Hi Group,

Any idea what gives strength to catt flower stems? I've had nothing but
trouble getting them to emerge from the sheath and grow tall. Plants that
displayed well from the vendor now barely make it out of sheath, and when
they do immediately bend over an point to the ground. So its something I'm
not doing right. This year only my blues are producing nice stems (Sir
Jeremiah Coleman and Blue Boy) Everything else didn't.

In my Humble Opinion (IMHO) you might look to a potassium (K) deficiency,
particularly if you are a very lite fertilizer person. As I understand it, K
deficiency can be caused by use of high Nitrogen fertilizers, which tend to
exclude K. A lot of N will make soft growth, and the softness would extend to
the flower stem. Another possible scenario is use of a bloom booster (high
Phosphorus (P)), with a low K ratio. The additional flowers, produced by the
high P, do not have the strength because of a lack of potassium. Remember why
we eat bananas is for the Potassium to combine with the calcium to strengthen
our bones, or at least that's what my mommy said. Same with plants, IMHO, but
we are far from chemical experts. Our preferred general fertilizer is 20-10-20
non-urea, with Calcium Nitrate at the new growth cycle, and Epsom Salts.

Someone mentioned maybe too much light, so the stems don't emerge from the
sheath. Someone mentioned that commercially when catts begin to flower they
move them to a flowering table where light conditions change.

Going to have to pass on this one. Many commercial growers will shade the
catts. to extend slightly the blooming period and keep the flowers from fading
in the brighter light. We are more species growers, than hybrids, so knowing
that the species in the wild, do not get moved when they come into flower, we
don't either. They are in fairly bright light year around, we are in SW FL, and
except for the occassional Hurricane, most of the year is fairly bright.
Foliage color is always lime green and flowering is good.
Sorry could not help more, but hope this helps some.

Jerry and Karen

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