Catasetinae in S/H?
 

I'm about to finally cave in to the Catasetum call (thanks y'all for beautiful, inspiring pictures), and would like to clarify a few points before making an innocent plant suffer.

To people growing their Catasetinae in S/H, how do you approach watering throughout the year?
Aren't LECA pellets drying roots during dormancy, and when new roots emerge?
What if the plant makes several bulbs in a growing season? Any pitfalls to be aware of?

Does the PET method give better results than S/H?

will this be grown in your tent space?

remind me the humidity and brightness please?

i like the PET method and have modified it a bit, it is very similar to SH but includes an organic layer. Ma Nature always ads that to my plants lol

hard to say which is better

It's terrarium and wherever there's available space at this point, with Covid I had to change my plans.

Humidity inside gets pretty decent but I don't have anything to measure it, light ranges from Vanda levels to shaded Phal.

I'll probably go with Catasetum pileatum Catasetum pileatum Jumbo 'Green Gold' - Orchideen der Schwerter Orchideenzucht

Assuming your your terrarium/tent is indoors, does it get a good temp drop in the winter? I'm REALLY itching to grow one as well but I'm afraid my indoor temps don't drop enough in the winter. If I do try I'll probably go with the PET method

I don't think a huge temp difference is required to force dormancy. Stopping watering plus the reduction of the photoperiod should be sufficient. My temps never go below 62 overnight, down for 66 degree nights in the summer and I have no problem blooming them.

I agree, temperature variation isn't important for Catasetinae. They need to stay warm through the winter. It's no-water part that is critical to their lifecycle. The well-behaved ones tend to signal to you to cut back the water, by the yellowing and dropping of leaves. Some stubborn ones need to be pushed into dormancy by withholding water if they don't go voluntarily. ("Mommy, I's not sleepy...)

Pay attention to size... some of the species and hybrids can be over a meter tall and wide when grown well. Others are a lot smaller.

Their climate is warm all year: Monsoonal rain for 3-5 summer months; no rain at all for the rest of the year. They've evolved dormancy and leaf drop to deal with this. Some come from areas with cool winter nights, but others have warm nights all year. The hybrids are more adaptable.

I've read of people growing them in S/H, meaning watered all year. I've read of people who grow them in S/H during their growing season, then leave them dry in winter. I don't have enough information to know whether any of this works well. I'm going to try S/H when I feel I've mastered growing them with traditional methods.

This info is key. For temps, they like it HOT during peak summer growing -- but will be fine with "warm" temps.

The most successful culture method overall is the PET method, where the bottom portion of the container has uninterrupted access to water/fertilizer. The media composition doesn't seem to matter as much.

And then for like half the year basically, you don't need to water at all!

I would also agree on maybe trying a hybrid first. As with all orchids, they tend to be more forgiving than species

Good thing you pointed it out, I checked growth habits for pileatum but not size... Apparently specimen plants have 60+ cm leaves.

I watched a lot of videos on YouTube and people who grow them in S/H keep the pellets just sliiightly humid during dormancy.
It seems to work good; although several growers mentioned that during summer, the reservoir only lasts a couple hours.

I like the idea of the PET method, in the sense that they can feed on decaying material on top of fertiliser and get a top notch nutrition! It would be the "garbage collector plant" on which I ditch rice water and used tea :biggrin:

I would get a hybrid but the shop's Catasetinae stock is limited, and I don't fancy paying shipping twice to get one elsewhere.

That would make a perfect clonal name :rofl:
Catasetum pileatum var. alba "I's not sleepy" FCC/AOS, here I come.

If you want something small, hybrids with either ctsm denticulatum or clowesia rosea in the background will be a good bet.