When to water a tiny bulb
 

So I have this tiny pbulb, about the size of my thumbnail as you can see. It has a new growth, that has started out putting roots.

I don't think the bulb will be around if I wait until the roots are the 4 inch recommendation. When should I water it then? The bulb is fairly shriveled and the roots tiny.

Thumb for scale. Lol

Hi! While I know it can be nerve-racking, I would absolutely wait until you have roots 3-4 inches long and leaves 6-8 inches. If you water any sooner, you are very likely to rot out your new growth and be left with nothing to work with. The new growth will find its way, so don't interrupt the process with water until its time...

Which orchid is it?

I think it is a clowesia cross. Lost the tag last summer sometime

---------- Post added at 07:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:23 PM ----------

What about watering from the bottom to get the old roots wet and some water into the bulb?

You're in a very difficult spot, but go with what the asparagus told you. If you water these too early they die. The old roots and pseudobulb are dead, and watering from below will not get water to the new plant. Let the new roots grow to the length mentioned. The tiny pseudobulb will indeed shrivel more.

What about watering from the bottom to get the old roots wet and some water into the bulb?[/QUOTE]

I could be wrong about this, but I don't think the old roots are going to take up much, if any, hydration at this point. I was guessing it was some sort of Clowesia, as I've had ones where the old back bulbs look like that- really worse for the wear, death's door, etc. But the new growth pushes through and does fine. There's more nutrients in that old withered carcass than you may realize...

I don't think all the roots die. I've been able to water mid winter to plump bulbs back up. I have central gas hear. It gets dry in my house in January and February. I just watch one of Isurus79's videos and talks about being able to plump up bulbs by letting them soak. Maybe I'll wait until our resident expert chimes in.

I do appreciate the advice and discussion so far as well.

Sure, and not to be contentious, but I think there's a sort of past the point of no-return where an old back bulb isn't going to rehydrate- I'd say yours is at that point, but just my opinion. I think the risk of rotting out your new growth is greater than the slim chance you're going to get a resurrection (Easter theme) on that old bulb. I'd love to hear Stephen's thoughts as well.

I think you're right and I think I'm in denial. Lol

You can try just a bit of water around the edge of the pot (away from the new growth) That may give just a touch of humidity to the mix. If kept warm, and the growth and new root don't get direct water, you'll probably give it a chance to get going to where it reaches the "water me" point. There's a little bit of green at the base of the old pseudobulb... so the new growth does still have a resource to suck nutrition from. It'll be a race to see if it can reach the point where it can survive before it sucks the old p-bulb dry.

I'm not experienced enough to give proper advice, but I will say that waiting for the growth to be 6-8 inches tall seems excessive, no? Where is the plant going to get all the nutrients for that new tissue with such a small amount left in that withered backbulb? Is there really enough in there?

It's more a case of waiting for roots 3"-4"/7.5-10cm long before watering than the size of the shoot.

Ouch, there isn't much energy in that bulb so you probably won't get much more than an inch or so of roots before it runs out of gas and dies.

This is what I would do. Drop the pot in some water so that the spag absorbs water from the bottom. Once the spag is soaked through, pull it out and let it dry in a warm spot with decent light. The new roots are still short enough that they shouldn't be negatively affected by wet spag since they don't appear to touch. The moisture absorbed by the old roots (if they still function) should provide enough energy for another month of root growth. If you do this, can you post pics a few days after the soak? I'm curious to see how much (if any) the back bulb aborbs.

I'll try this tonight and report back

I would also put it in a much smaller pot with fresh mix, taking care to not damage those root tips.

Remember, that's just the beginning of new growth... it's not going to stay tiny. I'd leave it in the existing pot, Once the growth matures, it is may very well become bigger than the old psedobulb. Catasetinae, after all, reinvent themselves every year, And I wouldn't worry about "overpotting" ... once it gets going, I'm not sure that it is possible to overwater one of these. It's hard to keep them wet enough once in active growth.

I don't want to chance hurting any of the old roots that may soak up water. I think it's best to just let it be in this pot for now.

I took a couple pics last night before soaking. I will check in a couple days to see if it fattens up any. I have brought it to work as the temps are kept a few degrees warmer than my house, especially at night.

Cool! I'm curious to see what it looks like on Monday!

Me too. I figured leaving it on my desk I won't look at it all weekend either. So, fingers crossed, I will easily see if it works.

I don't think there was much improvement for the older bulb.

I'm going to wait until the bulb is almost dead to water. Fingers crossed I can save this guy.

Shoot, that's unfortunate. Hopefully it can hold on long enough to get at least one viable root growing!

Maybe get a seedling heat mat to keep the sphagnum warm? From what I've learned, its mainly encountering wet and cool media that kills new roots