This Cat needs a little help from her friends

[charlesf6]

Received this Cattleya from a friend upon her trip back from Texas. I named her Spookie for sentimental reasons.
It was a Better Gro plant wrapped in netting and a wee black plastic pot. I kept it that way mostly I just placed the tiny cell pack into a slightly larger clay pot for steadiness and brought her to work and placed on a frosted southern window sill.

It had the split leaf from the netting it was wrapped in but I just lightly taped it.
Most of the spring/early summer it seemed okay until I noticed the plant was becoming unsteady and it's roots were crawling upward and out of the small plastic container it was in.

I took Spookie home and repotted from the small plastic container into the larger clay pot that was holding her. I placed the orchid on the sun porch slowly and she seemed to like it for the most part.
When I had transplanted I noticed that the roots were rather small and it once again became unsteady in the larger pot after a bit.

I decided to put Spookie into a smaller clay pot but it now appears to have lost some color and looking closer the leaves look wrinkly to me, I water when she is dry and monitor with skewer. Fert weakly every other soaking.

Help??

[Nexogen]

Friend, first of all, when you bring a new plant at home, she needs a period of accommodation with new home.
If at this time you move the plant from one pot to another, you do nothing but hurry the end.
Let it in a pot and forget about it for a few days, read how you grow a cattleya and see what you're doing next.

[Bohata]

You might skip the fertilizer until it is growing better. Right now it isn't using much nutrition. You might also give it a dose of kelpmax or other algae based root stimulant.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Judge plant health by how that newest growth is doing (left in your first photo). That growth seems fine and seems to be getting enough water.

I agree that if you keep re-potting over and over, you will kill it.

For the moment, leave it as-is until you see some roots growing. You have the rhizome buried, which can lead to rot forming and spreading. When, you see that roots are growing and attaching to the pot, gradually pick off some of the bark until you can see the rhizome (horizontal stem connecting the pseudobulbs). With Catts, and several other sympodial orchids, always best if that rhizome is not buried.

Otherwise, that plant should be able to stay in that pot and bark for 2 or 3 years.

[charlesf6]

Am I giving it too much light/sun by leaving her out on the porch all day/night 's for now (Autumn)?

[Orchid Whisperer]

Until the plant is well established and growing well, it might be best to keep in bright but indirect light. Worry about increasing light as it gets closer to blooming size and condition. Now, you want it ti conserve water so that it can build mass and store energy for more growth.

[DeaC]

All of the above but have you heard of rhizome clips? Available for plastic and clay pots and its purpose is to steady a newly potted plant so roots can meander into medium which won't happen if plant is wobbly. For me clips are great.

[Dollythehun]

Awhile back, I rescued a Catt from Lowe's. OW and ES told me to tent it, or somehow keep the humidity up until it started new roots. Then I was to repot it. That method worked for me and I have a pretty decent plant now. Of course, you cannot put it in direct sun if you use that method.

[charlesf6]

Originally Posted by DeaC

All of the above but have you heard of rhizome clips? Available for plastic and clay pots and its purpose is to steady a newly potted plant so roots can meander into medium which won't happen if plant is wobbly. For me clips are great.

Excellent idea! I was afraid the pot might be too small but it works! Thanks.

---------- Post added at 06:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:26 PM ----------

One thread in the Cattleya Forum mentions epsom salts for calcium deficiency with leaf blotching? Spookies just seem faded, wrinkly not really blotched.
The only good leaf as OW mentions is the one it just newly produced while at my job in early summer.

[Optimist]

New bark is always going to retain moisture less than old bark, and pottery kind of sucks moisture off as well. So water more, let it drain. I did poorly with Catleyas until I realized they actually like more water than Phalenopsis.

The discoloration of the leaves is really dark coloring being lightened up (like a sun tan, but opposite). Instead of getting darker the leaves get lighter-- almost pea green is a perfect color, with some specks of red if the plant has that pigmentation.

Dark green means it is not getting enough sun.

I don't dig the "get smaller pots" advice because they grow on trees where there is no "pottery boundary." I use rocks and pot them in as big a pot as I can stand so I do not have to pot them for 3-4 years. That insures good roots, and lots of growth (because you do not squeeze out expansion. My larger Cats have 4-6 leads per year, and my smaller have been giving a goot 1-2. I think past the 4-5 year mark, they start getting big fast.