After the problems with rot etc that I had last year I thought that I would update everyone on the progress since. The plants were nearly all repotted into fresh orchiata and every plant now sits in its own larger individual pot, the trays have all been banished.
In addition there were some new plants imported via Germany from South America and these needed more care to get them on northern hemisphere time.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the discussions, especially Dr Leslie, they have really helped.
Another factor is that I have recently taken early retirement and it’s now easier to spend more time with them.
First up is a cattleya dowiana, a plant imported from South America. These are the first two photos. When it arrived late last year there were the two small growths you can still see but very little root. When it started to produce fresh roots, I repotted and held my breath. You can now see that in the last few months the root growth has been very vigorous and we even have a new shoot that is much more on European time. I am super happy with this. I have never owned a dowiana and they have a reputation for being finicky.
Next up we have a labiata rubra that lost all its roots due to my lack of knowledge. It should have been repotted much sooner. Last autumn when I came to repot it there were no live roots at all. I had read online about sitting backbulbs in water to encourage rooting so I did this with this plant for about four months. The rhizome was touching the water for all that time. Nothing much happened until this spring. There was no visual evidence that the rhizome took up water or that the bulbs swelled. On the other hand, they did not deteriorate. So this spring it suddenly produced a flush of new roots so was immediately repotted. As you can see, root growth is good and a new growth bud is just emerging.
Next we have a small division of lueddemanniana ‘sarita’ that was struggling when it tried to grow in the pot of the mature plant. I had cut the old rhizome to encourage a new growth but it was tiny. The plant was repotted into this small clay pot with sphagnum and sat with the seedling phrags under a T5 light. It responded by sending out a flush of new roots and the new growth looks promising.
Last we have another South American import, this time cattleya mendelli. It was on the same time clock as the dowiana and had produced a small new growth last autumn, after travelling across the pond.
Again, when the new roots started out I repotted it, this time into a new style of pot full of ridges and holes. It may well work out ok but the roots are now growing through several of the holes so it will be a tough to repot in a couple of years. Root growth with this plant is not quite as vigorous as the dowiana but still it’s good and we also have a new growth just starting and again it much more on european time. As can be seen in the photos as often sit moss under the base of the new growths to encourage rooting into the bark.
So thanks for all the help, I am now much more confident about the culture of my catts!
David
In addition there were some new plants imported via Germany from South America and these needed more care to get them on northern hemisphere time.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the discussions, especially Dr Leslie, they have really helped.
Another factor is that I have recently taken early retirement and it’s now easier to spend more time with them.
First up is a cattleya dowiana, a plant imported from South America. These are the first two photos. When it arrived late last year there were the two small growths you can still see but very little root. When it started to produce fresh roots, I repotted and held my breath. You can now see that in the last few months the root growth has been very vigorous and we even have a new shoot that is much more on European time. I am super happy with this. I have never owned a dowiana and they have a reputation for being finicky.
Next up we have a labiata rubra that lost all its roots due to my lack of knowledge. It should have been repotted much sooner. Last autumn when I came to repot it there were no live roots at all. I had read online about sitting backbulbs in water to encourage rooting so I did this with this plant for about four months. The rhizome was touching the water for all that time. Nothing much happened until this spring. There was no visual evidence that the rhizome took up water or that the bulbs swelled. On the other hand, they did not deteriorate. So this spring it suddenly produced a flush of new roots so was immediately repotted. As you can see, root growth is good and a new growth bud is just emerging.
Next we have a small division of lueddemanniana ‘sarita’ that was struggling when it tried to grow in the pot of the mature plant. I had cut the old rhizome to encourage a new growth but it was tiny. The plant was repotted into this small clay pot with sphagnum and sat with the seedling phrags under a T5 light. It responded by sending out a flush of new roots and the new growth looks promising.
Last we have another South American import, this time cattleya mendelli. It was on the same time clock as the dowiana and had produced a small new growth last autumn, after travelling across the pond.
Again, when the new roots started out I repotted it, this time into a new style of pot full of ridges and holes. It may well work out ok but the roots are now growing through several of the holes so it will be a tough to repot in a couple of years. Root growth with this plant is not quite as vigorous as the dowiana but still it’s good and we also have a new growth just starting and again it much more on european time. As can be seen in the photos as often sit moss under the base of the new growths to encourage rooting into the bark.
So thanks for all the help, I am now much more confident about the culture of my catts!
David
