Covering new Cattleya and brassavola root tips with spagnum
 

Looking for advice from all the gurus out there! :)

I just purchased a brassavola and a few cattleyas. I few were bareroot and others had new root tips just popping out so I potted them all up in slotted plastic pots with Repotme cattleya mix, the brassavola went in a basket with the cattleya mix and the tiniest bit of spagnum.

I saw in an older article that you can cover the new root tips with a bit of spagnum to protect them from desiccation until they pierce the media. Some the the new roots are a few inches above the media and I worry about them drying out bc it is very very hot here 90s+ for the foreseeable future. Does anyone have experience with this, specifically for cattleya alliance? Is it ok for cattleyas but not brassavola? Just looking for advice bc for oncidium alliance this has worked well for me. Thank you in advance!!

Here are my new orchids:

- Brassavola little stars
- Myrmecatavola Frances Fox
- Cattleya Jungle Nobility (Cattleya nobilior × Cattleya harrisoniana)
- cattleya white bridal yuki
(C. Angelwalker x Ctt. Candy Tuft)
- Rhyncholaeliocattleya Siam Red
- Lc. Gold Digger (Lc. Red Gold x C. Warpaint)

Amichab - what's the general humidity range in your region?

Normally, if humidity is ok, then roots of orchids can handle their roots extending out into the air and just keeps growing.

Are the root tips drying out in your growing area?

The relative humidity at the hottest part of the day is about 40-50%. And yes, the Laeliocattleya has root tips just drying out at the top. It's not brownish- they stay white. they just grow across the bark on top of the media and then stop. :(

Unless you live in the desert, I'd really stay away from sphagnum around Catts. The roots need to experience a distinct wet-dry cycle. You certainly want to avoid touching root tips or subjecting them to any force, the are extremely fragile, and maybe that's what the sphagnum was intended to address. But drying out is what they are supposed to do - as they grow, they will find moisture in the medium I have found that the less that Catt roots are inhibited, the better they are... in fact, the plants tend to grow slowly until they escape over the edge of the pot, then they take off. I can grow most of mine outside, I have had great success with wooden baskets and very large bark (sort of a three-dimensional mount) and end up with roots growing around the basket slats, or completely escaping down through the medium, growing quite happily in air. So... air around those root tips is what is importent. They'll find the water.

Thank you so much!

Staying white is good. Some roots - even if you think they stopped growing, will even develop off-shoot roots ------ that branch out from the original root.

Yep, Roberta is correct. Just pot them in bark and they should be good to go!

...and don’t be afraid to water them!

I find that if the root tips stop progressing, it is usually because I’m allowing the medium to dry too thoroughly.