Fred's sale

[estación seca]

My thinking:

1 Fred Clarke has grown many thousands of Catasetum alliance species and hybrid plants. He has received awards, including FCC/AOS, on a lot of them.

2 I have grown less than 10 Catasetum hybrids, and I started with them about 18 months ago. I killed two of them by being too slow to treat for spider mites. Two died during the growing season for reasons I don't understand. None has died during their dry winter dormancy.

3 Fred Clarke has posted very detailed cultivation instructions on his Web site

here.

4 I heard Fred Clarke talk to our society on Catasetum alliance plants. The cultivation information he gave was identical to what is on his Web site, with one difference. On the Web site he discussed dormancy and when to stop/begin watering once. In person, he stressed over and over again - perhaps 10 times or more during a 1-hour talk - how to force winter dormancy if it hasn't occurred naturally; not to water at all, not even misting, during the winter; and when to begin spring watering.

5 I have read a number of cries for help from people who grew their dying Catasetum alliance plants in a manner different from what Fred Clarke advises.

Therefore, I decided to follow Fred's advice carefully.

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[smweaver]

One of the traits of this group that I really like is that they lose all of their leaves during their dormancy. It saves room in my indoor growing area, alleviates the need for worrying about maintaining high humidity, and any evidence of ugly leaves--from sun and/or insect damage--is nicely removed at the end of each growing season. Plus, the plants can basically be ignored for the most part during the winter. So the loss of leaves is not a negative. I've even found the majority of the plants to be very tolerant of intermediate-to-cool temperatures while they're dormant (with the proviso that they need to remain dry once temperatures start to fall significantly).

[katrina]

Fred is the expert on this group and his advice is - w/out fail! - the best way to go when first growing this group. And for some they can continue to follow those "rules" indefinitely. It is always, always, always better to err on the side of too dry rather than risk watering at the wrong time and/or in the wrong way and losing the plant.

In time though, as individuals, we do learn that differences in our growing conditions sometimes dictate modifications in what we are doing in order to improve our results. I am one of those people who had to do some tweaking to the standard way of doing things and I now provide a little bit of water in the winter. It's only an occasional sip of water and only when I'm seeing far too much shriveling. After growing them for awhile...I've learned to read the plants. Like growing any other orchid...there is standard culture advice and you always want to start there but in time you adjust to fit your conditions. One size doesn't necessarily fit all.

FWIW - These plants come from regions w/distinct wet dry seasons but, even in the dry season...many do experience some dew at night. Sips of water at the right time and done correctly, can mimic that "dew".

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by estación seca

My thinking:

1 Fred Clarke has grown many thousands of Catasetum alliance species and hybrid plants. He has received awards, including FCC/AOS, on a lot of them.

2 I have grown less than 10 Catasetum hybrids, and I started with them about 18 months ago. I killed two of them by being too slow to treat for spider mites. Two died during the growing season for reasons I don't understand. None has died during their dry winter dormancy.

3 Fred Clarke has posted very detailed cultivation instructions on his Web site

here.

4 I heard Fred Clarke talk to our society on Catasetum alliance plants. The cultivation information he gave was identical to what is on his Web site, with one difference. On the Web site he discussed dormancy and when to stop/begin watering once. In person, he stressed over and over again - perhaps 10 times or more during a 1-hour talk - how to force winter dormancy if it hasn't occurred naturally; not to water at all, not even misting, during the winter; and when to begin spring watering.

5 I have read a number of cries for help from people who grew their dying Catasetum alliance plants in a manner different from what Fred Clarke advises.

Therefore, I decided to follow Fred's advice carefully.

Excellent logical argument!

---------- Post added at 11:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:44 AM ----------

Originally Posted by smweaver

I've even found the majority of the plants to be very tolerant of intermediate-to-cool temperatures while they're dormant (with the proviso that they need to remain dry once temperatures start to fall significantly).

Mark Margolis (a well known hobbyist grower/breeder with a VERY impressive number of awarded Catasetinae) spoke to our society this month (March). He lets his dormant plants experience temperature dips to the freezing point before he starts worrying about them. Even then, he says the occasional light freeze doesn't hurt the plants.

Originally Posted by katrina

Fred is the expert on this group and his advice is - w/out fail! - the best way to go when first growing this group. And for some they can continue to follow those "rules" indefinitely. It is always, always, always better to err on the side of too dry rather than risk watering at the wrong time and/or in the wrong way and losing the plant.

In time though, as individuals, we do learn that differences in our growing conditions sometimes dictate modifications in what we are doing in order to improve our results. I am one of those people who had to do some tweaking to the standard way of doing things and I now provide a little bit of water in the winter. It's only an occasional sip of water and only when I'm seeing far too much shriveling. After growing them for awhile...I've learned to read the plants. Like growing any other orchid...there is standard culture advice and you always want to start there but in time you adjust to fit your conditions. One size doesn't necessarily fit all.

FWIW - These plants come from regions w/distinct wet dry seasons but, even in the dry season...many do experience some dew at night. Sips of water at the right time and done correctly, can mimic that "dew".

Exactly. Adapting one's watering habits to suit growing conditions is really a great idea. But it takes trial and error to get it right! I think someone just getting into this group will want to get the biological basics down-pat and then start bending the "rules" to suit home growing conditions. Then its off to the races!

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials