Project 2016: Cattleya walkeriana

[stonedragonfarms]

Originally Posted by catherinecarney

I'm fortunate to have access to good wood and bark here for mounts on my own property. The thick, textured bark of things like osage orange and black walnut works well. Plenty of ash bark around from all the dead trees (thank you, emerald ash borer--not), but it's thinner and more crumbly.



Grape stumps (the thick trunks at the base) can work well as long as it's not constantly wet. Maple, oak, and fruitwoods (apple, pear) also seem to hold up for me.



I'm not too far from Lake Erie, so I've also got access to driftwood and the orchids seem to thrive on it.



Perhaps the strangest mount I've got is the "stump" or base from an old multiflora rose clump I grubbed out when I was cleaning it out of the pastures. Lots of nooks and crannies and texture to it--it's been sitting outside since last summer waiting for the right orchid....



One of the nice things about this thread is that between us we can try a bunch of different growing methods for this species and collect our experiences in one area for future reference.



Catherine

Be careful mounting on black walnut; the whole tree produces growth inhibitors (which is why not many plants grow under them...) oak, ironwood, cherry all work great if you're in the Midwest.


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[catherinecarney]

I'm in north central Ohio, so yup, plenty of native hardwoods.

I haven't had issues with growth inhibitors from my black walnut mounts, but I'll keep an eye out and move to another wood if they do poorly. From what I've read black walnut roots excrete the most juglone (the growth inhibitor) with less throughout the rest of the plant.

I do know that sensitivity to black walnut varies with species--from what I've read tomatoes are pretty sensitive, for example, and the poison ivy and nettles around here seem to prefer growing under the black walnuts....

FWIW, my walkeriana bag baby is still in its pot on the porch--I do plan to mount it before I bring it in for the winter.

Catherine

[gngrhill]

Both of my rootless wonders are bare root in a clay pot (together) and I dunk the roots every morning and again when I get home from work. The first one has 2 iffy roots the second one has a half inch root the rest are dead. so far so good. I'll keep trying. Once they start growing roots I plan on mounting them.

[estación seca]

My seedlings seem to make the best root growth after maturing a new lead.

[wintergirl]

Originally Posted by gngrhill

Both of my rootless wonders are bare root in a clay pot (together) and I dunk the roots every morning and again when I get home from work. The first one has 2 iffy roots the second one has a half inch root the rest are dead. so far so good. I'll keep trying. Once they start growing roots I plan on mounting them.

Good idea, I may still mount my potted one yet.

[BillieG]

Just in, my Catt Walkeriana Semi-Alba Camelia. It was mounted, but I am away from home much too often to keep it sprayed, so I potted it in bark. I almost potted it in Leica but decided bark might be the easier transition from mounted.
For some reason I can't load my photo.

[u bada]

I got my cattleya walkeriana... it's a coerulea form called 'monte azul'... I ordered it from tropical orchid farm... and let me just say, well you can see from the image below, their plants are always phenomenal... I mean look at the number of pbs, look at the roots!...

It was growing in a plastic pot with no media, in hawaii I imagine things are very wet so they grow a lot of things this way, especially things that need to dry out. i took a picture after I carefully took it out of pot.

(The whole order was really amazing. I've ordered from them quite a few times over the years and they've always been stellar. Been having bad experiences with my regular CA vendors, so this was greatly welcome... and realizing I need to support vendors like them more... )

I potted it in a clay pot with a little bit of orchiata. After a talk I attended recently by a grower/AOS judge/emmy winner costume designer, I'm trying out the virtue of the classic clay pot with it's ability to wick water into it and keep roots cool... it will be sitting in a glazed larger pot where water can sit at the bottom a bit between waterings since we're finding out this species needs ample water when growing. The bottom of the pot inside is lined with gravel.

[Fernando]

Yup, that is a real healthy plant!

[Leafmite]

I agree! Very nice, u bada!

Good luck with your new one, BillieG!

[Subrosa]

An update on one of my semi alba 'Carmela' bag babies. First pic shows a recently matured pseudobulb that I have a suspicion could flower this fall. I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that leca is the only way to grow Catts. When I can get a division off of my nobilior I'll know for certain!