yeah looks like a keiki. This is pretty exciting..

It is so nice to have like-minded folks who are into the nuances of growing....
I show my DBH this or that .......and see his eyes glaze over. lol.

Same here. The killer is wanting to show him spikes....He says, "Don't forget. No spikes!" Unfortunately I promised! AAaaarrrgh!

Janice, I would think most people's eyes glaze over at the sheer mentioning of Orchids, never mind details? We tend to get very involved I suppose.

I think we are the farmers/growers of the world.

The strange part about this plantlet is it has obviously been there awhile. I take this to the sink daily and only just saw it!!

Janice how is your little guy doing?

Here are today's questions:
What can you oncidium people tell me for less loss!!!

My Laelia lundii first flower is going by. Is that typical?
Same with the Catt. walkeriana x and the Laelia canarienses (but this was the longest one).
They all might have been in too much sun/hot temps some days. Although I may be spoiled by all the ones that bloom for weeks.

Ursula, the Catt skinneri you gave me is getting dry sheaths in the same area. I've peeled them off and the budlets look okay inside. I'm also losing some leaves and old pbs are yellowing. Shouls I throw in some medium??

Kathy, it is normal for C skinneri to get dry sheaths, since this is a Spring bloomer. I would watch out not to give it additional light at "unnatural" hours to keep the timing on track.
Remember that I had to really cut the solid main clump straight through, so if you lose a pbulb at the edge of the division, that might be due to that? Adding medium? I would think that depends on the amount of watering you do. Do you see nice new roots?

I don't think L lundii blooms last that long. I forgot exactly how long, but it was in the range of days, not weeks.

Oh good on all counts. On the catt, I see nice old roots but not new yet. It mostly gets sunlight hours unless I'm taking pics at night (very rare). Oh yeah, and in late Dec when my computer crashed I would be there for an hour at night for half the week. Thanks for the tip Ursula.

Is this similar to why Christmas cactus or pointsettia bloom or not? ..exposing them to light at when they need darkness? I'm very curious to see buds
emerging from dry sheaths...seems impossible to me!

Nothing's impossible if an orchid wants to bloom!!

Lindsey, if you google "control of flowering in cattleyas" you get information about photoperiodism. Also - the book Home Orchid growing by Rebecca Tyson Northen has a very nice article under that title, talking about short day plants, long day plants and how one can control flowering by manipulating light hours.

Here is a picture of my younger Cattleya skinneri alba 'Debbie' in Spring 2004, showing the buds breaking through the dry sheaths.

I had the plant for about 5 years when it finally decided to "talk"

Ursula, that's amazing! Thanks for going through your archive to find that one! And thank you also for
the article info, I had no idea that some orchids were short or long day plants.

Kathy, I grow my Onc. Alliance interspersed with Catt. Alliance, so conditions here are the same for both.

Thanks, Ken.

Sheryl asked

Can anyone advise me as to any orchids that can stand a dry area? My home is running about 30% humidity, and when we fire up the wood burning stove (nightly) it can get even lower...

I don't think that is a problem. Sufficient/proper light is more important IMHO.
It would help if you can water over trays, not actually sitting the orchids in water but placing them perhaps on racks which sit on or above trays. When you water, the plants will drip off into the tray and provide extra humidity. The trays will have to be washed every few weeks or so, but it works ( for me).
I grow ( dry) Cacti and (wet) Orchids in the Winter in the greenhouse, not placing them on the same rack but close by. I don't have a problem. Grouping your Orchids together will help too.

under 30% humidity all the time is pretty low. I'd try with one or two orchids first with the tray method as Ursula said and check the humidity to see if it'll be any higher. but saying that theres probly orchids that do grow dry im not sure which though.

Thanks to both of you for the advice - this is a completely new adventure for me. The Beallaras both have bloom spikes, so I'll at least get the joy of one bloom from them, lol....

Think I'll try to find something a little more attractive than my cookie sheets to use as a tray.