Cattleya baby repotting

[Rowdy]

Purchased my first Catt a few weeks ago, was a baby in a bag with a 2 inch maybe mesh pot.
bought some of the miracle-gro orchid mix came home and re-potted it immediately, i didn't know what to look for in roots so i just planted the whole mess. now here i am a couple weeks later knowing a thing or two about a thing or two (or at-least having a bit of confidence from online learning) and a bunch more orchids too lol i decided that the miracle-gro wasn't my cup of tea as it was staying very moist. got a bag of the special orchid mix, bark charcoal etc. re-potted all my orchids in this stuff tonight. upon inspection of the catt and some rotten root trimming i realized it was not one plant with a few decent roots it was 2 plants with not many decent roots. both have 2 pseutobulbs one has 3 roots about 2 inches long and the other has one root, i trimmed and cleaned em up as best i can and left only good green/whitish roots. now they are in their new pots and fresh medium what do i do to promote root growth? do i water more or less? do i fertlize now or later? all are on a east facing window sill with humidity trays under them.

[Eyebabe]

Keep them a bit on the dry side to promote root growth...but small plants do dry out fast so you will have to watch closely.
Hold off on fertilizer for now.
Put them in good light and humidity trays are good too.
Sounds like you are off to a good start!

[val_and_graham]

Hi, you seem to be doing all the right things so far.
As the sensitive roots have been disturbed by the repotting process you should water sparingly until the roots become established again. In addition to the humidity tray you could also mist your catt regularly with a small hand sprayer thus giving extra moisture to the plant.

Keep the roots shaded for a few weeks to protect from further damage. Also do not feed for about a month. Then half strength orchid fertilizer every two to three weeks

[Rowdy]

whew thanks for the reassurance and advice. i was happy that they were 2 plants but panicked when there were minimal roots lol. will keep updated as they progress..

[Orchid126]

Good thing you observed that the Miracle Gro medium is not good, because it isn't.

The plants should be in the smallest pots you have that will just accommodate the roots. Too big a pot will have too much medium that will stay too wet and rot the roots. Cattleya roots like to be wet and then allowed to dry again.

An east window in NJ is not enough light for a cattleya. A south or west window would be much better. Mine are in a south window as close to the glass as they can get.

As Eyebabe and val and graham say, water sparingly and watch the smaller pots as they dry out quickly. But that's okay, cattleyas like to be watered very well, then allowed to dry out.