First Catasetums

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

Wow... these guys are much bigger when you see them with something for comparison. Thanks to all! More questions...

What about these "mini catasetum" it talks about on Fred Clark's site? Size difference??

Why does jcec's have leaves and blooms at the same time? I thought they bloomed after all the leaves fell off? I must have missed something...

I can easily do the required heat in summer, but what I read says 75-80F days in winter... I couldn't easily do that. Comments about winter temps please?

I get it that they need really high light in summer. Once the leaves fall off, does it matter or can they be kept at a lower light level? (I'm thinking if my greenhouse doesn't come this year about shelving space for high light in the Batcave)

High fertilizer when growing... I can use Osmocote, right?

The water I can easily do. Wet when leaves, dry when no leaves, right? (please spare me the details about when to start watering... I already read enough about that here.)

Mini Catasetums include difficult to grow species, but the hybrids should be ok for an inexperienced Catasetinae grower.

Winter temps can easily hit 35-40 degrees if the plant is dry.

Lower light level in winter is fine as long as they can still get daylength cues.

Osmoscote has a bad habit of dumping all fertilizer at once in hot weather. I recommend nutricote.

[DirtyCoconuts]

when dormant you can keep them in a showbox in the closet....not joking


some flower early...i had one already bloom and drop her flowers....covered in leaves

i don't know about the size of the minis yet.

they are more manageable than you think...they can be divided with 2-3 bulbs...many people divide them to one and a growth (don't push it IMO) but you can tame them and just give away a lot of Pbulbs

the leaves are like antherium leaves and do not need to be babied...i keep mine smushed together and overlapping and they are happy as clams.....orchid clams

fert-i have little osmocote plastic packages on the top of the media so they get food from rain and i use klite in every water for them

in SH, treat like all plants in SH.

[WaterWitchin]

Okay, Osmocote, nutricote... I meant time-released type fertilizer...was using term generically. Bad habit here. Good to know on the Osmocote.

I just bought some little plastic baskets with a lid that have a spike at bottom. Gonna try them with my Cymbs. Basket is about the size that a large marble would fit in. Cheap as heck. Gonna stick them into some of my house plants that like regular fertilizer and see what happens. (I'm terrible at fertilizing regularly.)

A shoebox? I can handle that one! Sounds like a good excuse to shop for more gardening shoes...

[DirtyCoconuts]

Those are the exact baskets I use. Yes, cheap as all heck.

I like them on all my mounted plants and I have started to put them on the hungrier plants too

You will crush these guys, ww...you have a good growing sense and they are pretty easy

[Roberta]

Late to the party... On the size thing. My greenhouse is little, space a premium, and these guys need a bit of warmth, and truly no water... So I do need them in the GH in winter. But guess what... they lose those big leaves, the pseudobulbs don't take up much space, pots can be placed close together. And in the spring, by the time they start to leaf out (time to start watering) , it's warm enough to put them outside, where they get sun and fresh air. So it all works.

[hypostatic]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

monn. millennium witchcraft.


Roots, flowers and moss by J Solo, on Flickr

DANG that's impressive

Originally Posted by JScott

I have a lot of friends in Brazil, and I usually go down and spend every summer with them. One of them is an orchid enthusiast like us, and he grows a lot of Catasetinae (very easily, since they are native to his region in Brazil). He grows them in hanging 2 liter soda bottles. He cuts the narrow top off, plants the plant in the bottle, and then drills holes about 4 inches from the bottom of the bottle to create a reservoir in the bottom of the bottle, and his do great. I let mine sit in trays of water. When the trays are empty, I fill them back up, so mine are not constantly wet like his are, but I've good success with my method, as they are wet much of the time, but never less than moist, certainly never near dry.

I'm thinking of trying something like this next year. Ditching the substrate and just hanging them over water. Drink, ya thirsty weirdos!

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

What about these "mini catasetum" it talks about on Fred Clark's site? Size difference??

I think the "minis" are clowesia hybrids, and they go down to 6-12 inches tall?

A benefit of the hybrids over the species (in general), is that they can bloom a few times per year. Compared to most species that will bloom for a week or two, once.

High fertilizer when growing... I can use Osmocote, right?

I've been using Ray's fertilizer for everything, with great success.

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

when dormant you can keep them in a showbox in the closet....not joking

Like potatoes haha! Just remember to label everything, so you can remember what they are in the spring. I've seen people selling their bulbs saying "oops, didn't label anything, so here's a mystery grab bag" haha

[Roberta]

Some species will bloom more than once in a season too... My Catasetum expansum is likely to produce spikes at least twice - early season and also later. Often one will be male and one will be female, but sometimes it mixes and matches too.

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

Those are the exact baskets I use. Yes, cheap as all heck.

I like them on all my mounted plants and I have started to put them on the hungrier plants too

You will crush these guys, ww...you have a good growing sense and they are pretty easy

Aw shucks DC...

---------- Post added at 03:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:24 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Roberta

Late to the party... On the size thing. My greenhouse is little, space a premium, and these guys need a bit of warmth, and truly no water... So I do need them in the GH in winter. But guess what... they lose those big leaves, the pseudobulbs don't take up much space, pots can be placed close together. And in the spring, by the time they start to leaf out (time to start watering) , it's warm enough to put them outside, where they get sun and fresh air. So it all works.

Good point Roberta. Or my shoebox, right?

---------- Post added at 03:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:25 PM ----------

So I think I have a plan. Gonna (of course) put in semi-hydro. But I think with several holes at a certain height. Then I have a shelf in my water garden. I'll plunk them on that shelf, water will flow through, and they can attempt to drink the whole darned pond!

I do some phrags that way in summer.

[Keysguy]

WW---- Call Fred and ask him all your questions. He's a great guy and will help you select what he thinks you can be most successful with.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

Good point Roberta. Or my shoebox, right?

They totally need nothing in the winter, so it would probably work... Fred Clarke tells the story, in his Catasetinae talk, of a customer in New York, who disgustedly threw a bare, dead-looking Catasetum over her shoulder when when she was cleaning things up for the winter. It rolled behind the couch. Spring came along, she was spring-cleaning, and found it, with a nice sprout developing. Probably not a good idea to do that, but emphaiszes the point that they need no attention whatsoever when they're dormant.