Catasetum Care Video

[isurus79]

I made another YouTube video, this time on general Catasetum care: Catasetinae Care March 2019 - YouTube

[DeaC]

I enjoy and learn from your posts here and videos. This group got my attention and awful care a yr. ago but hope springs eternal and some success has been made. Good luck with the greenhouse! TY

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by DeaC

I enjoy and learn from your posts here and videos. This group got my attention and awful care a yr. ago but hope springs eternal and some success has been made. Good luck with the greenhouse! TY

Thank you much and shoot me a PM if you ever have Catasetum questions!

[SaraJean]

Perfect timing and great video. Just the meat, as they say, from a reliable source to boot That can be hard to come by on YouTube

I do have two questions now that I think about it.
1. One of mine rotted at the rhizome (no clue why) and last years growth rotted off at the base. I left it alone and it now has two new growths about half way up the bulb. I was thinking about just laying the bulb on it’s side on a bed of sphag. Does that sound right?

2. How do you deal with multiple new growth in various stages? I have one that has a very large new growth that typically I would start watering in a few weeks. However there are 3 other new growths that are just getting started and haven’t even developed roots yet. I can’t decide if I should just ignore the less developed growths and stick to the original plan or wait to water as long possible. I don’t have any severe shriveling on my older bulbs yet.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by SaraJean

Perfect timing and great video. Just the meat, as they say, from a reliable source to boot That can be hard to come by on YouTube

I do have two questions now that I think about it.
1. One of mine rotted at the rhizome (no clue why) and last years growth rotted off at the base. I left it alone and it now has two new growths about half way up the bulb. I was thinking about just laying the bulb on it’s side on a bed of sphag. Does that sound right?

2. How do you deal with multiple new growth in various stages? I have one that has a very large new growth that typically I would start watering in a few weeks. However there are 3 other new growths that are just getting started and haven’t even developed roots yet. I can’t decide if I should just ignore the less developed growths and stick to the original plan or wait to water as long possible. I don’t have any severe shriveling on my older bulbs yet.

Thanks for the kind words!

1. You can either lay it down on top of the spag or simply sink the whole bulb in the spag in an upright position. Either way should work. I'm curious about the recurring rot issue though. Do you have any pics? How tightly are you packing the spag and how big is the pot?

2. I'd just wait as long as the old bulbs will allow! The minimum length of time to wait is for the oldest growth to reach the 4" root length. If you can, wait longer! I guess that depends on how shriveled the bulbs get. There's also the chance that at least one of the growths will abort, making your water decision a bit easier.

[SaraJean]

Originally Posted by isurus79

Thanks for the kind words!

1. You can either lay it down on top of the spag or simply sink the whole bulb in the spag in an upright position. Either way should work. I'm curious about the recurring rot issue though. Do you have any pics? How tightly are you packing the spag and how big is the pot?

Sorry, I was writing that out pre-caffeine, lol. What I should have said was that I had some squishy, oozy, but not smelly, brown rot on one of bulbs on a Catasetum this winter. I didn’t catch the rot early enough and it traveled to the growth from last summer, rotting it off at the base. Once I saw that last summers growth was rotted, I just twisted it off and left it sitting in an empty saucer. I figured it was either dead or not, so no point in treating at that stage. The base was dry and not oozing liquid, just dead and the bulb came off easily. I keep all of them in tightly packed sphag with a layer of LECA at the bottom for drainage and weight. The Catasetum in question was in a 4”clay pot. Here are a few pics of the growths and the bulb. The rest of the plant was a mess and got trashed.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by SaraJean

Sorry, I was writing that out pre-caffeine, lol. What I should have said was that I had some squishy, oozy, but not smelly, brown rot on one of bulbs on a Catasetum this winter. I didn’t catch the rot early enough and it traveled to the growth from last summer, rotting it off at the base. Once I saw that last summers growth was rotted, I just twisted it off and left it sitting in an empty saucer. I figured it was either dead or not, so no point in treating at that stage. The base was dry and not oozing liquid, just dead and the bulb came off easily. I keep all of them in tightly packed sphag with a layer of LECA at the bottom for drainage and weight. The Catasetum in question was in a 4”clay pot. Here are a few pics of the growths and the bulb. The rest of the plant was a mess and got trashed.

Oh, I see! put that guy in some spag either upright or lying down (like you have in the pics) and then be sure to stabilize the bulb somehow. You don't want any movement, which will kill the new root tips. Should bounce back just fine!

But I'm also curious about the potting media of the plant when it was rotting. Getting to the bottom of that question is important to prevent future problems.

[SaraJean]

Originally Posted by isurus79

But I'm also curious about the potting media of the plant when it was rotting. Getting to the bottom of that question is important to prevent future problems.

I’ll admit that I’m stumped on that one. I used the same bale of sphag that I used for the other Catasetums, a new pot, and treated it the same through out the year. I screwed up somewhere, just don’t know where. Maybe I just need to make sure I’m a little more careful with my winter care with temps? My box of dormant Catasetums did get down to about 50F one or two nights.

Thanks for the help!