[QUOTE=SouthPark;931629]Jeff ----- I just came across this link 10 mins ago -- Click Here.


Thank you for his link.

I was actually watching a video of Keith Davis's Cattleya growing presentation online. Funny, that he also used 'persnickety' to describe bifoliate potting in that doc. I feel like I've picked up more folksy (?) :biggrin: vocabulary after I moved down to the southeast US. I think Keith Davis is from NC?


I guess I'll just leave mine for now. I've noticed that many of my bifoliates grow much better once they start going off the edge of the pot... or sometimes climbing high up on itself! I just want things tidy!

Pick One:

(a) Cattleya
(b) Tidy

:rofl:

Don't you enjoy little bits of bark falling out everywhere? Bless its little bark heart.

Most welcome Orcho. With the laying of the cattleya on the scoria ------ my approach is similar, except I just use slightly smaller pieces than that, and I just pot the catt in the scoria ---- roots and all. Permanently.

And then in my tropical conditions, I just focus most of the watering around the outter portions (toward the rim) of the pot ...... the outter region of scoria that is. That keeps enough scoria wet and the pot humid. I can also apply a little water (if I want to) further in - toward the plant.

And if the roots eventually grow out to the very wettest regions ----- then those roots appear to get used to that outter region - and have no problems.

Whenever I pot a catt, it pretty much stays in the same plastic pot, unless it outgrows the pot. I find it is no problem (and actually quite good) to pot a catt in a really big pot. Although - too big a pot can mean a waste of resources like scoria and water heheh. So big pot is ok ...... up to a limit that is, as in to not overdo things heheh.

While bifoliate Catts have a bad rep (about repotting) in general, C. amethystoglossa is probably the most sensitive of the bunch. Longtime C.a. owners keep telling me to repot ONLY when new roots are 1/2" to 3/4" long.

Having said that, I also purchased a bunch of plants from SVO in April (incl. 2 amethystoglossas). I just finished repotting the 21 other plants (all in 3" square pots, some about to go over the edge, but most were not).

I found that the mix was sound in all cases, so I used my 'cheater' repotting procedure. I took 4" square pots, and placed about 3/4" of mix in the bottom. Then I gently removed the plants from the 3" pot, by tapping the pot edge against the edge of my potting table. This pops the entire pot contents out.

I left the mix/root cube intact, and placed the cube in one corner, with the new lead towards the center, of the larger pot. Then I filled in the larger pot with a slightly larger particle size mix.

This approach breaks all the rules, but it is fast, and it works - in part because these plants grow fast. They will outgrow their new 4" pots in 12-18 months. At that point I will have a better idea about how large they get, and what pot size they should go into next.

And lastly, C. amethystoglossa does grow tall (but not necessarily large in terms of pot size). Most of the plants coming out of breeding programs now end up in 20" to 28" height range. This is a vast improvement over some of the old (wild collected) plants, which could grow to 36" to 48" (and 5' plus with spikes).

I am still waiting for the two C.a. to break new roots, so those plants will get repotted later.

I'd love to see photos of this repotting technique! I'm having a tough time visualizing it.

I agree that C.a. is exceptionally sensitive with regards to its roots, which is why I always repot the second I see those first tiny little nubs breaking out. If you wait until the roots are a few inches long, you're much more likely to break them.

I also made a video this year comparing diploid and polyploid C.a. They still get massive! lol Cattleya amethystoglossa- Polyploid vs. Diploid - YouTube

Interesting. I'm curious why it may be better to repot when the roots are 1/2" to 3/4" long vs a nubbin, like isurus79 mentioned.

What type of medium are you planning to use for your C. amethystoglossa? I may try an inorganic medium to avoid the need to remove it every so often.

---------- Post added at 04:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:48 PM ----------

Oh wow. That polyploid is massive compared to the diploid. My poor balcony space!

Yes! I just got my first two plants from SVO and I was amazed by the quality of their media! I often repot things as I receive them (not being a newbie anymore and having quite a good sense of what plants need in my environment) but these were so well-done that I just left them!

In other cases, I have found some little creepy-crawlies in potting material from other places (even others that are pretty reputable), so I'm glad to hear that my evaluation of SVO was accurate based on what others find as well!