small flowers on cattleya orchid

[Lee, Janet]

Received a cutting and one pb of a cattleya plant from my neighbor.

The mother plant is growing in the crotch of a huge tree and has recently bloomed huge purple flowers.

Meanwhile the four pbs and the solo pb (two plants) I received I potted up.

The one with the 4 pbs had a sheath which has now sent out five little buds and two have opened; but to my dismay, they resemble miniature flowers of a miniature cattleya plant. The flowers are so small.

Why is this?

Do you think it is bz it was cut away from the larger plant?

Any thoughts on this matter would be appreciated.

Janet

[orchid doctor]

Dear Janet:

The ideal time to divide a plant ("take a cutting"), both for
rooting/
establishing and for highest flower quality, would have been when
the
newest growth was about to produce roots. This would have enabled the
plant to establish itself quickly and have normal flowers off of that
growth. For a division in sheath that has not had time to settle into
its new accommodations, smaller (or even much smaller) flowers are
not
unexpected.
If the plant looks at all desiccated or stressed, I might remove
those
flowers as soon as they are fully open and just enjoy them in a vase
for as long as they last. That will assure the new division is not
further stressed, and makes it more likely that the flowers will be
normal next year.

One would expect a one pseudobulb piece to abort flowers, or not to
produce flowering sized growths for at least two years.

Dennis