New Catt with Live Moss on Top of Media. Keep or destroy Moss?

[realoldbeachbum]

Thanks Roberta, LM, ES, and SP! I purchased the Catt from a home grower in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. It was grown outside under a partially shaded lath structure (very humid & wet). The grower said it came from Hawaii.

It has healthy leaves and plump pbulbs, and decent roots – including a few green tips – growing around and over the rim of the pot.

Yesterday I unpotted it to find HUGE bark (tennis ball size), but no roots in the center of the pot. All the healthy roots are just under the top moss and encircled around the top of the pot and spilling over the edges.

It is now in a Worm Tea soak (for a few hours) after which I will let it dry a day or so. Not sure what to do after that! This is the first time I have unpotted an orchid with this type root structure. My concern now is not about the moss, but about lack of roots in the center of the pot!

LM – It is not a bifoliate – which sounds like a good thing in this case!

My weather here is hot and humid in Summer & in Winter I will bring it inside under grow lights.

Your advice is needed concerning how to repot and care for it in the next few months. Thanks so very much. ROBB

[estación seca]

I never repot Catts unless they are just beginning new roots. Repotting damages old roots, and you don't know how long it will be before the plant makes new roots.

For now I would repot into the medium of your choice and hope for the best. Catts do well in your climate so it should begin growing before too long.

[SouthPark]

ROBB ------ you're most welcome. As for unpotting --- there certainly are times where we really must unpot in order to see what's under the bonnet/hood. Just in case.

Back in the old days - orchid hunters probably used to rip orchids off trees etc, and then mount or pot after a bit of a journey - and they probably did the ripping off at any time. So - as long as the orchid gets appropriate treatment after unpotting and repotting - then the orchid can keep growing, recover etc.

I definitely support the method of waiting for new roots to begin developing for re-pots (in general).

Although - in the tropics here - I will also say that I unpotted and repotted pretty much every one of my catt orchids when they got here (by post) - which were originally grown in some sort of mix (bark, perlite, charcoal etc). And nothing bad happened to them. All flourishing. So it depends on growing conditions.

But - if a growing region presents challenges - such as cold climate, or snow countries, or dry etc ----- then absolutely ----- it may be beneficial to wait for new root growth to occur at the time of re-potting, while still keeping in mind that sometimes - unpotting in order to check on what's happening in the media --- may be necessary.

Also ----- big lump of bark (tennis ball size) may - just hypothetically - be a tactic that the previous grower uses to avoid having roots concentrated in a region where the media accumulates a bunch of water. Or just prevents a heap of water building up and getting ultra wet at the centre of the pot ----- depending how what media (and size) is being used that is. That might be their strategy for avoiding root drowning. Some other people might have similar strategies - like inverting a mini pot (or something) within the main pot.

[realoldbeachbum]

Thank you, SP. Good advice. I repotted the orchid, flushed with KelpMax & set it under the grow lights and fan. Grow room windows will be open. Our Summer just started so it will be hot and humid for the next 3 months. I am optimistic that it will recover.

Thanks everyone for your help! Happy growing. ROBB