To divide or not to divide: that is the question

[StanTheMan]

Hello, everyone. I recently bought this RLC/Potinara Dick Smith 'Paradise'. Lovely plant, amazing blooms, a smell to die for. The flowers recently faded and, as you see, I'll have to repot it. I also want to change the media to something more water-retentive. My question is: can I divide this plant? I'm not sure the yellow-ish bulbs can do it, and I am somewhat concerned since they do feel a little bit softer than the green ones. One of them feels actually softer on the lower part and harder on the upper part.

I was thinking I could divide in leaving the three most recent bulbs and the other ones in the other division. I read somewhere that was good enough for dividing (although the more the better, I know). The other option was to insert a nail on the rhizome as to stimulate growth behind the nail without having to completely separate the rhizome. What's your position on this?







I also include a picture of the flowers if you, as I, didn't know this hybrid. Ain't it gorgeous?

[rbarata]

I think it's too small to be divided.
About the nails...I think I've read something about it somewhere but it didn't stick to my mind.

[isurus79]

Generally you only want to repot a Cattleya when you see new roots coming out of a new growth. I'd wait until then to make a division or even repot.

[StanTheMan]

Thank you both.

What I've read about the nail is just that: sticking it across the rhizome to partially hinder the circulation of nutrients and water. I remember also reading that you could instead just cut part of the rhizome (about half of it), not entirely as to divide.

And I did consider waiting to see new roots, I think it's the best from what I've read, but those yellow pseudobulbs concern me a little bit.

[SouthPark]

The flowers are very nice indeed.

Was the orchid purchased from a nursery? Or online etc? If the leaves have a mix of yellow in it --- not dark green leaves, then maybe the orchid was grown in fairly bright light conditions.

It's probably not necessary to poke foreign objects into the orchid. Although, I have seen posts from somewhere about partially severing bits of rhizome in attempts to get the orchid to form new leads around the partially-cut/severed region. I've never tried it though.

At the moment, the orchid has a nice bulb colony, where there's enough bulbs to help with energy storage and distribution of resources. For some orchids - maybe even this one ----- having too few bulbs (such as from dividing it) may then require a long waiting time for the orchid to get strong enough to flower again. Hard to say how long the wait would be though. Depends on the kind of orchid maybe.

For now - don't divide the orchid. Just give it 'medium' level light, as in not really dim light conditions, and not direct sunlight.

Also - do you add relatively weak fertiliser once in a while? And relatively weak magnesium-calcium application - every once in a while?

Also - if the two pseudobulbs with no leaves are the 'soft' ones - then don't worry about it. They're probably just right at the end of their 'life cycle'.

If you see no insect threats like mealy-bugs on both sides of the leaves --- that can sometimes cause yellow leaf spotting, and leaf-yellowing etc ---- then everything should be ok. The colour of the orchid from what can be seen so far ----- doesn't appear to be anything unusual ----- as in ----- it looks ok.

[Roberta]

I think that the plant is much too small to divide. If you were to repot it (when new roots start) you could remove that small leafless, yellow pseudobulb - it isn't doing much of anything, and then you could move the plant back in the pot - oldest growth at the left-side edge) to give maximum room for new growth. It needs to be big enough that each division has at least 3 good pseudobulbs (that little leafless one, and the next one that is starting to yellow don't count) I would say that it needs at least a year, maybe two before it's ready to divide. One strong plant will give you more flowers than two or three weak ones. Having backup plants is great, but not at the cost of having small, weak ones... if you do that you may end with none.

[isurus79]

Those back bulbs that are yellowing just look like the plant is absorbing the nutrients out of them. I wouldn't worry about it and wouldn't cut them off until the the plant has taken those nutrients and used them elsewhere inside the plant. You'll be able to just pull them off when it's time to do so.

[Clawhammer]

Regarding the nail, I've not heard of that, but I saw this video on FB a few days ago where Mr Chadwick talks about using a razor blade for the same purpose

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[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by StanTheMan

I remember also reading that you could instead just cut part of the rhizome (about half of it), not entirely as to divide.

I've found this method to be unsuccessful unless the razor blade is left to prevent the wound from carrying water and nutrients.

I concur with the opinion that it is too early to divide this orchid. If it were mine, I wouldn't consider deviding it because bigger plants are stronger and flower better.

-Keith

[Merita]

My experience with this plant has been very good because it always grows on several fronts, but you have to let it grow to see spectacular blooms.