Catasetums Not Going Dormant!

[katsucats]

Oh shoot, I've seen some of your videos before.

I'm pretty surprised that nearly none of my Catasetums are going into dormancy. I'm putting them on a southern facing window, indoors, and here in southern California the temps are definitely mild. I'm not even watering them consistently. I know that regardless of what I do right now, they'll be alive and fine, but I'm not sure whether not having a rest period would affect blooms or whatnot.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by katsucats

Oh shoot, I've seen some of your videos before.

I'm pretty surprised that nearly none of my Catasetums are going into dormancy. I'm putting them on a southern facing window, indoors, and here in southern California the temps are definitely mild. I'm not even watering them consistently. I know that regardless of what I do right now, they'll be alive and fine, but I'm not sure whether not having a rest period would affect blooms or whatnot.

Depends! A complex hybrid like an Fdk will probably bloom whenever it feels like it. However, some of the plants with fewer genera in the background can have a delayed growth cycle, which may affect the blooms. Anecdotally, I tried keeping some of my species awake all winter just see what happened. This was about 12-13 years ago when I was still living in Honolulu. There wasn't much info on the web about Catasetums back then, so I had to make up a lot of what I learned and experiment with things like continued watering during dormancy. Long story short, the species Catasetums still wanted a dormancy, but it happened in spring rather than winter, which cause new growth to be delayed and bloom times to be skipped or significantly delayed.

[katsucats]

I guess I'll stop watering sometime in December then. Most of my Catasetum are species.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by katsucats

I guess I'll stop watering sometime in December then. Most of my Catasetum are species.

That’s what I plan to do as well. I only water every few weeks at this point.

[Keysguy]

Mine were all still totally green a week ago. I suspect it's just because we have had soooo much rain. It's normally dry and cooler by now but not this year. So, I moved them under cover where they still get bright light but no rain and voila, within a week the leaves turned brown and are starting to drop. Time for nighty night.

[estación seca]

The ones in my sunroom are mostly still fattening. Two new seedlings opened buds over the weekend. If it's light out when I get home I'll photograph them.

[My Green Pets]

Update on my plants:

Cycnodes Wine Delight - finished blooming, but still fully leafed. I gave it one last, good flush with pure water yesterday and do not plan to water again until spring.

Mormodia Jumbo World - completely leafless, two spikes, one mostly complete, the other just getting started. I am watering less, but still keeping medium moist. 15 ppm N K-lite fertilizer about every other watering.

Fredclarkeara Desert Davison - Leaves are yellowing and four have dropped. Two spikes about halfway grown. Watering regularly, 15 ppm N K-lite fertilizer every other watering.

[DirtyCoconuts]

i learned another method to deal with those stubborn plants that are resisting dormancy......acid bleach bath

Untitled by J Solo, on Flickr



i am, of course, kidding, that was a massacre


i have found two new growths already on three plants and so they are going right back into the PET (in clay) method i use for normal growth. seem like the right move?

[Roberta]

Those Catasetinae may be the most resilient of all after the massacre... losing leaves being natural for them. If there is anything good that can be said of the episode, fortunate that it was when they were going dormant rather than when they were doing new growth in the spring! Now, just be on the lookout for those !@#%#% curly tails.

[DirtyCoconuts]

I love you, Roberta! Seeing the positive and you remembered about my most awful nemesis!!

You are a true friend.


I now have had to add rats to my list of enemies.... long story but a neighbor decided to “just clean up that hedge a bit” and displaced a lot of wildlife....