First Catasetums

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

Really? Soak them? I thought wasn't supposed to water until they had new growth, 4" roots, etc.??

If you really do mean get them wet and then cease watering again, I'll sure give it a try.

Oh ya! Not watering for months on end is a broad spectrum suggestion for a very large group of species and hybrids, with plenty of room for exception. There are two primary reasons for not watering during dormancy:

1. Water plus cold temps (below 55F) can initiate rot. I'm not sure of the mechanism, but water plus cold seems to trigger rot in dormant Catasetinae. I often wonder if the dormant plant has shut down some of its disease fighting capabilities during this period, but that's just conjecture. In your case, temps are warm so cold-triggered rot is unlikely.

2. The new roots seem to stop growing when they touch wet media if they're are small. You don't have new roots to worry about, so this isn't a problem.

Without at least some water, the plants won't have the reserves to initiate and complete their new growth.

[WaterWitchin]

The continuing saga of WW and a go at growing catasetum. Here we are four years since the tale began.

• 2020 survival mode.
  
• 2021 one out of five bloomed. Chuck Taylor (Chuck ain't doing too well now)
  
• 2022 the year of discovering spider mites for the first time; no blooming.
  
• 2023 One spike with maybe three blooms on it. Not spectacular because I never took a picture. Wasn't Chuck, but not sure which one. Sure looked similar but more yellow. Probably Chuck's the father.

Now in 2024 I'm still struggling, or rather the catasetum are under my culture. Still the original four SVO hybrids, now minus one, and my lone species fimbriatum who got a rough start. [note: don't shop with OrchidAmore.]

One hybrid didn't survive and got pitched middle of this summer. Chuck Taylor, my first bloomer ever, and only bloomed the one time, looks pathetic. Barely put out a little teeny growth with a couple leaves about three inches tall, then it just went kaput, looks like it won't survive. Just kept getting smaller and smaller each year.



Another looks pathetic and unlikely to survive. See how it's also got a smaller and smaller pbulb each year?



One that looks halfway decent, although again getting smaller and smaller, and has some buds getting ready to pop out. I think it might be the one that unspectacularly bloomed in 2023. Another that keeps getting smaller and smaller.



However, my fimbriatum bloomed for the first time! Pretty darned exciting... and absolutely impossible for me to photograph. I finally propped it up on a stake just so I could take a decent picture of the flowers. Getting too hard to lay down on the floor, or rather get back up once I'm down.







I'm keeping them watered, I'm fertilizing with nutrikote, a little KLite, and once a month Kelpak. Any idea from those of you who grow these suckers well as to what my problem might be? Or maybe I need to get another species instead of hybrid?