Late bloomer! - Orchid Board

IngieBee · #1 07-05-2019, 05:07 PM

Is this as unusual as I think it is? My clowesia Rebecca Northern Mikabi woke up last week or so of June, she has a 1" growth and a lot of roots. Because the roots are pretty abundant, I put her, experimentally, in a self watering pot and gave her water. I know that's risky, but it's July people!!! 85-90 degrees here already! So I'm wondering if she'll grow faster than usual with this late start? She has, according to some sorces, over 8" total in roots, which seems unusual for her leaf size. I've been asking her to please wake up and grow since March, so I've gotten a bit impatient, LOL.

I actually bought a grapefruit pink because this one refused to take off and I needed a distraction to keep me from doing something stupid, LOL. I may still have done something stupid but we'll see???!!

IMG_20190705_125410774 by ingiebee, on Flickr

I should have taken pictures of the roots before I set her in! ugh

isurus79 · #2 07-08-2019, 02:05 PM

Keep that water away!

IngieBee · #3 07-09-2019, 01:03 AM

LOL, Yah, I know I'm pushing it. It's not what I should do .... But she did have a crazy amount of roots compared to her sprout (I have 6 other Catasetums/Clowesias to compare with) and it's so warm already. Well, I just feel it'll be OK. Her medium is very airy and fluffy and although moist, isn't sopping. We'll see how she does.

She was going to be planted in leca, and had been perched on a cup on top of leca, and when I removed her from the cup, like 8-10 balls of leca were attached to the roots already! I just left them there and stuck her in this self watering pot to see what happens.

I wouldn't recommend doing this either. It would have been fine if I had let her go a few more weeks before potting, with virtually no risk, and potting her with so little growth is risky. I understand the risk. My goal, if it works, is to catch her up with the others, and that's not even a good excuse, I'm really just being thick headed and wanting to push the envelope, I think, LOL

BTW, don't fret, she is looking good after 3 days and is growing quickly. I think it's because her root system was already comparatively huge.

But thank you, @isurus79 , I know you are 100% correct 😝

3 days later by ingiebee, on Flickr

SouthPark · #4 07-09-2019, 04:14 AM

Looks like this one is on its way to a very nice season.

IngieBee · #5 07-09-2019, 04:37 AM

I sure hope so! My goal for all my Catasetums types is to get the new pseudobulbs bigger than the last one 😊. I guess that might be why I'm pushing it with Rebecca here, LOL. She's been sleeping here since March and getting on my nerves. Now that she finally woke up, I want her to catch up with her siblings and grow! LOL

Oh, also another experiment is going on here. All my other Catasetums are in semi-hydro. She is the only one in moss/bark. I've got to see if one works better than the other 😊

IngieBee · #6 07-09-2019, 03:09 PM

Full disclosure, I chickened out this morning and pulled the basket out of the self watering pot to dry out a bit, LOL.

neophyte · #7 07-09-2019, 06:36 PM

be careful about the leca; if you don't keep it constantly moist (like in s/h), it can suck the water out of roots and kill them.

IngieBee · #8 07-09-2019, 06:41 PM

Yah, I've got all of them in high humidity. They get flushed once a week. I'm keeping my Clo. R N Mikabi in her "normal" medium, I just want her to dry up a little, then I'll put her back a bit

IngieBee · #9 07-30-2019, 01:52 AM

I did put my RN Mikabi back into the self watering pot after a day or so of cold feet. She's growing super fast. I think the moisture was ok because of the heat, and at the time, not so high humidity. She came from Seattle, and maybe she sat in an especially cold spot in their greenhouse? She seems to be making up for lost time though! I have two sunset valley Catasetums type orchids that are already spiking too! It's so exciting!!!

IngieBee · #10 07-30-2019, 08:21 PM

and an update picture

IMG_20190730_161508069 by ingiebee, on Flickr