Health diagnosis needed for newly purchased cattleya

[Wathepleela]

Yesterday evening passing through the weekend night market just to look around (and ya shall find), I was glad to see my old friend, the orchid vendor, again. He hasn’t been showing up kind of late and look what he’s got for me this time: an industrial-size cattleya! It has several spent blooms – he said the flower is red - one pregnant “cane” with “pouch”, one new shoot and a bunch of big sturdy “canes” ( how do you call them bulbs with leaf, or leaves with bulb?) Also lots of new eyes (baby bulbs?) In short a healthy, vigorous-looking plant. However, after bringing it home, I start to worry, mostly about the potting media. It feels like coconut husks densely packed, with the top surface getting mushy and patchy in green moss. Oh yeah, the pot is earthen-ware with holes all round but only a timid small root or two poking out here and there… The whole thing weighs a ton!












My first and only experience with cattlleyas has been the quick demise of one, also purchased from the same vendor (he’s the one who’s got me into this orchid “world”). Gorgeous corsage-size white and purple flower – which made my bathroom look and smell like the Ritz-Carlton for two brief weeks - dark thick leaves with healththy root system clinging tightly onto spanking new charcoal potting media (sorry for sounding like a commercial!) And yet, despite the love that I professed, I managed to kill it after the bloom was done with. I left a new cane with sheath fried to a crisp in the sun, then caused root rot by putting the original pot inside a clay pot (for re-decorating purpose, to cheer up the bathroom now looking forlorn), finally when things appeared to go down hill I repotted and while I was at it, divided the plant as well. Needless to say, it died a painful death.

What I remember was that that plant had roots trailing down from the bottom of its plastic pot. Whereas this new plant has almost none sticking out. I poked my fingers through the bottom holes of the pot and could feel/see same media: coco husks, with not much ventilation.

Another point of concerns is several smaller (ie younger) leaves have yellowing going toward blackburnt tips. Is this the result of being left in the sun and the young uns couldn’t take it?

What should I do at this point? The pregnant cane has a flower bud inside the pouch, the new shoot is growing, plus all the mature leaves/bulbs look okay at the moment, they all sport the faded green color that says they have been getting plenty of sun…. I don’t want to make the same fatal mistake again and yet, I’m fighting the urge of wanting to “check and make sure that everything’s okay?” (ie the kiss of death for orchids.) I’m imagining that the roots are suffocating/rotting, being buried down there in that big vat of a pot, while everything looks hunky-dory on the surface. I need a quick prescription from the doctor(s) in the house , please!

[ula]

Hi,
were I in your place, I would investigate the roots ASAP. The plant looks very healthy, while what it's growing in not. If the growing medium has decayed considerably, I would repot even at the risk of losing the sheath with the flower. Good luck, I hope it grows well for you with beautiful flowers.

[Wathepleela]

Thanks ula for your best wishes and for confirming my suspicion. I just did the investigation even though it's past midnight here in this part of the world and the findings are:

- the coco husk media has become a cake with the plant roots embedded in it. It will be a monumental task to extricate them one by one.

- whatever roots that have come apart from the media, they are white and thick, so there's hope that the rest will be in more or less the same condition, ie not (yet) rotting. Actually I have not seen much rotting going on.


I threw away the old media that have come apart (or me breaking them apart) and placed some new coco husk chips at the bottom of the clay pot, making sure there is a circle of airspace above the pot's bottom hole. As a temporary measure I put the "cake" back in ie the plant is now back in the pot albeit in a raised position (for more exposure/ventilation). Also there's more air "vents" now at the bottom.


Last but not least, since I have taken off the hanging wires, I turned my laundry basket upsidown and placed the plant on it, close to the edge of the balcony. There it got the best seat in the house as far as wind circulation is concerned.

Then tomorrow, tomorrow.... I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but at least I can go to sleep now without dreading having nightmares of "OMG, it's rotting!"

Again, thank you ula, for your helpful and timely advice. I really appreciated it.

[Ryan Young]

I don't think anything was terribly wrong with the potting media. coco husk is extremely breathable even when in this condition especially in clay pots, the plant looks happy and wasn't immediately in danger. It still is a good time to repot to new media, soak the rootball to help persuade the roots to release from old media, and repot, perhaps in a just slightly bigger pot. I'd stick with coco in clay so it keeps similar conditions around roots.

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[euplusia]

Growing a Cattleya outdoors under a shade cloth in Thailand is quite different from growing a Cattleya in a Greenhouse in the northern hemisphere.
Under your conditions coconut does not decay as fast as bark. So you might continue with this medium.
In the countryside in Thailand I have seen a few nurseries growing Cattleya hybrids commercially. Best is to go there and have a look and discuss experiences.

[Optimist]

I think where you are, it should be in a wood slat basket. I almost never worry about cats. The roots always come back.

[Wathepleela]

First of all a big thank you to all for chiming in and providing very helpful and reassuring info especially in regards to coco husks. I really appreciated it.

Ever since the idea of re=potting came into play, I have started an SOS thread on the potting subforum asking for potting advice

Cattleya roots completely embedded in decayed potting media, please help!

Anyway, here’s what has transpired since:
a- After much hand-wringing, I set out for the task but my repotting mission aborted almost immediately. In the morning light the condition of the husk medium looks pretty much still “alive” ie redwood-dish color and its fiber intact. However, the plant’s roots, some are greenish, whatever is sticking out after I peeled away the outer layer of the husk, have grown piercing through the husk fiber so it’s impossible to “shake” them loose from the medium. To extricate them would require micro-surgery!



b_ Reluctantly I put the plant back in the pot, after a bit of indecision I replaced the bottom layer of new husk put there previously with a ring of the lava rocks purchased specifically for the big “operation.”



I haven’t watered the plant, it’s been several days now since I dunked it in water the first night I took it home. The top surface is getting dried but not completely. Amazingly, the plant keeps on looking cheerfully oblivious to what has been or not been done to it and I think I’m going to get a couple of flowers soon!



My only head-scratching question for the moment: the common wisdom (in the northern hemisphere”) is to not water catts until they have completely dried out from the previous dunking. Considering the fact that I’m not northern, and my catt vendor’s instruction was to water it daily (“you can do it morning or evening, doesn’t matter” he said), the two methods are completely opposite.

My initial alarm was that no roots were sticking out from anywhere, and the panic attack came from the thought that “oh, the roots might be rotting for quite sometime now, got to do something before it’s too late!’ ie "immediate danger" Anyway at this point I'm only dying to see the baby flowers tear themselves out of the pouch which should be anyday now, and then wanting to see the new growth getting bigger and sturdier before my next who-knows-what attempt.
Wish me luck!

[Wathepleela]

Originally Posted by Optimist

I think where you are, it should be in a wood slat basket. I almost never worry about cats. The roots always come back.

Yeah I totally agree, I will eventually have all my chids go media-less in this climate. I’m already a virtual slave to all those that have been mounted anyway, a few more wouldn’t make much difference (except we’ll have to move to a bigger place, no kidding.) Right now I have a beautiful wood log with a natural hole (what woud you call it?) through it – the log is just waiting to have something mounted on it so it could go outside. Once this catt gets through its current in-extremis stage, I will wed it to the log, they are size-compatible.

Btw, I have a little rhys that seems to be dying after being mounted only a few days. Whatever green tips it had quickly turned colorless dark, and one of the top leaves started to flail (usually they start at the bottom, don't they?) I suspect maybe the wood itself is killing the plant? Just a couple of days ago at the nurseries when the vendor saw me eyeing the woods she said, “no this one is not for orchids, but that other one is, yes…”