C. tigrina : Did I just kill it?
 

I had the day off so I decided to re-pot a few plants, a Dendrobium abarrans and a C. tigrina . Mostly because I got them as seedlings and they had been in pots for a year. The abarrans had a bit of black fungal spots.

Everything went well with the repotting until... .

I realized I did not know that the Bifoliates are easy to kill if you do not pot them at the right time. I decided to watch some youtube videos (after committing the crime, of course) and thought "gulp-- I just murdered my tigrina !!!!"

So, one video, Stephen Van-Kampen Lewis (who has a channel and seems to know the bifoliates well) had a scene about the correct time to re-pot tigrina . He said that you should repot when the new root tips are just showing out of the base of the P-bulb, but you have waited too long if it is too long (he showed 1/2 to an inch of root). So, I looked at my base, and saw that I had a tiny root or two coming out of the latest new growth (see picture). So I think I jumped the shark on that one. I just happened to stumble into the perfect time to repot.

So this is the second repotting of a seedling of C. tigrina 'Voodoo Child' X 'Summer Voodoo". It is actually growing remarkably fast. It's about 7" tall now. I hear it gets about 3 feet tall. Does anyone know when "blooming size happens? On Youtube and in pictures it looks like about 16 to 18 inches.

I don't think I have gotten flowers from a C. tigrina (leopoldii) at less than 12-15 inches. So I think you have about another year to go. You'll find out in about 5 months... at least, mine tend to bloom around mid- to late- July.

Thanks. Well it grows fairly quickly. I just hate getting an orchid younger than blooming size, but this was an impulse buy. I lost a Schilariana, so I'd like to try that one again too.

Of the two, I think tigrina is the easier one. Mine put up with whatever they get (have 3 of them, growing oudoors... frost free but barely) C. schilleriana survives and grows slowly, blooms semi-regularly, probably would do better a little warmer.

Thanks for the info. This one, (name mentioned in original post) looks so like Schilariana that they would be practically twins really, except this has longer canes. It is all that brown/spot on petals, and bright pink/purple labium.

Flowers do have a similar look. But the tigrina can give you a lot more of them. It really can put on a show.

that guy from that video is our own Isurus79, he does, in fact, know quite a lot

Thanks, I'll subscribe to him on Youtube. I am still mostly growing phags/paphs, but am hoping to get some of the species cattleyas.

In your lower humidity you're going to have a lot of trouble with C. aclandiae and schilleriana.

So I have Tigrinia-- what about Dowinia and bicolor-- those are some favorites of mine too.

Anyway, also is it a matter of tweaking the environment-- for instance, my latouria dendrobiums are a slight bit accordioned at times due to the lack of humidity. but they are healthy and the flowers are great.