C. walkeriana fma.Coerulea 'Manhattan Blue'

[Autumn Child]

Sometimes I use RO water sometimes I use tap water. I use RO when I am fertilizing. Excessive mineral build up is also my guess, altough some roots are persistant enough to grow under. There are some roots growing into the water reservoir and they seem healthy. Its the newly growing roots that got burned easily.

[Autumn Child]

Managed to dig up this old threat. thought i want to update on the plant progress. The picture shown if from last april's (2012) bloom. I kept growing it in S/H and it grew many pseudobulbs. However all is not great. Despite being a large mature plant (over 20 pseudobulbs), it is flowering for the first time last year and only one flower bloomed. The problem with this plant is the roots system. It does not respond to well with S/H and maybe the tap water i am providing.

I had another c. walkeriana "tokutsu" and it is growing in a clay pot with moss. It is fed with mostly RO water and it grew much slower but much bigger pseudobulbs and healthier root system. Having said that I do have c. nobilior grown in similar S/H condition and fed with tap water. It grow like weed and has thick fat roots that grows all over the place. It flowered this year with two blooms. My other c.nobilior "briliant" however, did not grow so well in S/H, but manage to produce many small pseudobulbs.

This year i cut 4 pseudobulbs from the main plant and hang it with fern and moss. I sprayed it tap water once every two days. It responded very well and grew many roots. It seems that the hard tap water did not slow it growth, but somehow s/h does. The mother plant in s/h attepted to flower, but also just one bud forming right now. It will flower in a a week.

In conclusion my c.walkeriana coerulea and some c. nobilior respond poorly to s/h. I am still not giving up with s/h yet. I am still observing why some c.nobilior seem to do well while others don't. I will also split my c. walkeriana tokutsu in the future and try to grow it s/h. I will of course try to adjust my s/h conditions to see if it respond well.

[isurus79]

Thanks for the update! Definitely keep this thread updated in the future too. I'm always curious about how people grow their Catts.

[Andre]

I have a few walkerianas, and decided to put kiekie grow on them last summer. Got many many new growths, but no flowers. I'm hoping they're over this hormone overload and get back to normal growth. Next time I'll only use kiekie growth on back bulbs. It also made tons of basal kiekies on my phal species, but no flowers. Too much of a good thing.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Andre

I have a few walkerianas, and decided to put kiekie grow on them last summer. Got many many new growths, but no flowers. I'm hoping they're over this hormone overload and get back to normal growth.

How did you apply this to your walkeriana? Was it on the eye? I've never used this stuff before, but have a walkeriana that could use some extra growth.

[Autumn Child]

Originally Posted by Andre

I have a few walkerianas, and decided to put kiekie grow on them last summer. Got many many new growths, but no flowers. I'm hoping they're over this hormone overload and get back to normal growth. Next time I'll only use kiekie growth on back bulbs. It also made tons of basal kiekies on my phal species, but no flowers. Too much of a good thing.

If you read the beginning of this post, my plant also experience a growth acceleration period while it produces no flower at all despite its maturity. The resulting growth from the growth acceleration is also smaller than the normal growth. I believe the combination of constant water, high nitrogen fertilizer and heat cause it to grow too fast and produce no flower. I stoped fertilizing and reduce watering, it grows at normal pace and proceed to flower the following year.

[Andre]

I put the growth hormone on the dormant eyes. Lots of growth, but don't expect flowers during that cycle.