CULTURAL SUGGESTIONS FOR CATTLEYAS 
For many years those who grew 
Cattleyas thought or talked and wrote 
as if they thought that one must pos- 
sess a number of special senses in 
order to even attempt the task of 
growing orchids. Now thousands of 
amateurs throughout the nation have 
thoroughly debunked this theory. Per- 
haps there was some excuse for the 
early growers forming this opinion 
when we consider the uniqueness and 
astounding beauty of orchids. So 
unique, so beautiful that the early 
growers could not quite consider 
them as plants in the normal sense 
and instead of employing the princi- 
ples of culture of plants familiar to 
them they attempted to formulate a 
new set of procedures with little or 
no data to work on, became com- 
pletely confused themselves, and con- 
fused everyone else. Amateurs have 
been successful in growing orchids in 
a wide variation of enclosures all the 
way from a glass box in the living 
room, an out-of-doors enclosure that 
was hardly big enough to turn around 
in tO some quite spacious and artisti- 
cally constructed greenhouses. First of 
all, remember that orchids are plants. 
Don’t be afraid of them. 
GREENHOUSE TEMPERATURE 
The ideal temperature for Cattleyas 
in the greenhouse is about 84 degrees 
mid-day on bright days in summer in 
most parts of the country, and about 
63 degrees at night. These are safe 
temperatures for California through- 
out the year. In the Northern and 
Eastern States, winter temperature 
may range from 65 degrees to 75 de- 
grees mid-day and in the low 50’s at 
night. Some growers have good luck 
with even lower temperatures, and if 
you are one of them so much the 
better. The important thing to re- 
member is that if the day tempera- 
ture is low then that at night should 
be lower; if the day is warm then 
the night temperature should be up 
a little. 
HUMIDITY. A good guide for 
humidity is that an orchid house 
should be comfortable to people all 
the time they are walking in it, but 
if one stands still for a few minutes, 
they should perspire a little. From 50 
to 70% relative humidity in the day- 
time is desirable. 
WATERING. The subject of when 
to water and when to withhold water 
from the growing media of orchid 
plants has been a much mooted ques- 
tion for many years gone by, and so 
the best that one could hope for in 
any set of cultural instructions would 
be to accomplish some alleviation of 
the fear of attacking this task. The 
degree of dryness the growing media 
should reach before water is applied 
to it may be determined in many 
ways; by hefting the pot and deter- 
mining the dryness by weight, or lift- 
ing it up completely and looking at 
the bottom of the pot. Be sure the 
media is thoroughly dry before water- 
ing and then water thoroughly. Be 
careful with large pots, 514” and 6”. 
POTTING. Potting should be demon- 
strated. Our only advice is to pot your 
plants firmly and at the first sign of 
satisfaction that you have done a 
good job, leave it alone. We hear a 
lot about growing mixtures. No 
doubt they all have their merits, but 
we feel that osmunda is the safest 
and cheapest in the long run. 
SPRAYING. A spraying program 
every month or so with one of the 
commercial orchid sprays will pro- 
vide adequate pest control. 
These instructions are basically for 
Cattleyas, but thousands of amateurs 
throughout the nation have demon- 
strated that Cypripediums, Phalae- 
nopsis, Dendrobiums and other 
orchids, and other plants, will grow 
side by side under conditions similar 
to these described here. 
HOW WE PRICE 
Arm-Rey 
CATTLEYA ORCHID 
PLANTS 
Plants listed in the catalog are 
priced according to the size of pot 
A. B. C., and variety — out of 
flower. The newer crosses are 
listed in the smaller sizes while 
the older ones are shown in the 
larger sizes. Generally speaking, 
a plant will be mature enough to 
flower when it has reached 4” 
size. 
B 
112”—2 years old- 3”—3-4 years old 
= tes 
G 
4”—5-7 years old 
D 
back bulb division 
