I agree, leave the recovering Cattleya as it is until it is much stronger, perhaps with two or three healthy pseudobulbs. It is very important to be patient at this stage and not to try to rush this into new medium.
Good luck!
---------- Post added at 12:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:55 AM ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadeflower
I keep some of my recovery catts so wet water is dripping off them... It works for me, you know the saying you cannot overwater a mounted orchid so my trick to recovery is max hydration combined with max aeration. That is along with heat (heat dries) the hardest thing to achieve on a continuous cycle but if I can get it right then the orchid recovers. If not it declines.
To me discussing whether sphagnum works or not is not the most pressing point. The most pressing point is that this orchid has not done well for 5 years already and there is no point recovering it if the problem keeps happening year after year. The cause for all the roots having died off in such a drastic and repeated way by the stunted look of the orchid is what is the issue.
I'd bin this one, it's worse than anything you could buy at a shop. Could an experienced grower recover it? Probably, but even to an experienced grower I would guess this one would be challenging! It really has gone through a bit.
|
I agree that max hydration combined with max-air-flow and heat is the perfect way to get a Cattleya to recover. The water provides humidity even if the orchid doesn't have roots. Long ago, when the only orchids I could find where in need of rescue, I would wire the rescue Cattleyas on top of lava rock/basket pots in early summer (outside so that there was plenty of heat) and water like crazy. By the end of summer, the orchid would produce new growth and have a nice root system so I could remove the wires. This one might need a little more time than one summer.
I think that as the orchid is already progressing, it is worth saving. It will be important to learn what went wrong previously so that the orchid has a good chance of survival in the future.
Threaded Mode
