Too many growths / bad placement
 

Hey all, I've been doing quite well with my Clowesia Jumbo Grace and was hoping for lots of new growths after my last blooming, but by "lots" I was thinking more around 6, maybe 8, since on the last season I had three growths push from the previous two bulbs (I was figuring around 2-3 new growths per mature growth)... Well, this year things got a little nuts. On the last flowering, I got 11 spikes, which was a big surprise... But now I have 13 new growths pushing - which is amazing, but also poses some challenges since at least 3 (really 4) are really high up on the old bulbs. For some of the highest growths, I don't see how they'll be able to root down and still be viable.

I don't know what to do with them, I'm tempted to cut them off even though that pains me to do so. I thought about planting it on it's side, but that would completely bury the older backbulbs at the bottom of the pot to do so, and overall, it might just make the whole plant look fairly odd. I know whatever I do, I have to make a choice soon as the roots are starting to push. Any suggestions? I want to keep this plant displaying nicely and I just can't decide on the best way to do it.

That is a gorgeous plant! If this were my plant, I'd just drop the whole thing into a larger pot, and backfill with medium. Maybe break the exisitng pot (let what falls off easily fall off, leave the rest stuck in place but more room for root growth. (It is far too late to consider a repot, but drop-pot with minimal disturbance works.) Maybe at this point, consider using a bulb pan ( like 8 inch) to give it some room to spread out without adding a lot of bulk. Don't worry about the growths that are higher up. they'll root or they won't. And don't cut anything! Let it do its thing. Just make sure you give it plenty of fertilizer as it grows... I use a top-dressing of time-release that works well.

Based on its parentage, it is very possible for you to get flowers long before the growths mature. Cl. Rebecca Northen tends to bloom in February when still completely dormant and THEN start doing growths around now, the Cl warczewitzii (note, that's the correct spelling according to Kew) in its ancestry might make it bloom a little later, but don't be surprised if you see spikes soon.

No, don't cut them off! Each new growth makes its own set of new roots and can support itself.

Thanks everyone for the quick replies. I was able to ease it out of the pot without breaking any roots or new growths. The moss it's in is only one season old and I had always planned on slip-potting it up to the next size pot, but with this many growths I had to go from a 3.5" straight to a 6.5".

I have to admit, I had originally purchased this plant because it was compact and floriferous (plus I like alba's), but it's now going to be very, very... Not compact. When I saw how many growths it has, I sort of panicked trying to figure out where I'm going to put it and I'm not sure how manageable it's going to be when it's growing in so many different directions at once. I bought it two years ago, in a 2" pot, with one bulb and two new growths, now it's got 6 bulbs and 13 growths (provided none are spikes).

That one is vigorous! The "different directions" thing is actually a positive. If it grows like the Cl. Rebecca Northen parent, flowers are likely pendant, and you'll have them all around the plant for a beautiful display.

Talkabout hybrid vigor + good culture!

Unfortunately, that plant doesn't have the resources in the backbulbs to support that many growths. I'd pull off the awkwardly placed ones and leave only those down by the media. Otherwise, you'll end up having to water early, thus putting all the new roots in danger of aborting and killing the plant. Extreme vigor has a dark side!

I would also pinch the growths above your new media line. Still going to be a dramatic show in 2024! Good growing!

UPDATE: First and foremost, I want to thank those for their replies. It seemed to me like it was a toss-up between "leave it alone and see what happens" and "pinch off a few growths", so the "leave it alone" approach won out because it was less work :)

That said, attachd is a picture of where we are now. I gave it it's first watering a week or two ago and the backbulbs fattenned back up and the growth is now in overdrive so I'll need to increase the water and fertilizer a bit more. What you can't see from the photo is that the plant seems to have aborted two of the smaller / later growths - so there's only 11 pictured here instead of what was going to be 13... Oddly enough, while the aborted growths didn't push out completely - the roots they started are still growing.

In any event, it seems the plant chose which growths to keep and is doing all the better for it.

Looks great! I have one of the parents, Cl. Rebecca Northen . Also growing rapidly. Hard to recall how it looked in February with lots of flowers emerging from pathetic-looking bare (and slightly shriveled) pseudobulbs. I take the "do nothing" approach... it makes new growths eherever it wants. Fortunately the growths aren't huge, so it still stays relatively compact, unlike some of the Catasetums that have p-bulbs that, if barbecued, could feed a small village. :lol: