Cattleya watering now that we have new growth

[estación seca]

I would not change the medium. If you have time to water every day, most Catts do better in baskets with little to no medium than in pots.

I grow quite a few plants in pots filled with LECA rather than bark. I find it works well. The LECA doesn't break down and clog air spaces as does old bark.

[ArronOB]

Originally Posted by Kilmiquix

Yes. They are in pretty small baskets. There's not a whole lot there to maintain moisture. Should I add some sphagnum? I water frequently, so I tend to avoid it for everything except a little bit in the phals.

ALL of my baskets and pots are bone dry within 30 hours of a soaking. I guess the lovely breeze we've had for the last several weeks has been drying everything out.

I will start by watering every other day and misting on the off days. I enjoy working with the plants, so it gives me something to do with them...

Yes to the sphagnum, and yes to watering every day if needed.

I have about 30 small Catt intergenerics in 4inch pots and 20 in 3 inch pots. They are all in mesh pots, in bark, in a shade house. I water them every day in hot weather except that every now and then I let them dry out and suffer a bit. I figure it does them no great harm but is probably terminal to the fungus and mould spores.

As I understand it, water is never a bad thing for cattleyas, as long as it drains away fairly quickly. It’s simply staying wet for extended periods that is bad because it will favour the pathogens.

If I notice a plant is regularly dehydrated, or is tending to dry out quicker then the others, I repot it winding a few strands of sphagnum through the bark medium and leaving a strand or two curled around the top. It never fails to rehydrate and bring the plant back to good health. By doing this I can treat all my plants the same in terms of light, heat and watering - which is important to me because I don’t have the time or inclination to allow for their individual needs.



For watering, I just spray them overhead from a watering system - using just tap water - in the morning and ocasionally on a really hot day I give them another water early afternoon just to cool them down.

I should stress that the majority don’t have any sphagnum - just the ones that seem to need it to put them on the same footing as the majority (wrt watering).

I think growing cattleyas in mesh pots really suits them. I buy the pots from China on eBay as they are too expensive to buy locally. They are rather flimsy but they do the job.

This regime must work. All my plants are growing really well, disease free and I haven’t lost any (yet).

I’m not sure if anything I’ve written here really answers your questions, I’ve just noticed there seems to be a few people new with cattleyas here on the board so I thought I’d get it down - sort of the minimal fuss approach.

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by ArronOB

....

As I understand it, water is never a bad thing for cattleyas, as long as it drains away fairly quickly. It’s simply staying wet for extended periods that is bad because it will favour the pathogens.

...

Agreed!! Catts are all about drainage and good air movement.

---------- Post added at 08:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:03 AM ----------

Originally Posted by estación seca

I would not change the medium. If you have time to water every day, most Catts do better in baskets with little to no medium than in pots.

Note: "IF" is the key to that great growth. I used to have numerous mounted Catts. Grew great. But if life hits ya in the face and you have to step back from them, they'll resent it big time. Lesson learned about ten or so years back. If you're growing bare root or with minimal medium in a basket, or on a mount, prepare in advance a backup plan for those beloved plants.

---------- Post added at 08:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:11 AM ----------

Originally Posted by emmajs243

...
And midwesterner! Very good to hear about the orchid doing well in LECA....I have considered trying to plant some Catts in just LECA this spring but...

I know in s/h, people struggle with the "dry line"...or the LECA's top layer drying out...I also know that when this happens, some have struggled with the root tips dying back because the LECA has a tendency to leech the moisture from the roots. So, if that occurs in s/h, when the LECA has a constant reservoir, it worries me that with traditional growing, you would have to water daily to keep the LECA from pulling moisture from the new root tips.

This is the one thing that has kept me from repotting into straight LECA although I have plenty of LECA handy so it would be economical to do so! Thats why I am always very interested in the success of anyone who does have a plant in straight LECA!

If LECA is leeching moisture from the roots, the S/H setup isn't working the way it's supposed to. Growing in straight LECA only as a medium, and not in a semi-hydro manner is like growing in a bunch of clay pot shards. Why would you want to do that? Might as well mount them instead. And I have over 100 orchids in straight LECA... would never consider it unless growing in some sort of semi-hydro manner. LECA isn't meant for "traditional" growing, which I presume you mean in a pot by itself instead of bark, etc.

[cluelessmidwesterner]

Right now the rescue Catt in Leca is been kept in a higher humidity ICU type environment so the Leca dries a bit slower.

The plant's bulbs were very dehydrated when purchased a little over a month ago. Now the lead pbulb has plumped up and started two new growths. I placed in Leca so it had some stability and I wouldn't damage what roots it had. I wasn't sure how viable tithe roots I had left. I wanted to keep the roots from being in contact with moss and causing rot.

When it starts to put out new roots and there is more active growth. I will be moving it to s/h. Right now as far as I can see there isn't any new roots so I am assuming that they'll come after the new bulbs.

[emmajs243]

So water witchin! My main thing is that my first test subject in s/h hasn't been doing well so I'm beginning to worry about swapping to s/h. I personally have never had the issue with LECA leeching the moisture from the roots, I've just seen many who have.

But I have met many who do use LECA as a straight medium for traditional growing and like you brought up I just don't fully understand it! That's why when I hear someone is doing this I like to hear their reasoning and experience with it!

Like ES, are you also using the LECA for traditional growing or s/h??

Plus I have lots of LECA due to repotme messing up my order and since I'm not 100% sure on s/h, I'm further intrigued with people who use it traditionally! Hopefully I figure s/h out and just can do that BUT! These things take time.