Repotting a cattleya with root issues.

[BrassavolaStars]

Hello all,

I received this cattleya bare-root about a month ago. When it arrived, I didn’t have exactly the right supplies to repot on hand and had to improvise.

Unfortunately, this caused the plant to rot almost all of the roots. I think both the medium wasn’t good and the pot was too large.

Now I have repot it again more properly and I wanted to make sure how I’ve done it is acceptable. As a note, most of the roots in the pot are brownish and not good. I did not cut them off because parts of them were still alive but some roots sections were clearly rotting. Should I have just cut off all of the roots that were decaying even if they had ok spots?

Does this look okay now for the plant to regrow roots? I potted it a bit higher than I normally would? Is it too high in the pot. I thought the rhizome should be above the bark.

Thankfully, the leaves show no sign of dehydration yet and the bulbs have many active eyes and a maturing new growth.

Is there anything else I need to do? Should I repot it again differently?

[Veksa]

It does look a bit too high to me. Also, the oldest bulb should be touching the edge of a pot with newer growth facing the center, so there will be room to grow new shots for a few years. ALso some catts tend to grow new shots higher than older ones, yours seem to be facing downward in too small of a pot. Think about the direction of it growth, does it have a room to grow?

[SouthPark]

Brassa --- you could probably just keep it the way it is there. If humidity is pretty good, then the roots could just sprout and grow everywhere. Just assuming humidity is ok in your growing area.

If in doubt about too much water on roots ----- just consider some of the details below if needed:

Click Here and Click Here and Click Here and Click Here.

[BrassavolaStars]

Hello all,

I tired lowering the plant and adjusting it a bit as the humidity is not amazing in my GH (~50%). Because of this, I had to use a slightly larger pot. Now I fear it’s over-potted. Should I go back to the smaller pot? I am so indecisive. As you can see in the last photo, the roots are very bad. The problem happened originally because I used far too large of a pot originally while waiting for smaller pots to arrive. Big mistake.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by BrassavolaStars

Now I fear it’s over-potted.

In my books, and don't put it in your books too Brassa ----- there's no such actual thing as 'over-potted'. Sometimes, if the pot is massively large, then it might lead to just using more water or something.

But there should never be any actual fear in using an over-sized pot. You just water in the regions where you think you should - and apply appropriate amounts.

If necessary, layer a big pot with different size media. Big pieces for bottom and/or middle layer. Smaller at the top ---- or any size pieces we need. This is for flexibility, and promoting good drainage by making changes where appropriate.

In many cases, we can just water the whole media. I genuinely have Angraecum eburneum and Dendrobrium discolor growing in scoria pots outdoors ------ and during heavy rains ---- the water gets dumped on them for days on end ----- and nothing bad happens to them. They're just outdoors toughened.

I nearly forgot to mention that those orchids I mentioned gets full-on lawn sprinklers (garden rotary sprinklers) dumping water on them every night - and nothing bad happens to them. Been going strong for decades.

But not all orchids are conditioned in that way - so we sometimes have to do things in some way that keeps the orchids heathy and alive for very long times. The general aim is long term, or long haul growing. Long time healthyness.

[BrassavolaStars]

Hello Southpark,

Thank you for your replies.

My concern with using too large of a pot was that the bark will stay wet longer than is healthy.

It may not be true, but it seems that in larger pots in my conditions, the medium doesn’t dry out as quickly as it should and impedes circulation which makes me worry about the roots rotting. Maybe that is because my air circulation isn’t what it could be.

I guess this pot doesn’t seem all that large as the newest growth is in the center of the pot. I really am not sure though if it will work for my conditions though and I want to give the plant its best chance and not make a potting environment conducive to more rot.

I hope I didn’t just move from frying pan to fire as the expression goes. This one in particular really does have me stumped though.

[SouthPark]

Brassa ----- it's true what you mentioned - about media staying wet for long periods.

That's when we may consider layering - big pieces on the bottom and middle. Or even considering watering around the rim of pot.

It is true that occasional dry-out can help cut down on unwanted things growing in the pot ----- bacteria etc. But if the media is laid out appropriately ---- big enough pieces, then all should be ok.

Maybe also nothing stopping us from putting in big chunks of rock pieces (or some other inorganic space filler) to fill the bulk of a large pot - prior to adding other media such as bark.

[Leafmite]

What you do with this Cattleya will depend on the type of Cattleya and its growing cycle. If this is the type that has a definite year cycle, that starts new pseudobulbs only in the spring/early summer and the new growth has already produced roots, you will really want to save the old roots. If this is not the case, it is your choice whether you wish to save the old roots since the new growth will produce new roots.

If you need to save the old roots and they are not in good condition and were just removed from the old medium, you should remove the orchid from the medium and let the roots heal for a few days. Spray the roots once a day lightly with water. The number of days you let the roots heal depends on the condition of the roots. When the roots have had time to heal, then pot up the Cattleya.

I use red lava rock and basket pots so I do not need to worry about pot size or the medium becoming compact. Recently, I had a group of new Cattleyas that needed moved into the red lava rock and I was not certain of the stage of growth of the Cattleyas or, as they are hybrids, of their growing cycle. The roots had some rotting issues and then suffered quite a bit from removing the mess of the medium and I set each in the pot and let them sit for nearly a week without medium, spraying the roots daily with a spray bottle. Now, nearly four weeks after potting them into the lava rock, the old roots still look very good and all the orchids are getting new growths (whew!). I have used this technique with species Cattleyas that have that definite growing cycle when I had to pot the orchid at the wrong time. I hope this helps you. Good luck!

[JScott]

Originally Posted by BrassavolaStars

Hello Southpark,

Thank you for your replies.

My concern with using too large of a pot was that the bark will stay wet longer than is healthy.

It may not be true, but it seems that in larger pots in my conditions, the medium doesn’t dry out as quickly as it should and impedes circulation which makes me worry about the roots rotting. Maybe that is because my air circulation isn’t what it could be.

I guess this pot doesn’t seem all that large as the newest growth is in the center of the pot. I really am not sure though if it will work for my conditions though and I want to give the plant its best chance and not make a potting environment conducive to more rot.

I hope I didn’t just move from frying pan to fire as the expression goes. This one in particular really does have me stumped though.

I've started using bulb pans for a lot of my orchids, especially the Catts. They are wider than they are deep (they're usually only about five inches deep), and it solves the problem of a pot wide enough to accommodate the above ground portion of the plant being too deep for the below ground portion of the plant. I haven't been doing this for very long, but so far I have had great success with bulb pans.

---------- Post added at 10:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:32 AM ----------

And also, over potting isn't as much of an issue. For some reason 6 inch bulb pans are hard to find, so sometimes I take a plant that would normally go in a 6 inch pot, and plant it in an 8 inch bulb pan because I don't have a 6 inch bulb pan. You still have to be careful about watering, like watering only the center of the pot where you expect the roots to be, but so far I haven't had any problems with this.

---------- Post added at 10:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:35 AM ----------

And I'm also transitioning to scoria rather than a bark based mix, and I think overwatering will be even less of a concern then.

[BrassavolaStars]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

What you do with this Cattleya will depend on the type of Cattleya and its growing cycle. If this is the type that has a definite year cycle, that starts new pseudobulbs only in the spring/early summer and the new growth has already produced roots, you will really want to save the old roots. If this is not the case, it is your choice whether you wish to save the old roots since the new growth will produce new roots.

It seems to be starting to develop new roots on the new growth now as I see the beginnings of green nubs. I wanted to leave the old roots to help anchor it in the pot so it isn’t wobbly and it’s possible that they could absorb some water.

My concern though is that the rot on the roots could spread to the rhizome as many of these older roots have become quite mushy. I am thinking of pouring some cleary’s into the pot the next time I water.

You are right. I probably should have left it out of the pot for a few days before repotting it as the older roots were in really bad shape. That being said, I probably shouldn’t un-pot it again though as that would be the 4th time and so much disturbance isn’t typically good. Hopefully it will be okay as new roots are starting to grow.