Is it too late to repot these Catasetums ?

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Cymbaline

I managed to get it one size down and changed it around so I hope it's good. Thank You

Sounds good! Keep us updated!

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Cymbaline

I want to repot these two Catasetums but I'm wondering if I missed my chance.

Cymbaline - from what I've seen so far with catasetum of various sorts - it's never 'too late' to repot regular catasetums.

Sure - some roots might get broken - but it doesn't mean the end of the plant. Just let the root seal up a bit if one gets broken or snapped - and then re-pot. Naturally, it's beneficial to be delicate and as careful as possible during repots.

I see new roots sprouting from catasetums even halfway (or more) through the growing period. So as long as the growing conditions provided to the orchid is good, then you can repot pretty much at any time.

This season, I removed all the spaghnum ball from an already big Fdk. plant - half-way into the growing season, transplanted it into 100% scoria rock ----- and it kept growing - as if nothing happened. It now has two big bulbs developed (for this season) and really large and long leaves.

[Cymbaline]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Cymbaline - from what I've seen so far with catasetum of various sorts - it's never 'too late' to repot regular catasetums.

Sure - some roots might get broken - but it doesn't mean the end of the plant. Just let the root seal up a bit if one gets broken or snapped - and then re-pot. Naturally, it's beneficial to be delicate and as careful as possible during repots.

I see new roots sprouting from catasetums even halfway (or more) through the growing period. So as long as the growing conditions provided to the orchid is good, then you can repot pretty much at any time.

This season, I removed all the spaghnum ball from an already big Fdk. plant - half-way into the growing season, transplanted it into 100% scoria rock ----- and it kept growing - as if nothing happened. It now has two big bulbs developed (for this season) and really large and long leaves.

That's good to know. I read that you shouldn't repot after it starts growing. It's probably bad information but that's why I'm here asking Thank you!

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Cymbaline

That's good to know. I read that you shouldn't repot after it starts growing. It's probably bad information but that's why I'm here asking Thank you!

Most welcome Cymbaline. We know that in the plant world, there are many plants out there that - if we pull them out of the ground or have their roots disturbed, then it will be 'curtains' for those sorts of plants.

With catasetum, I haven't encountered one that didn't make it through a repot at any stage of growth. In some cases, a plant could possibly get set back a bit (as in - the plant needs to get re-established in the new media). But that's about it.

[Keysguy]

Fred Clarke once told me to never re-pot or water a catasetinae until the roots on the new growth were AT LEAST 1' long.
Maybe I mis-heard him but that's the way I've done it for years and have had very good success. That being said, I just noticed a new growth on one of mine that is emerging half way up on last years massive pseudobulb. In the past they always started at the media line. This one might be a challenge to get re-potted.
Another trick Fred passed on was when you re-pot, add in 2-3 layers of slo-release fertilizer in the media. ie; put media in very botton of pot, add some fert, add some more media, add another layer of fert , fill with media and sprinkle more fert on top. They are super heavy feeders.

---------- Post added at 05:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:15 PM ----------

Sorry.....that was supposed to say 1 inch long!

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Keysguy

Fred Clarke once told me to never re-pot or water a catasetinae until the roots on the new growth were AT LEAST 1' long.
Maybe I mis-heard him but that's the way I've done it for years and have had very good success.

keysguy ----- I don't think that you mis-heard him. He very likely said that.

The only thing is - enough growers (eg. me, and you and others) will find that - as long as the catasetum is provided conditions such as good temperature range, good lighting level, adequate water (not over water or under water etc) and adequately aerated roots (for getting oxygen into them), then nothing bad is going to happen to the catasetum.

I've seen this for myself. Other people 'can' also see for themselves.

There has been a spreading of information (likely mis-information) about watering emerging roots too 'early' for catasetum coming out of true dormancy. To understand that it is most likely mis-information ----- all one needs to do is to test the mis-information, by simply doing some hands-on and seeing for themselves.

As most of us here are - being 'hands-on' people. It is ok to go ahead to test various pieces of mis-information ..... especially when there are signs of other growers mentioning that they saw no issues when they tried it out for themselves (for one reason or another).

Importantly - it is important for myself to never insult or offend somebody that was merely trying to help others (as in not offend or insult those people passing around the wrong information), even if the wrong information had been given out. So none of the observations or comments I made were ever meant to create issues for growers.

As long as everybody learns something from sharing of real experience, then that's fine. It's all for the benefit of orchid growers and orchids themselves.

I (like maybe all of us) have a massively high regard for Fred Clarke. He's a legend for providing us a pretty much black coloured orchid that also looks amazing - plus his other incredible work in the catasetum (and other) areas.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

keysguy ----- I don't think that you mis-heard him. He very likely said that.

The only thing is - enough growers (eg. me, and you and others) will find that - as long as the catasetum is provided conditions such as good temperature range, good lighting level, adequate water (not over water or under water etc) and adequately aerated roots (for getting oxygen into them), then nothing bad is going to happen to the catasetum.

I've seen this for myself. Other people 'can' also see for themselves.

There has been a spreading of information (likely mis-information) about watering emerging roots too 'early' for catasetum coming out of true dormancy. To understand that it is most likely mis-information ----- all one needs to do is to test the mis-information, by simply doing some hands-on and seeing for themselves.

As most of us here are - being 'hands-on' people. It is ok to go ahead to test various pieces of mis-information ..... especially when there are signs of other growers mentioning that they saw no issues when they tried it out for themselves (for one reason or another).

Importantly - it is important for myself to never insult or offend somebody that was merely trying to help others (as in not offend or insult those people passing around the wrong information), even if the wrong information had been given out. So none of the observations or comments I made were ever meant to create issues for growers.

As long as everybody learns something from sharing of real experience, then that's fine. It's all for the benefit of orchid growers and orchids themselves.

I (like maybe all of us) have a massively high regard for Fred Clarke. He's a legend for providing us a pretty much black coloured orchid that also looks amazing - plus his other incredible work in the catasetum (and other) areas.

Oh, the irony of you talking about misinformation. Absolutely amazing.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by isurus79

Oh, the irony of you talking about misinformation. Absolutely amazing.

It's a surprise - in that I would have expected that you would be the type of person that would follow-up with at least some testing - to see for yourself whether YOU are right or wrong. This is regarding 'early watering'.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

It's a surprise - in that I would have expected that you would be the type of person that would follow-up with at least some testing - to see for yourself whether YOU are right or wrong. This is regarding 'early watering'.

The experience I’ve gained over nearly two decades of this group includes watering during dormancy, which is less of a problem than watering during early root growth. The results are generally dead plants or plants that need a year or two to recover. My knowledge comes from experience, which after two years of growing this group, you lack. You also lack the experience to challenge Fred Clarke’s advice, which regularly do. You also lack the experience to start throwing around the word “misinformation,” especially when calling out Fred’s advice as wrong.

Can you water a bit during dormancy? Sure. But you don’t need to. And your temps must be above 55F to do so. Also, complex hybrids and some of the Catasetums species are much more forgiving than most of the Mormodes, Cycnoches, and tricky Catasetums. Hell, I even made a whole video about not following the “traditional” rules for watering the group (see link below). However, those “rules” (guidelines, whatever you want to call them) are hard earned and come from a place of experience. They are a tried and true recipe for success. So please don’t go around using rhetoric like misinformation when pointing to experienced growers as you are in the early years of gathering knowledge for yourself. You’ve consistently said things that show a lack of understanding about the biology of this group and seem to show no interest in learning.

Advanced Catasetinae Growing Techniques - YouTube

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by isurus79

The experience I’ve gained over nearly two decades of this group includes watering during dormancy, which is less of a problem than watering during early root growth. The results are generally dead plants or plants that need a year or two to recover. My knowledge comes from experience, which after two years of growing this group, you lack.

I call nonsense on your part isurus79.

What I've learned in my two years of catasetum growing, and what growers here have seen and experienced (ie. no negative impacts) - all goes toward supporting what I've seen in my testing. Not 'I' .... 'we'. Supports what we've seen (but not you though).

To me - it is you that lacks the experience. I can see that our 2 years experience surpasses your so-called twenty years.

Furthermore, I absolutely do not believe that you had done those tests/experiments.

My interest is in learning, and to acquire more knowledge from actual hands-on testing. Once again - we have forum members here that have seen no negative impact with watering new roots of catasetum coming out of true dormancy.