Dendro & Cattelaya expert help needed!

[lyzzy]

Okay, so I was in Lowes, and you can all guess what happened. They had phals, dendrobiums that were at the end of their blooms, and in nasty moss, and got them to reduce the prices for me. BUT I bought a "starter" cattelaya, in a tiny 1 1/2 inch pot. It is BLC.George King "Serendipity". Now, they have to be re-potted, and I don't have experience with cattelayas or dendrobiums. I believe an old orchid book i read said they both are sympodial, so they have to be potted close to the edge of the pot, correct? and how big of a pot do i want to put the cattelaya in? (the dendrobium and the phals are NoID's.) Any and all advice will be helpful!

[jesscorine]

There may be answers to your questions in the Lowe's thread already we've all done the same thing as you have in the past few months!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Yes, both Cattleyas and Dendrobiums are both sympodial growing.

The Cattleya, you want the end that was cut to be against the edge of the pot so that the lead growths have an opportunity to grow into the space available.

The Dendrobium, you want to place in the center of the pot.

[lyzzy]

Thanks for replying. I'm not sure what you mean by the cut end in reference to the cattelaya. I guess I should have posted on the repotting forum! Also with this cattelay, it is in a pot that measure no more than 2 inches, how big of a pot can I put it in, and will clay be alright?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

That's right, your Cattleya was a seedling, it wasn't a division. Sorry.

If you look at the Cattleya, there will be one side of the Cattleya that has shorter, smaller mature pseudobulbs compared to the larger, taller mature pseudobulbs. The side with the smallest mature pseudobulbs is the back end. The side with the larger mature pseudobulbs is the front end.

The leaves will also tend to point towards the front.

The back end is the one you want against the edge of the pot. The front end is the one you want with enough space for new growths to grow into.

---------- Post added at 10:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:30 PM ----------

Without a photo to see how large your Cattleya really is, I have a difficult time telling you how large of a pot it should be in.

A clay pot is fine.

[cattleya80]

check out youtube. There are plenty of vids out there on how to repot cattleyas.