Should I water or not?
 

I have these 2 catasetums, both the same hybrid. They have not been water since early December. They have not dropped their top 2 leaves yet. However the bulbs are very shriveled. I'm not sure if u should water then or not just to plump up the bulbs. No new growth on them.

You might want to read this thread: Catasetum - To water or not to water ?


orchidsarefun explains experiments with watering.

Thank you. I've read that thread. That's more for plants coming out of dormancy. These haven't lost their last 2 leaves on the old growth and have not started a new growth. The bulbs are heavily shriveled and I feel like I should give them some water, but don't know if that's a good idea.

I would give them a healthy drink and once they've plumped up I would cut the leaves and force dormancy.

Mook ...... if the bulbs that are transitioning toward dormancy are 'very' shriveled, then they're losing too much water - so you can water - but just be light on the watering. The plant just needs to get some moisture onto the roots in order to get it into the plant (bulbs).

Also - maybe you can take some photos and upload - to get a visual on the situation.

I added a couple pictures. Thank you all. I just wanted to make sure a little water to plump them up would be ok. As you can see, they are not even in pots. I think they will dry quickly enough.

Thanks mook. It doesn't look like really serious shriveling. I'd have no problem with getting my water sprayer to lightly wet the roots and media - even the outer-most region would be ok. The two leaves are still doing ok there.

is it really ok to cut the leaves and force dormancy?

I'm not sure I want to do that, just curious. I'll most likely just let them do their thing.

Oh if curious they are the Ctsm. tenobrosum x Ctsm. calosum seedlings from SVO. It will be neat to see some differences from the same cross.

Like a toddler at bedtime lol it doesn’t want to go to dormancy.

Hard to say - about the cutting of leaves to force dormancy. Enough testing on a range of these plants could help answer this. But that sort of testing should also involve having accurate details of the growing conditions too - eg. temperature and other quantities, and media being used, and watering rate/quantity/schedule.

For my very tropical region here, I just back right-off on the watering, and water very lightly. Enough for the roots to get water, and the spaghnum stays lightly moist only - absolutely no waterlogging allowed. And I maintain decent air-flow all around - natural gentle breeze ..... but sometimes can be fairly breezy too, with leaves flopping around in the breeze.

When I do the above - all the leaves eventually become yellow - sometimes the last leaves can take ages to yellow (eg. a few weeks or more). But they eventually do. And they then do the usual thing and dry up to the point where they naturally fall off (or the slightest movement disconnects them from the joint).

I stop watering when those last leaves begin to yellow, and then just leave the orchid (in the pot) in the shade.

For your case, I would just keep very lightly watering the roots/media (while not allowing temperatures to drop to undesirable levels).