Pest battle with Cattleya — and how I won

I had a serious problem with aerial root desiccation in dry centrally heated rooms on my Cattleya earlier this year. Caught it late and had to work hard to bring the plant back. The experience was frustrating but educational.

Now that it's healthy again I can fully appreciate extraordinary bloom longevity lasting weeks to months, which is remarkable. I've repositioned it in a decorative cachepot for a formal living room and improved my attention to repotting into fresh bark medium every two or three years. rest period in summer with focus on leaf and root growth was the proof that the plant had fully recovered — genuinely beautiful. Moral of the story: inspect regularly and catch problems early.