growers jumped on that plan) and beautiful grown plants with large flowers are typically getting higher phosphorus and potassium for large blooms. Probably much less than 40 years ago when growing cut flowers but more than 12-1-1. For example Akatsuka states on the website if you want large flowers use higher of these nutrients. And I went with and still use a MSU formula or a Rays K Lite (12-1-1). I only use it because it’s 10% calcium, 3% magnesium, has all the trace elements and it’s easy to use at 25-50 ppms daily for my Vandas in summer, and about every 3-4 days on the catts and up to 75 ppm in middle of summer for most of my plants. My Vandas grow hanging on a wire so they need thorough watering not misting 2x a day, high humidity and in my area July and August they get watered 3x day. That’s how you get nice fat roots. If you have string roots you aren’t getting enough water on them. But in summer I feed them every morning with the Klite plus the weekly to every two weeks the Better Grow. Now I also use a more balanced Better Grow 1/2 strength once a week to every other week. Depends on what’s going on. If you know that super hot weather is coming down the pike, feeding a month in advance to 2-3 weeks in advance with a a little pinch of RAW potassium or if you use a good kelp product like Kelpmax that’s been protected from heat, cold, light so it’s still effective than it will help the plants with heat. The past two years when we have had A good spell of these 95-100+ days I believe it really helps them. After about 5-7 years I find that with orchids or any plant, needs sufficient potassium and certainly more than 1% phosphorus to grow roots. And plants growing in bark need more than 12% nitrogen. I find the balanced 20-20-20 to perform much better but none of those have adequate calcium or magnesium. Now this is just me and my environment and it helps me. But if you read reputable agricultural literature- they can tell you how each of the nutrients works to help plants. And yes folks were using phosphorus in excess and it was running off into the rivers. But these MSU formulas I don’t feel are what’s needed ie not the middle of the road. Everyone has a different environment. For example I have my plants in a gorilla grow tent with a powerful light (I have it shut down to the last setting and a shade cloth up. The light is from Kind it’s a LED actually came with the tent as a kit but was much more expensive than the tent by far. Used in California for growing medicinal weed indoors and or hemp. It, like tomatoes, grows out in the middle of fields with not a tree in site. Orchids can’t take that. It’s a X750 two channel dimmable light and the 2nd channel is a RED + IR + UV. It’s meant to get weed to bud all together so they can harvest and then get the next crop started quickly. But I don’t know of a use for orchids except if you are trying to get super healthy plants in bloom at one time for maybe an exhibit or show. I had set very low, almost off and my gosh even catts that had boom twice in the summer were coming back into bloom. It was like what the heck is going on in here. I had the main channel set to 50% but it burned some plants badly so I turned to 25% but then this winter I added the white cool shade cloth at 40%. I think it could go to 20%. But as long as the plants look apple green I will leave it this winter and maybe try the 20% next winter if not into a greenhouse. I grow all mine (about 80) outside in the summer under 50% shade cloth. I find or feel orchids need the changing of light, humidity that the grow tent just can’t do. It’s on at 7, off at 7 and the light strength doesn’t change and you don’t get that higher humidity at night like outside gives you. Not to mention they need fresh oxygen. I use an inline filter but it’s not the same. I seen such a change when they move outside. Maybe it’s because I can water them more easily outside but I do feel they need the changing of dappled light across them as the sun moves from east to west every day which they don’t get in the tent as it’s pitch black dark in there if the lights not on. The humidity in the tent works well if the unit itself is outside but the sensor and delivery tubes is inside. The humidity is between 70 and 75%. It’s sometimes difficult to keep the humidity at the right level sometimes it can drop down to 65% it just depends on what’s going on in my house. But based on the ones I’ve tried in in the past this one has been a good one. The only thing I don’t like is having to clean it every three or four days. And it holds about a gallon and a half of water which is gone usually by the end of the day sometimes it’s it’s a little bit longer. Depends on how much my heat in my house has been running and if I’ve been running the in-line filter more or less it makes a difference because it’s pulling the stale air out of the tent and pulling in fresh air Which gets changed every time the back door or front door opens. Pulling in
I agree with Stephen.. I like my plants to look healthy, filled out bulbs as much as possible. Some of the older growers like to do what I called stress blooming. They really dry them out to almost dead in my mind. But in the late 60s-80s I would see plants in greenhouses that were so starved down water wise that the puesdobulbs were 1/4 of their filled out size, and the many leaves were so yellow. Now they had huge beautiful flowers because all plants - whether house plants, trees, shrubs, etc have a phenomena where if it thinks it’s going to die, it starts making lots of flowers which produces seeds which perpetuates more of its kind for the next generation. And then these grows I believe would rescue them until several months to get ready for flowering. I thought they were the ugliest plants. Orchids don’t give us lots of flowers like a rose, or butterfly bush, or many annuals that bloom most of the summer or African violets where they can be in bloom most of the year except when you pinch the blooms off and let it rest for a small period of time. So why would I want some ugly plants sitting in my home. Let’s face it orchids aren’t that pretty a plant anyway except those of us who love and live for that maybe one or two every year, some more than others. So I want them as pretty and healthy as they can be. I can do with flowers a little smaller. And I think if you can grow great looking plants with tons of beautiful roots that bloom out of good health - not forcing - well you have done a darn good job.
Yes, they can take temps briefly right at freezing! I started on my K lite journey when Roy Tokunaga gave me a bag of his fertilizer using low P and K values. He was the best Cattleya grower I'd ever met at the time, so it was easy for me to switch to K lite when Ray Barkalow made that available. Best fertilizer I've ever used and I haven't looked back! I do add Kelpmax (also from First Rays) once a month.
Thanks Stephen.
correct me if I am wrong, but the Kiwi bark that Fred offers is the same as Orchiata but in the untreated form. I tried the kiwi bark this year, even though it ends up almost double the price as me buying a bag of Orchiata locally, I have to say I'm impressed with it, I like it better than Orchiata.
That’s right! Same bark, just no lime treatment for the kiwi. I love my orchiata, but I also typically use rainwater. Fred uses super hard well water, so he doesn’t need the lime on the orchiata.
Great videos and more experienced thought process not the typical ones where it’s a lot of hocus locus. Or what I call the wantabe experts who just started growing over the past 6-12 months if that. And throw out all this stuff and you can’t even tell if it’s the same plants and you don’t see any results. You see a dead 2 leaf phal, they put it in some concoction and then a month later they show it as a gorgeous big 5-6 large spread leaf plant with big bloom spike. I hate these because you know as bit more experienced grower - that’s not even possible under any conditions. And it gives such false info and expectations to the beginning grower. And you see these beginners talking about how great they are, best video on orchids they have ever read, please do more of these top videos, etc. etc. Then they get frustrated and give up because it’s not going to work. Those people doing those types of click bait videos are just trying to get enough views to get where they can collect ad money. SAD.
Not so with your videos plus like your bringing in other well known, experienced growers to give their opinion. So keep up the good work. Best of luck.
Thank you for the kind words! And I definitely share your frustration with some of the RUclips types disseminating information that is dubious or just plain wrong.
You said cutting… did you mean division. As far as I know most cattleyas you don’t do cutting like other plants. You make a division and then it roots and grows but maybe I’m wrong on this. I grow orchids mostly cattleyas and want many more walkeriana as they have really grown on me. I have 2 that don’t seem to have the same issues as you mention about getting night time light. My large one gets about 6 flowers looks a bit strange because it’s large but low growing but the flowers dwarf it. I find, like phals, if I give it fall cooling sorta like Christmas thanksgiving cactus … they need the cooling and once you see spikes bring them in. Mine seem to enjoy and deal with east coast humidity and heat up to the high 90s and small number of 100s. Pretty miserable.
Do you know who grows large numbers of them. Are there mericlones?
Mine grows in sorta broken net pot in Power Plus Orchiata sitting down in a clay pot. Now mine are more Apple Green not as dark green as yours. Most of my orchids in general are Apple green
Yes, I use the words cutting and division interchangeably! There are a handful of walkeriana clones out there, mostly coerulea types in the USA. H&R Nurseries have a lot of walkeriana and Miranda Orchids as well. I recommend both of those vendors. Sunset Valley has a few also.
Thanks bunches… I knew about H&R but he does have a bit of a bizarre catalog meaning you have to print the photo list and match it with the price list. Since I don’t have a printer this makes it hard for me but will look back at theirs again and the others too. Thanks.
@@plips71755 I don't think I've printed their list in 15 years! You can open them on your computer and send an email with what you want. They're definitely the best breeders of nobilior and walkeriana in the USA, and they've almost finished selling plants since they're retiring. Definitely gives that catalog a look!