Cattleya Hardyana

[monocotman]

Another plant that is improving under the new conditions. I checked back and the last time I posted this was in 2016 when the yellow eyes were much larger.
Since then it languished somewhat when grown on a windowsill and only flowered very occasionally.
Last year it produced a single average summer growth. This year, its second in the grow room, it produced an early spring growth that matured and then this produced two new growths of which this one has bloomed.

 

[Ozpaph]

The yellow eyes make it pop

 

[GuRu]

Lovely .... it's almost like a semialba type

 

[dodidoki]

That one is beautiful!!!

 

[monocotman]

Guru, it is a semi alba type with just the tiniest pincelada stripes on the tips of the petals.

 

[tomp]

Another beautifully grown plant. You are certainly on top of your game!

 

[PhilaGardener]

Ooh! So pretty!

 

[Brabantia]

Superbe !

 

[David B]

Definitely a worthy plant and well worth growing to the best of it's ability. Please allow me to point out my concern for the plants root health. The mix appears a bit compacted as will any mix over time. Root health in cattleya is very important and each species has different demands. I am posting a pic of wallisii below just finishing flowering, but the pic shows my mix which is orchiata bark, hort. charcoal, leca and pumice, usually in 30% bark and the other 70% varying but heaviest on the leca. . This mix is open and allows immediate penetration of new root growth, retains moisture without drying out too quickly and remains viable for at least 3 seasons. Cheers, well done.

 

[monocotman]

David, thanks for your comments. I have similar concerns and agonise long and hard as to when the best time is to repot each particular plant. One of the benefits of having a fairly small collection and watering each one by hand each week is that I can make that decision at what seems to me, to be the right time.


This is a poor photo just taken of this Hardyana minus the outer pot. I grow many of my plants using a pot in pot method. The inner small square aquatic pot can just be seen amongst the upper half of the roots. It sits on the edge of the larger round outer pot and allows the root run you can see here.
This allows plentiful air movement amongst the roots as well as access to moisture as I usually leave a film of water in the bottom of the outer pot after watering. This is usually gone within 24 - 48 hrs.
The only drawback with this system is that when repotting you lose a ton of roots, unless you butcher the pot, which I have been known to do on occasions.
The plant is due for a repot sometime in the next few months when I see a new set of fresh roots. I grow most of my catts in pure large grade orchiata so drainage isn’t usually a problem, especially here where it is in a suspended aquatic pot within a larger outer pot.
I do add a bit of sphagnum on the surface sometimes to encourage rooting but that is about all.

 

[David B]

Argh. I have seen these pots and I run away from them screaming. Any root loss when repotting hurts. In time we all develop methods that cushion this blow. With solid pots and even those with narrow slots, I use a soldering iron, I just sit outside at coffee time and enlarge the slots to the point where it becomes feasible to tease the roots through with minimal damage, sometimes sitting the plant in water which makes for more flexible roots. Below are pots I have started to use, I found these pots at a Toronto Hydroponic store, and am now securing different sizes, the 5/6/7" are working well. Good roots though.

 

[monocotman]

David, the inner pots that I use vary greatly depending on what I can get hold of on Amazon. Some are ‘orchid’ pots with slits and holes like yours, others are square or round aquatic pots.
Square pots usually mean that it can sit in the upper part of the round outer pot and leave a void for roots in the bottom of the pot.
The most expensive ones are those shown in the second photo. It’s a complex pot with holes, internal ‘root trainer’ slits that guide roots downwards and a cone shape to reduce the chances of water logging. Catts seem to like these pots but I keep them for choice plants as they’re expensive.
The only problem is when to repot when so much of the root mass is outside the pot and many of them are growing through the holes. The small square pots are cheap and I’m happy to cut them up if needed, to save roots.
It will be a learning curve in the next few years as I’ve not been using these pots for very long.

 

[David B]

All appear useful, top left would be my 1st pic, but something I neglected was that in summer when plants dry out quicker, plants sit in a 1/2" tray of water, and in winter this tray remains but I add leca to the tray with the plant sitting on top thus there is evaporating humidity at the root zone but the roots are not wet. Also as a cautionary process my 1st step now in repotting is 1' of straight leca in the pot bottom before any mixed media is added giving a better chance for air in the root zone. Cheers.

 

[monocotman]

David, how quickly does the half inch of water evaporate off in the summer? Is it permanently there?