Cattleya potted in sphagnum moss

[Stringa]

Hi eveyone,

I bought a Cattleya aurantiaca from EFG orchids this Spring and now it is time to repot it. I have found that it has been potted in sphagnum moss. I am questioning the medium that it has been potted in, because eveything that I read says that Cattleyas need to be potted in a medium that dries out rather quickly. Do I go ahead and repot it with more sphagnum moss? Or do I use an orchid mix that you normally pot Cattleyas in?

Please let me know if you can help,

David.

[Tropicgirl]

I would repot in bark or LECA. I haven't had any luck with moss. I've started a few in s/h and they seem to love it, though it's only been about a month so it's a little early to say for sure.

[Sammy]

I have potted my L.Catt in a mix of around 20 CHC's and 80 hydroleca/LECA.

Once i re-potted her, i gave her a dose of Dyna Grow K-L-N root promoter and now she's doing really well. Roots all over the place!

[mab3362]

I prefer mine in a bark/inorganic mix. However, if I have one that is grown in sphagnum, I repot the first year into to a bark/sphagnum mix. In my conditions, it seems to shock them from going to almost constant moisture in moss to a much dryer bark environment. Just like a lot of things with orchids, I have found gradual change is better.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I don't recommend sphag with Catts. It's going to be root rot city.

They do just fine with bark.

[dounoharm]

i have all my catts in bark or chc/bark mix....i would think that sphag would rot the roots of cattleyas, they like to dry out rapidly after watering....gl

[Jeffery]

Not long ago, like about a few weeks ago, I made the mistake of adding Sphag with my bark for my Catts and I quickly killed 1 and a 2nd on the way, they were doing great up to that point, now I am trying to save the remaining 4.