Autumn / Winter Catasetum Care - Fred Clarke
 

I had a chat with Fred Clarke about his suggestions for autumn and winter care for Catasetinae. Here is the video: https://youtu.be/kmg-P6xXe48?si=Y74XwsHZr43hfGFc

Awesome video! Thanks as always.

wonderful video as always, Stephen. Thanks also to Fred for passing on his expertise. I'm new to catasetinae but these plants are super-rewarding to grow!

The lack of lower temps and day length the past winter is probably how mine ended up so "off schedule." That's a good piece of info to have in my growing tip bucket while attempting to grow Catasetinae. Gotta give that a go 'round this fall. Gracias to you, Steve, and to Fred.

Thank you so much for this! I have my first catasetum (a juvenile midnight magic) inside and wasn't sure if I would need to mess with temperatures. Given the dought conditions in my area of Florida and the expected wet fall and winter, keeping it (and my other orchids) inside was probably the best decision I could have made.

I already have my lights tied to local sunrise and sunset, and seems to have successfully kicked off yellowing/dropping leaves. I'm feeling a lot more confident that the plant is doing what it needs to do at a seasonable time to do it!

Is this automated?

I'm not the OP, but this can be automated. I got an Arduino this year along with a light sensor and with help from my boyfriend, am programming it so the supplementary lights I use in the winter turn off when it's nice sunny weather (shelves in south window so sun is enough when it does shine). By extension it would be really easy to program the lights to go on/off with sunrise and sunset (using the light sensor) if that's what you want.

Not sure if that's what you're asking, but most smart plugs/lights will let you automate with sunrise/sunset times, based on a particular location. Also with other things like weather data (temp, etc.), which they probably get from some weather service on the internet, so not necessarily very accurate.

It is all automated! I have all of my lights set up with smart plugs. (I use Google Home, but Alexa would work too). I have them turning on 15 or 30 minutes before sunrise and turning off 15 or 30 minutes after sunset right now. During the summer, I match sunrise/sunset exactly.

I do the same thing with my Christmas decorations!

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Yes, the weather accuracy is definitely hit or miss. You really have to temper any expectations based on how weather happens in your broader area. Rain can be really isolated around me, so "when it's raining, do this thing" wouldn't work. What did work a little more consistenyly was thinking in terms of "when chances of rain are above 80% today, what should happen."

Oh wow, it seems like I'm the last person to update their automated timer! lol I still have the analog timer with the popup buttons in 15 minute increments that I have to physically pull up or push down to change the timer. I need to get these new fancy ones that I can program!