What is the most beautiful orchid?

[isurus79]

Though this is a pretty tough question, I think the most stunning orchid in the world is Cattleya warscewiczii var. Katia. Too bad I just killed mine trying to get it into s/h. *sigh*

[smweaver]

That's terrible! Do you have access to a replacement plant? Have you successfully transitioned any cattleya species to s/h? I've been a little tempted to try it out, but thankfully (I guess) I've been too cautious to give in and play around with any of the catts. Sorry you lost the warscewiczii.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by smweaver

That's terrible! Do you have access to a replacement plant? Have you successfully transitioned any cattleya species to s/h? I've been a little tempted to try it out, but thankfully (I guess) I've been too cautious to give in and play around with any of the catts. Sorry you lost the warscewiczii.

No replacement plants. I have had success and failure with s/h, though I think I'm getting the hang of it. My failures are the result of me watering too much, so the roots grow laterally across the media instead of down into the media searching for water. The roots dry out this way and its like they are mounted on rock, so they dry very quickly. I now only water s/h plants when the water level goes down in the bottom of the pot so the roots grow down. Also, I was not using any rooting hormone when transferring plants. More roots equal more success. Unfortunately this plant was one of my early trials and is currently near death in my terrarium (for the extra humidity). I've pretty much written it off, but we'll see. Steve, I do highly recommend s/h, but start off with plants that you don't mind making mistakes with!!

[smweaver]

That's really too bad about the C. warscewiczii. I might try the s/h approach on one of the weedy C. walkerianas in my collection, which apparently are quite content to grow big and fat, while never producing blooms. So they might be good test subjects. But I think I may be doing something halfway to s/h anyhow, at least with my vandas. I have all of them growing in unglazed clay pots in nothing but PrimeAgra. And while that's not truly a s/h way of growing them, they do like this medium quite a bit, judging by the great root growth they produce. So maybe I'm kind of inching my way toward trying it out. I can easily see myself attempting administering a torture--excuse me, trial-and-error--experiment on the walkerianas.