Some advice needed with Catasetinaes and dormancy period

[bil]

There are two ways to look at this.

1. Taper off water at the end of the year and New Year's day cut off all the leaves and do not water again thus enforcing dormancy.

2. Be more laissez-faire. Be guided more by what the plant is doing. If it has green leaves, keep watering and feeding it, and only stop watering when the leaves have all fallen.

I'm a laissez-faire kind of guy.

[AvantGardner]

Don’t cut the leaves.

[Manu]

Thanks for chiming in guys. I'm not really concerned about when to stop watering, resume etc etc I've got the culture of these pretty good and read a lot about them from SVO and AOS documents.

What my questions are, or concerns should I say, is about moving them as they are forming spikes. Maybe I'll be more clear. They used to grow under my lights, untill they became simply too large to cohabit with my phals. I left the largest one in the photos in my original post under lights and moved the 2 others to the windowsill. I wanted to keep one under lights to see if a cold snap from the windowsill triggered spiking. It seems like the cold snap was quite efficient as the FDK that had a smaller back bulb as well as a smaller growth from this season spiked first. Both were given exact same conditions, feeding, etc until October when one moved to windowsill and other one stayed under lights. Seeing how efficient the windowsill was at getting nodes to swell and push out spikes. I also moved the larger FDK to the window and it sure enough quickly swelled up and spikes look like they want to emerge.

That was the background. Now, I will need to relocate them for a few reasons: this windowsill is way too low and plants are prone to be dammaged by either my kids or dog and if that doesn't happen well spikes can't be accommodated there anyway.... I'm also scared to blast buds if night temperatures drop with curtains closed the windowsill gets very cold weather.

So really my question at this point is regarding the best way to relocate them. One option is my Phal shelves, this option requires trimming of the leaves, I don't need to remove leaves entirely, but will need to remove maybe 50% for them to fit between my phals and not shade them too much.. The other option is to move them to other windowsills that are safer and can accommodate the spikes, these options will drastically reduce the light. I get that none of these are ideal, but that's what i have to work with. Also I know most phals once flowers are fully open can be moved around to less then ideal conditions and won't affect them much. Is the same true about Catasetinaes? I know they can spend dormancy in a shoebox, I guess that at some point light is not needed what so ever...

[Dollythehun]

Is it possible to add supplimental light at the other windows?

[SaraJean]

I have started moving my dark blooming Catasetinae when the spike is developing to a much lower light area. I usually do this once I start to see some buds form, and while the spike does seem to develope more slowly this way, the black color comes out much richer. Haven’t had any problems yet with buds blasting.
For reference, I grow mine in full morning and afternoon sun, that get shading for a few hours mid-day from a 50% shade cloth. When I start to see buds they get moved to indirect light only.
I couldn’t find pics of my Fdk. After Dark for a comparison but these are two pics of my Monn. Millennium Magic ‘Witchcraft’. The first picture is when I forgot to take it out of its normal growing light. The second pic is from this year when I moved it

[Manu]

Originally Posted by SaraJean

I have started moving my dark blooming Catasetinae when the spike is developing to a much lower light area. I usually do this once I start to see some buds form, and while the spike does seem to develope more slowly this way, the black color comes out much richer. Haven’t had any problems yet with buds blasting.
For reference, I grow mine in full morning and afternoon sun, that get shading for a few hours mid-day from a 50% shade cloth. When I start to see buds they get moved to indirect light only.
I couldn’t find pics of my Fdk. After Dark for a comparison but these are two pics of my Monn. Millennium Magic ‘Witchcraft’. The first picture is when I forgot to take it out of its normal growing light. The second pic is from this year when I moved it

Wow that is an amazing color difference!! Is this strictly related to light or other factors might of influenced the color?? That doesn't even look like the same plant!! This is reassuring, I'm probably gonna move them to my other windowsill that gets low indirect light once the spike has developed a bit more... thanks :-)

---------- Post added at 10:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:47 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Is it possible to add supplimental light at the other windows?

That would cost me a divorce! Kidding... Not kidding.. I'd rather not risk it!

[SaraJean]

Originally Posted by Manu

Wow that is an amazing color difference!! Is this strictly related to light or other factors might of influenced the color?? That doesn't even look like the same plant!! This is reassuring, I'm probably gonna move them to my other windowsill that gets low indirect light once the spike has developed a bit more... thanks :-)[COLOR="Silver"]

Yep, same plant, grown in the same temps, same humidity levels, same water and fertilizer regiment, just a year older in the second picture. The flower shape did come out a little different as well. Maybe that could have to do with how long it took the spike to develope or just the fact that it was in lower light (I like the twisty “goblin” shape of the second picture better anyways I haven’t noticed a difference in flower shape of my Fdk. After Dark). When it was kept in high light, normal growing conditions, the spike developed in about 6-7 weeks and all buds opened within days of each other. When it was kept in very low, indirect light the two spikes took about 9 weeks to fully develope and almost 2 weeks after that for every bud to open. Hilariously, and appropriately, the last bud fully opened on Halloween this year
So it was definitely a bit longer but well worth the wait.

And btw, your plants look super healthy and well grown!

[Manu]

One last question. What's the lowest temperature that something like an FDK afterdark black pearl could tolerate while forming it's spike. I don't want the spike to stall or buds to blast. I'll put my hygrometer in the windowsill but suspect it can fall to 10C on very cold nights. With a 0C outdoor temp I get 16C in the windowsill. I suspect that at -10C I'd probably get 10-12C