How to deal with Cattleya Orchids.?

I bought a minature cattleya orchid (it's bright orange) from BB Barns in Asheville,NC in May 2004. It's now in Greenille,NC. When I bought it it was in full bloom and gorgeous. At first it just put out lots of new leaves and pseudobulbs but no new flowers. It then got severely dehydrated when I went on vacation and the person who was suppossed to water my plants forgot. Most of the leaves are kind of shrivelled and yellowish green rather than dark green. I've got it potted in sphagum moss and make sure it is kept moist and fetilize with Better Grow Orchid Plus and Better Grow Bloom Boost but it still looks like it is dying although I do have some new growth. I have been keeping it in a west facing window except in summer when it moves to a south facing window. I also have three other cattleyas bought more recently whose leaves are turning slightly yellow-green and some of the bottom ones have died. What can I do to bring it back to its former glory?

How to deal with Cattleya Orchids.?
I found this site, OrchidFlowersOnline that has great info for orchids heres a clip:





http://orchidflowersonline.blogspot.com/





Orchids are usually classified as warm growing, intermediate or cool growing, but most Orchids tolerate exposure to a wide variety of conditions without suffering (although most orchids don't do well when temperatures remain constantly above 90°F). The classification refers to the minimum temperture the orchid prefers during winter nights. Cool growers, such as cymbidiums, do best when nights drop to about 50°F, while warm growers, such as phalaenopsis, don't like it much below 60°F at night. Intermediate types, such as cattleyas, prefer night time temperatures between those two. More info listed there. i hope this helps you Dear.
Reply:Hi Jenny, I Live in North Carolina also, and I hope you visited the Biltmore House while in Asheville, its a lovely place. Try mixing some Miracle Grow with water and dampen the soil with this about once a week, but do NOT over water them. If you are seeing New growth it is coming back to Life.
Reply:Try a humidity tray, plenty of light but not direct sunlight, fertilize every week with a weak version of the fertilizer. Try some orchid medium, along with the sphagum moss, Try a good orchid fetilizer, also stop fertilizing when you see flower spikes, cut off dead pseudobulbs.

flowers baby