Rehabilitating bareroot Cattleyas?

[james mickelso]

A couple of them seem to be in too big a pot. That's ok as long as you watch how much you water. Water them sparingly or you can also repot them. And one thing I have noticed a lot of people doing when they pot an orchid...... they pot it right to the top of the pot making it necessary to put something in the bottom of the pot so there isn't too much potting mix in the pot. (another long drawn out sentence. I know) Anyway.... you don't have to pot it to the top of the pot. There can be a couple of inches of pot rim showing. Just a suggestion.

[DavidCampen]

Thanks, that is a great intro for something I had been thinking about posting in another thread earlier today but decided it would have been too much of a digression from that thread.

How do you know when a pot is "too big". First, the answer to that question depends greatly on the type of plant so I am going to limit my comments here to the typical Cattleyas, Laelias and Brassavolas. So back to the question "how can you tell when a pot is too big"?

My first answer is that you can _not_ tell by looking at the volume of the pot. For example, when I mount a plant on cork, wood or rock how big is the pot then?

Reductio ad absurdum, if I double the size of the rock that my Cattleya is mounted on have I doubled the size of the pot? Of course not, would be my response. What is important in determining "pot size" is what is underneath. The medium underneath needs to be able to dry out between waterings. Since rocks and cork do not absorb water then they could be assigned a "pot size" metric of zero. Similarly for a terra cotta pot, if it is full of rocks then it can be considered to have a much smaller "pot size" metric than if it were filled with bark and coarse bark will give you a smaller "pot size" metric than fine bark while fine bark will give you a smaller "pot size" metric than sphagnum etc.

For those 6" terra cotta pots in the photo, they were prepared by placing an inverted mesh pot over the center drain hole, followed by hydroton to hold the mesh pot in place, then a few large pieces of bark are strategically placed over the side drain holes to hold the Hydroton in the pot and then more Hydroton is added.
I will post a photo or two.

The final level of the Hydroton depends on what I can determine about the cultural requirements of the specific Cattleya or Laelia species, for ones that are considered to be rupicolous the Hydroton will be nearly the only medium used. Even, and especially, for the rupicolous though there will be a thin layer of large perlite on top of the Hydroton since the perlite compresses allowing the plant to be easily held in place with rhizome clips. For Cattleyas and Laelia that enjoy a moister root zone I will not fill the pot as full with Hydroton so that I can use some bark or bark plus perlite as the final layer.

Edit:
For example, the 6" pot in the right, rear position in the photo has a C. elongata which Fowlie describes as being rupicolous. So there is no bark in that pot except for the small bit that I use by the drain holes. There is an inverted net pot covered with Hydroton and then a small layer of perlite.

[james mickelso]

How are those catts doing? I hope they are growing well. Since I grow a lot of rootless or nearly rootless catts and laelias along with a bunch of other orchids, I always like to check up on others attempts. I liked your ideas about pot size and filling the extra space with something that doesn't hold too much water and dries quickly. I use lava rock in the bottom of my overly large pots. I pile it up into a pyramid in the pot. Lets the roots grow down into the pot but on the outside.

[DavidCampen]

It has been only two weeks since I got the plants and one week since I potted the last of them and in addition to them having spent several weeks bareroot they also were moved from the southerm hemisphere to the northern hemisphere so I don't expect to see much for another several weeks. On one plant I see what looks like the nub of a root forming. So for now I just keep them in 60%-80% humidity with a light misting a couple of times a day and I wait. I have hopes that all will survive. I will post updates here.

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[DavidCampen]

It has been 5 weeks now since I got the shipment of 20 bareroot plants from Miranda and 4 weeks since I got the last potted. Most are showing new roots, there are a couple that I am worried about, another month should tell. I have been applying Clonex Rooting Gel every weekend to the ones that aren't showing new roots. I put the Clonex gel into a 50 ml syringe with a 14 gauge blunt tip needle, it dispenses nicely from that and I apply the gel to the lower parts of the pseudobulb and the rhizome where I would expect roots to form.

[james mickelso]

Remember that mature pbulbs for the most part don't grow new roots very easily if at all. It is the new growth that grows them. That new growth should be starting to push up by now. Just keep the old pbulbs warm, moist, and well lit. I have had old pbulbs (2, 3 yrs old and leafless) put out new growth buds and really get going. Patience grass hopper. Please keep us informed.