Repotting Catasetum Advice

[ghuylar]

Hello!

I am a new Catasetum owner and got my first of the alliance earlier this year. My plant is an FDK After Dark 'Black Pearl", and is growing wonderfully, the largest growth out of any that are currently on the plant. The media is rather gross though. It is not sphagnum moss, and I am not exactly sure what else it could be.... It has all sorts of strange things in it, and is eternally soggy and centipede ridden. I know Catasetums like to be constantly wet in the summer, but this is to the point where I want to immediately change out the medium because I am uncomfortable with the conditions.

So, to people with experience with Catasetums, will repotting a plant during the growing season be a big mistake and I should wait for the winter, or will it be fine since they are such rigorous growers? Thank you in advance for your input!

[SouthPark]

ghuylar ----- I know for myself that repotting Fdk - especially After Dark 'SVO Black Pearl' - won't do anything bad to it. It's not a mistake. There's a rule of thumb ------- where --- if you need to repot a plant -- then go ahead with it. Sometimes, if roots are having issues, or something ------ then a repot is going to be absolutely necessary anyway - regardless of which part of the growing season it is.

If you do repot, just be gentle with the roots. A little bit of root damage is not going to put it out of action anyway. But just be gentle as you can all the same.

[estación seca]

I would not repot a Catasetum and disturb roots during its growing season, no matter how bad the medium looks.

[mook1178]

If the plant is not showing any sign of stress, I would suggest letting it be.

Repot in the spring with new growth.

[SouthPark]

True ------ if the plant doesn't appear to be having any health issues, then that's quite ok. If it starts to get yellow leaves etc when it's not supposed to (early or middle of growing season) - then it can be beneficial to do something.

As for Fdk. After Dark 'SVO Black Pearl' ----- if anybody isn't convinced that tinkering with its roots midway through the growing season won't do anything bad to the plant, then I can certainly help with showing what happens mid-way through the season when I repot - such as removing every bit of sphagnum from the roots, and then potting it in say --- scoria. I can certainly do this for a few Fdk. After Dark 'SVO Black Pearl' this season - in my tropical conditions - with some nice clear photos of bare roots etc. I've done this before, and can do it again. This isn't an against the grain thing. It's only to show what these plants can handle. They don't appear to be fragile or weak from what I've seen of these plants.

[mook1178]

SP The Fdk's are very complex hybrids where the parental line selected had vigorous growth habits. This is why they are do forgiving as compared to species or even primary hybrids.

[SouthPark]

Mook ----- ghuylar's plant is an Fdk. After Dark 'SVO Black Pearl' --- so those particular comments are tied to 'SVO Black Pearl'. You are right though!

[ghuylar]

Thank you everyone for input! Since the plant is not showing any signs of stress and is actually growing quite nicely, I think I will hold off on repotting it.