Watering on Monn. Millennium Magic "Witchcraft" with spike AND new growth?!
 

Hi everyone,

Monn. Millennium Magic "Witchcraft" is my first Catasetum type hybrid. I did all the reading before getting it to have an understanding on its care. One thing I did not foresee is the bulb spiking AND a new growth coming in. (Pictures attached if anyone can confirm this is was is actually happening.) I will add that there are still three leaves on the bulb (one is starting to yellow, but the other two are green).

I am stumped on what to do. Do I have to choose between continue watering for the blooms and the new growth possibly rotting; or just leaving it dry so the new growth comes in & start watering again when I see strong roots? OR can I have both?

Setting: I grow this in an enclosed orchidarium setting under LEDs.

That spike doesn't look viable.

Good time to repot if that is in the plan.

Thanks Clawhammer. Could you tell me why the spike is not viable? Characteristics? It looks like it is green and coming out of the bulb. It is my first, so I have not seen it before.

The spike looks brown to me, maybe the photo isn't clear. That's what a spike growth point/aborted spike looks like to me. The bulb is probably too small.

2021 will be a good year for this plant :) Happy New Year!

Okay thanks! I can take a better picture when I get home, but I don't remember the spike being brown. But I also took the image at 7am and before coffee, hah!

So should I just keep watering & feeding it since it is not dormant? As for repotting, should I wait till the new bulb gets bigger?

Happy New Year to you as well :)

Treat it like it is just coming out of dormancy. Repot now and then water when the new roots are 4-8" long or the old pbulb is severely wrinkled.

Thanks! I will take care of it this weekend. Appreciate your help!

NZ ----- catasetum type orchids do throw out some 'tricky' little things like that ...... such as those little tab growth structures on the side, which naturally catches the attention of people that are growing the orchid.

In many cases, those tabs may turn out to do nothing and dry up. But sometimes - those little bud things can become active and turn into something, like a flower spike.

If you want to give a little water around the edges that's OK, but I think it is too early to start serious watering. Certainly no fertilizer yet. The plant can support the blooms on the reserves in the pseudobulb. With new growth, you want to wait until new roots are about 4 inches long. It's really hard to not water, but maybe put your hands in your pockets when you approach the plant. The beginning of new growth is too soon... you can rot the new pseudobulb or make the roots stall.

NZ ------- during the last dormancy period for all my catasetum type plants ----- including monn. ----- I purposely watered lightly ----- lightly. Most of them are in spaghnum cores surrounded by scoria on the outskirts. And the couple of them are in 100% scoria.

The number of losses that I had after doing that test was ------- zero. Not only are the orchids all doing well ----- one of them developed a spike early in the season and currently in flower.

At the moment, I'm believing that ------ roots not being cold, and roots getting enough oxygen to survive (as in roots not being soggy for long times or getting drowned) ----- results in no issues at all.

The testing wasn't to say to everybody to water their plants during dormancy - as the orchids don't even have leaves, so water is not really needed at all. It's just to show that some water in the media and on the roots isn't going to do anything bad to my catasetum type orchids ..... including fdk., mo., clo., and monn. And caused no set-backs at all.

I could have easily just tested 1 or 2 plants. But I was confident that nothing bad was going to happen - that I had no problem testing all of them.

Also ----- roots of catasetum type plants during dormancy (in the pot etc) can actually be (or are) alive.

Also ------- what it does mean for plants with new growths coming out is ----- the plant isn't dormant with new buds coming out. So for me ---- I wouldn't be afraid to lightly water. But we do know that if the old bulbs have enough water to support the new little growth ------- then no need to water.