Cattleya Cella Bella, pot or mount?

[Myrle Diefendorf]

I have a new Cattleya Cella Bella orchid as a bonus plant from Carter &Holmes. It came bareroot with roots all dead, but leaves alive. It's a tiny plant. Should I mount this on cork or pot it in fine bark?

[WhiteRabbit]

I don't know if it would make a difference either way...
Is there any new growth?

[james mickelso]

I would mount it if the roots are gone. Better chance of survival. Once mounted make sure you dip the entire mount in water daily. Leaves and all. The leaves take in water through their stoma on the undersides of the leaves. Good luck.

[Oscarman]

I just received one of these too. Mine has a couple of firm roots and it looks like it just finished a new growth, so it should be pushing out new roots soon. Does yours have a recent new growth?

If it has no live roots I would bag it with some moist moss and pot it up when it shows root growth.

[tucker85]

I agree with James, I think it has a better chance of survival on a mount. If you're going to mount it, don't cut off any roots, even if you think they're dead. Just attach the entire rootball to the mount. Try to water every day, or almost every day, until it gets established with some good roots. I don't use any sphagnum on my mounts but if you decide you want to, put it between the roots and the mount. Don't put any sphagnum over the top of the roots.

If you decide to pot it, leave it bare-root in an empty pot or jar and mist the roots every day if possible, until you see new roots starting and then pot it in a very small pot.

[Myrle Diefendorf]

Thank you all for the information. I will mount it. The roots were totally dead and the leaves beginning to shrivel so I cut the rotted ones off. Hopefully it will come back.

---------- Post added at 11:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:00 AM ----------

I went out to the back deck to mount Cattleya Cella Bella, and discovered it has awakened and since yesterday begun to send out roots. Hurray!