Why do Catasetums get new shoots at wildly differing times?

[Lars Kurth]

Here you see a picture of different Catasinae at different stages in getting new shoots. As you can see they are all wildly different. A couple of plants have no shoots yet.

I guess this is normal: or is there a trick that I can use to force a plant into getting new shoots?

[isurus79]

This is very normal! Its just a species' preference when to start growing and is most likely tied to the timing of the rainy season in each species natural habitat. Some locations have their rainy season start/end at different times of the year.

[Lars Kurth]

That's what I always thought. It does make the watering regime in spring somewhat hard, as some plants should be watered and others not. Thought that some of the more experienced guys, or nurseries have tricks which make this easier.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Lars Kurth

That's what I always thought. It does make the watering regime in spring somewhat hard, as some plants should be watered and others not. Thought that some of the more experienced guys, or nurseries have tricks which make this easier.

I throw my dormant Catasetinae in a corner away from everything else. Its a 'dry corner' if you will. I know many of the nurseries (H&R for example) just keep watering through the winter. Gene Monnier told me that if winter temps stay above 55 degrees F, then watering through the winter will not cause rot. My experiments in Hawaii have shown this to be true, but the plants seem to start growing later in the season than their dry counterpart, with similar flowering times, therefore they have a reduced growing season. Its just a matter of preference.

[Baz in Oz]

Lars, I acquired a couple of small Catacetums in tubes yesterday and Googled the name to find out how to grow them successfully and found a very interesting article - can't remember the title now possibly, 'Catacetum Culture' but it's well worth a look as it should answer your question.

Baz

[Paul]

Originally Posted by isurus79

is most likely tied to the timing of the rainy season in each species natural habitat.

There are also advantages to different bloom schedules such as less competition for pollinators and decreased likelihood of cross pollination with another species.