Dividing Catasetinae

[kavanaru]

Hi Bill,

normally, the rule is that you should have at least 3-5 pseudo-bulbs (PBs) per division, and this rule applies to most orchids... Catasetinae can be a especial case though...

If you have large, mature PBs, you could actually grow a new plant from each single PB (especially, if they are not too old!) I have done myself with Catasetum, and works very fine. Negative point: your new plant will skip one or two year of flowering if the PB was too old or not mature or mature but not in good shape (a bit dehydrated!)

The advice from Holst, is a good one, because it stays on the "safe" side... however, you can really trust C&H too... The golden rule is, as said before: healthy, large, mature PBs

Keep in mind, that Catasetum tends to have several PBs in one single plant, while Cycnoches and Cycnodes normally have only 2 or 3 PBs (that's something intrinsic of the genus)

Something I have noticed, is that when growing Catasetinae in semi-hydro, the old PBs normally do not shrivel that much or not at all, letting you more "play room" for division!


P.S.- I do not provide info about Mormodes or Clowesia, as I do not grow them... I just recently acquired two Clowesetum, but am still a newbie with them (howeevr, they should behave similiarly)