Cattleya intermedia rio shriveling leaves and brown roots

[JessWCOH]

Hi everyone,

I bought this orchid from a local vendor about two weeks ago, she arrived, same day transport, in the box with shrivelling leaves that did not plump up at all when I watered her, so a few days later I decided to check out her roots to see if she was dehydrating because of poor roots.

Here are the pics, it seemed to me that all her roots look pretty bad as they are all brown and slightly mushy but very fragile.

Is this pretty normal for catts or is this a poor plant? When I repot I usually cut off obviously bad / stringy roots but here I was hesitant because of how fragile she is. Any techniques for helping her? I have her currently in a bark and perlite mix, clear plastic pot with ventilation holes.

Notes:
From the tag/repotting it seems like this plant is 6+ years old
Some leaves are shrivelled but the smaller ones aren't
When dried her roots feel papery on the outside but I can't tell if they feel completely hollow.
Her roots don't turn green at all after watering, not sure if this is a Catt thing?

I purchased another kind of intermedia at the same time and her roots look a little better /less fragile but not great, and she is only 2 yrs old but is larger.

Thanks for your help!

Note: my home has humidity at around 59-65% and temp about 21-25C during the day and 19-20 at night. She is currently by a southern window but it's cloudy season here right now.

[bil]

Those roots are knackered, but don't cut them off. Repot in a decent sized pot using large (2") bark chunks and water as per normal. What you are hoping is that it still has enough energy stored to push out a new set of roots.

What was it potted in? Moss? something like soil?

[Leafmite]

Cattleyas like quite a bit of air to their roots and the roots can rot very quickly if they are kept too wet and there is not enough air reaching the roots. The medium is just there to help keep the air around the roots humid. If the medium stays moist, especially in a cooler climate, the roots rot (this can happen in a matter of days!). I, personally, cut off dead roots, then stake the orchid above the medium well enough that the plant cannot move. As a medium, I use red lava rock as that doesn't decompose (and a basket pot to maximize the air to the roots) but most people use bark and regular plastic or clay pots. As you have a Cattleya, it should be fine. When it is the right season, it will start growing new pseudobulbs and they will send out new roots into the medium.

[JessWCOH]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Cattleyas like quite a bit of air to their roots and the roots can rot very quickly if they are kept too wet and there is not enough air reaching the roots. The medium is just there to help keep the air around the roots humid. If the medium stays moist, especially in a cooler climate, the roots rot (this can happen in a matter of days!). I, personally, cut off dead roots, then stake the orchid above the medium well enough that the plant cannot move. As a medium, I use red lava rock as that doesn't decompose (and a basket pot to maximize the air to the roots) but most people use bark and regular plastic or clay pots. As you have a Cattleya, it should be fine. When it is the right season, it will start growing new pseudobulbs and they will send out new roots into the medium.

Thanks to both of you for replying so quickly. I was tempted to mount her but I don't have much experience with that and didn't know if that would hurt her more. I'm reassured and will give her time to try to grow new roots, maybe add in some lava rocks w/ her bark chips if I can find them.

Re: your question, she was in something like fine to medium bark chips when she arrived, but from the notation I can see she was repotted only 2 months ago, so who knows what she was in before...

and re: deteriorating in only a couple days, that's pretty terrifying. I'll keep a close eye...

[estación seca]

Going into winter is a sketchy time to be rerooting a Cattleya. I would try for a refund. The plant was almost certainly in bad shape when it arrived if the leaves were already shriveled.

Barring that - It has no roots, so there is not much point watering it. If it is strong enough, it will push new roots. The higher the ambient humidity and temperature, the faster this might happen.

You will greatly increase your chances of it surviving if you treat it with a kelp rooting hormone product, available at hydroponics shops. You are looking for a liquid, not the gel rooting hormone products sold for rooting cuttings.

Many people would dip it in kelp solution, then lay it on a bed of barely moist sphagnum moss inside a terrarium that is warm and gets good light. You can set it inside a transparent or translucent food storage container instead of a real glass terrarium. Repeat the kelp dip weekly.

[bil]

Originally Posted by JessWCOH

Thanks to both of you for replying so quickly. I was tempted to mount her but I don't have much experience with that and didn't know if that would hurt her more.

I have gone very heavily into mounts this year, and am finding some interesting things out.

I had been running an experiment on Cattleyas, keeping them in large open trays, where the roots were only covered by a very thin layer of coarse bark, effectively a single layer. They were watered once a day. Root growth was impressive. The pics shows the Catt in its tray and the amount of root grown in a single year. The trays are about 18" long.
So, I decided to move them all onto mounts and in the end, every single orchid that could go onto a mount was on one, including an oncidium and an odontoglossum.
Both are doing well.

[bil]

OK, here's a pic of the oncidium and some other mounts. I like the natural branch mounts. I don't know how long they will last, and if they rot too quickly, I will have to weld some steel mounts that will hopefully last longer.

They do seem to like being on mounts, and some orchids seem to be growing faster and better with improved root growth.


In terms of watering, outside and in the greenhouse, it is very easy, you don't have to worry about the floor getting wet. I can water about 80 in less than 20 minutes, so even tho they are watered every day, it isn't an impossible job. If I were looking at having a couple in the house, I would make a small 'spray booth' so I could hang them in there one at a time and spray
them.

A Catt in those conditions with damaged roots ought to do well as it would be sprayed every day, but it would dry out quickly, which I think is ideal.