Quote:
Originally Posted by Roberta
You might rethink mounting the Catasetum. When they are in their growth phase they need LOTS of water, and also want regular fertilizer (They grow so fast you can almost watch them get larger) Unless you are prepared to water it several times day, with humid days, you probably can't give it what it wants when it is growing, if mounted. I suggest a plastic pot, with sphagnum (that's what Fred Clarke uses) I use small bark when they get into bigger pots (like 3-4 large p-bulbs) but for the smaller ones, sphag is the only way I can keep them wet enough when they're growing. (They grow more like a tomato than an orchid once they really get going)
Sphag has to be a little damp to work with it, that amount of moisture won't hurt the Catasetum, and it will go crunchy-dry in a few days anyway (and needs to stay that way until is wide awake, as I mentioned above).
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I agree June, not gonna be easy to keep up with this one if you mounted it indoors. I am not
entirely familiar with Catasetums, but I do know the very basics, and told June to seriously research first, and check their
very specific care requirements, because I wasn't familiar with her area at all. My idea was to mount it on a rock by the pond (I am not familiar with how dry it is there (I live in North Carolina lol) so it was a tentative idea) where it would get soaked all summer.. and she would need to figure out the amount of moss needed in the mount to maintain moisture. Although, in the winter, I said I thought that the rock might need to be moved elsewhere, or taken inside etc. to prevent the roots from rotting. I also wasn't sure of her winter temps, and she was told it could go outside year round by a nursery? This is a moot point anyways now, but I am typing it all out because I am curious whether or not it would've worked? Roberta, you are much more familiar than I am with this Genus.. Would this have actually worked if it weren't for the dogs? (I am curious lol)
Glad you joined June! You have too many orchids for me to keep up with at once!
You dove in head first!
She showed me pictures of them earlier, hopefully she will be along soon to show y'all. She got them potted up for now. The Max has *one* undamaged pseudobulb
roots are intact though. I recommended KelpMax for the Max., I like it and have used it before if I had damaged roots, and it worked very well. (doesn't work instantly, but nothing will with orchids LOL!). Not to be used on the Catasetum at this time though for sure!
Edit: she replied while I was typing haha! Btw, June, you should post threads on all your orchids if you haven't!
(I haven't had time to look yet lol)
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