Cattleyas light cycles and blooming

[Roberta]

Looks to me like a beautiful new root. From the photo, I think that the plant is fine in its pot for another year or maybe two, but in the future, this would be the time of year to repot (when it is growing out of the pot) - just as new root growth is starting.

[rbarata]

The plant it's still in its original pot (when I bought it) so I don't know the roots condition. So, 3 questions:

- Do you think it should be repotted? The plant seems healthy and without any pests.

- If I do it, should I do it now, when the new roots are emerging? Or should I wait a litle longer till they are bigger?

- I believe now its the time to start fertilizing and water it more often. Am I right?

[estación seca]

I won't repot bifoliates until rooting is well underway, even if I just bought the plant and the medium doesn't look so good. Yours is just beginning to root. I wouldn't repot it now. Wait until there are a lot more roots.

I would definitely spray the top of the root zone with a kelp solution.

[Roberta]

I am much quicker to repot when I see roots starting - when repotting, I find that it is almost impossible not to damage root tips, and if it is done just as they are emerging, there will be more coming after the plant is nestled into its new mix, ready to jump out and establish. If you wait, let them get significantly longer, so that if tips get damaged, they may branch and start new tips - which won't happen on a tiny one. Clearly there is more than one approach that works. I look at the photo and wonder if it is in coconut husk chips. If that is the case, I would be eager to get it into bark. (Coconut husk stays much too wet for Catts) So, "pot or not to pot, that is the question"

[estación seca]

It also depends on how warm this plant is during the day now. If it's barely around 20C / 68F I would wait until it's warmer.

[rbarata]

I took the risk and repoted the plant.

The root ball was bigger than I tought it would be and I didn't cut so many dead roots as I tought I would. The mix the vebor used was pine bark + sphagnum moss in the middle. Some of the bark was "glued" to the roots so I kept it to prevent damaging some roots.
Took some pics:



For the medium, I used a mix of medium to small pine bark + coco chips + perlite + leca.


I used a pot with the same size and had some difficulties in poting it. I couldn't put it in the same position as before (well, it's almost there) and there are some voids inside but, in general, all roots are in contact with the medium so I guess there's no problem. It may help the air flow.

The voids:


And the final result:



Now, let's wait and hope it will grow fine.

[Roberta]

Roots look beautiful! I think that it will enjoy the fresh mix.

[rbarata]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Roots look beautiful! I think that it will enjoy the fresh mix.

I really hope so. Thanks!

I will post new developments.

[silken]

Looks good. Some voids are good. I use medium bark only for my Catts and then air can get at the roots. They like some air. So don't worry about a few air pockets.

[rbarata]

Update on this "project"...

When I repot it there were some voids inside the medium so I choose to water it by soaking, leave it in water for an hour or so every 8 to days when I see it's dry or almost dry.
Here it is taking the weekly bath.


Voids are ok for drainage and root ventilation but, in this case, I messed up and the plant had no support and tilted. The rizome is vertical and the youngest pbulbs are inside the medium. A real mess...
'Cause I didn't want to repot again, to avoid root damage, I decided to leave it this way...after all, in nature, there's nobody there to stand them up.


It's a mess but it's growing new roots like crazy. All the long roots outside the medium are new roots, with a real healthy look.




Inside the pot, the roots also seems great.



There's also a new pbulb.


I've read somewhere that sap is a kind of natural honey segregated by the plant to attract insects to polinate the flowers.
Does this means there's a flowers on the way?


For someone who had doubts about the conditions to grow catts, not bad at all, don't you think?