Cattleya Problems

[Bolero]

Now I know how to repot but what I am wondering is if a lot of them go backwards after repotting. I have some hybrids that have done poorly and some that have done extremely well after repotting. One thing I've noticed is that they often go backwards and lose leave with weak growths. I am not sure if the problem is unique to the particular hybrid or whether it's the repotting or even coconut as a medium.

I do worry about the coconut and am planning to repot into bark and perlite this year for those plants not really performing very well. It's funny but I've got a Mango Spice hybrid which I bought 10 of......a few have grown well and flowered but the majority have either been lost of just grow very slowly.

What do you guys think? I think I grow them well generally but there's always a few I feel like throwing out as they never develop growths that flower. I guess it would be a complex comparison to look at the hybrid parentage and work out something from that.

;-)

[trdyl]

I have not tried coconut yet for media. I have grown in tree fern, fir bark mix, and now S/H. When you repot, do you wait for new root growth to start then repot?

[smweaver]

I've used coconut chips for years and have not experienced any problems with this medium. But I've also taken the precaution of soaking it (even the varieties that are packaged as previously cleaned and "ready to use") repeatedly overnight for a few days prior to use, with new reverse osmosis water being used for each of those days.

What type of cattleyas are showing the most resentment to repotting? The bifoliates are notorious for being quite picky about when and how they're repotted. If you repot them at the wrong time of their growth cycle (or, much worse, while they're resting), they can quickly go into decline and might take a long time to recover (if, that is, they don't die from the experience).

Generally, in my experience, the best time to repot bifoliates is just before the roots start to extend from the newest growth. This means watching the base of a new growth very closely every day. Then when you see the enveloping white sheaths start to be pushed out a bit (which shows the presence of the new root tips), gently tease the plant out of its pot and repot it. The unifoliate cattleyas are (again in my experience) more forgiving of being repotted. But they too tend not to care for being repotted in times when they're not creating a new flush of roots.

Steve