Clowesia dodsoniana : problem ending dormancy
 

Hello everyone.
I'm new to the Orchid Forum. I live in Scotland and am growing orchids in my home. About two months ago I bought a Clowesia dodsoniana. It had 4 bulbs but was showing no signs of growth. I removed it from its pot to find many roots, all dead, which I removed. The plant was propped up in a pot and I waited for growth. The second youngest bulb (as far as I can ascertain) had a keiki the size of a pea attached close to the top of the bulb. About three weeks after I bought the plant, the keiki started to produce a new growth. Weeks passed and still no new growth from the base of any of the bulbs. Eventually after the new growth started to produce a few roots, I removed the keiki; about two weeks after this, the youngest bulb started to push out three new growths, all from the top half of the bulb. i was concerned that perhaps as with many other types of plant there maybe an 'apical dominance' effect here. Could the growth of new keikis be suppressing new growths from the base of the bulbs? Finally, I recently decided to remove the bulb with the three developing growths from the other three bulbs. So, Im looking for advice as to where do I go from here. Should I wait until these growths produce hopefully enough roots and then chop the bulb to separate them then pot them up? Alternatively I could simply lie the bulb on its side on a pot of suitable medium and let them root and grow them on and separated them later on next year?
Im fairly new to growing the Catasetinae ; Ive read quite a lot on how to approach growing them but this plant has me confounded. I'd be grateful for any advice.

This one. Lay it down on a bed of sphag, secure it so that it doesn’t wobble or roll (just bend some wire and make a “U” pin) and let those roots develop before watering too much. If you remove the new growths from the bulb this year, especially this early, they will die a very quick death. Just leave them attached so they can get nutrients from the mother bulb. And don’t be surprised if the main bulb starts to yellow as its reserves get zapped.

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Ouch. If you haven't, I strongly recommend you go to Sunset Valley Orchids Web site, and look for the cultivation information on Catasetinae, the group to which Clowesia belongs.

They are triggered to grow by rising humidity and temperature in spring. Watering too soon is trouble for them. Roots should each be 3-4" long, or more, before any watering. Watering earlier may kill the new growth.

The only time they may be safely divided is during full dormancy. Don't try to divide if you see any leaves or new shoots. When you divide, keep at least 2 very large or 3 smaller leafless pseudobulbs in the division.

I strongly recommend not cutting off old roots from these plants until you can grow them well.

New growths from the apex generally happen because the base of the plant may be dead, and normal growth points at the base are gone. They are sprouting because the normal sprouting points are all dead.

Separating growths from the pseudobulb the same season they sprout is almost never successful and should not be done. When one of these runs into trouble and starts pushing growth from upper parts of old pseudobulbs, you often have only one chance to keep it alive.

I concur with what SaraJean has said about placing it on sphagnum moss. Keep it as warm and humid as you can. And later, be on constant watch for spider mite attack.

well it sounds like I now have a plan. Thanks to both of you... advice much appreciated.

The "laydown" method will definitely work and that is probably best. (hard to totally say without pictures).

I will also say, for the record, I have had a number of plants produce their first growths high up on a bulb and I have pinched the growths, sometime multiple times, before getting a normal growth from the base.

thanks Clawhammer.... good to know.

In addition to the advice given above, you should probably know that those weren’t keikis you cut off, they were new growths for the year. A keiki is a new small plant designed to be a clone that eventually splits off the mother plant. These growths were just new growths awkwardly placed due to some unknown stressor on the plant. Hopefully it sends a new growth soon, ideally from the lower part of the plant.

Thanks for letting me know, isurus79. I now have the separated bulb with the new growths at about 25C and high humidity. The three older bulbs I have propped up in the same place. I’m worried it’s getting too late in the year to get good growth going. One good thing about growing this far north is that the plants get very long daylength in the summer ….. the other catasetum types I have are doing well so far. I’ll post some pics if the C. dodsoniana makes it.
Thanks again.
Ian.