Note: When I first posted this a couple of hours ago, I thought I bought this plant in fall 2019. I was mistaken. Keysguy had fall 2019 in mind when he made his post, below. Read on:.....
In
January 2019, Pepe Portilla of
Ecuagenera Orchids spoke to our society. He brought plants to sell. I bought a bare-root Cattleya warscewiczii var. sanderiana. Its roots had been cut short. The plant was very healthy.
Cattleya warscewiczii is a magnificent species, and also a tricky plant to wake up in spring. It typically makes new roots only after the new growth has matured and flowered. This one crossed the equator, and had no roots. I recommend anybody wanting to grow this spectacular species read the detailed comments at the
Chadwick Orchids site. They say it is important not to water the plant in spring until the new growth is far along.
I put the plant in my sunroom, out of any direct sun, but did not pot it up. I left it, bare-root, in the conical transparent plastic wrapper, open at the top. I removed the sphagnum moss around the roots. I watered it about once a month. I watched and waited. The pseudobulbs became deeply furrowed.
I put the plant into a basket with large bark. I put it where it gets morning sun, and is in front of the evaporative cooler. I began gently spraying the rhizome daily with a mix of KelpMax and fertilizer diluted to about 75 PPM nitrogen. Last week I noticed small, bright green swellings at the base of one pseudobulb.
To my delight it is making new roots, along with three new growths. That means it will have some fresh new roots to take up water to support those growths.
Fred Clarke at
SVO has seedlings of this species from time to time, including right now. Fred's plants are bred to be very vigorous, and make multiple leads one after another. I recently bought one, SVO 7179t.
Cattleya warscewiczii var. sanderiana Ecuagenera
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