Catasetum ivanae
 

Ctsm. ivaneae 'Purple Fantasy' x Ctsm. ivaneae 'No.2' From Sunset Valley’s august 2023 offerings. So pleased that it bloomed! 3 of the six I bought bloomed this fall :biggrin: Has a spicy, grassy scent and throws its pollen at fingers that get too close.

Very pretty! Mine suffered heat damage during shipping and the new little growth died. All I have is a teeny tiny bulb, fingers crossed it makes it through winter and starts a new growth.

love it! mine just threw out a tiny spike. a very unique species!

That’s tragic! I hope it makes it, rooting for it :lol:

Same with mine.:( Only one tiny shrunk bulb had left. Sad.:( Fingers crossed they will survive on whatever is accumulated in the bulb. It is my first experience with catasetum. I am hopeful.

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It is unbelievable how large the flower is in comparison to the size of the bulb.

Ohhhh, that's so cool! Those flowers are beautiful!

Now I need to check mine at home to see if there's a spike...

Hi All -

I am reviving this thread from one year ago because I bought a Catasetum ivanae from SVO's 2024 list and am looking for some advice from the group.

I had concluded that the plant was unlikely to bloom this year based on what I had read about its normal blooming time, so I had been reducing the water it received over the last few weeks to prepare for dormancy. As I was watering yesterday, I found a small spike emanating from the bottom of the pseudobulb. I'm excited that it is going to bloom, but was surprised about the timing. Reading this thread, I saw that @Jmoney also had a spike emerge on an invanae in late December, so maybe this is not so odd after all.

What is the plan here in terms of watering? Do I continue reducing water to move the plant toward dormancy or go back to heavier watering until blooming it complete?

Interested to hear the experiences of the folks on this thread who are all at least one year ahead of me in growing this plant :)

Continue reducing water!

pretend the spike isn't there and let the leaves tell you how and when to reduce watering. if the bulbs start to shrivel a bit then a little water.

personally I find the younger plants don't do well with pure winter drought under my conditions, having lost a couple last year.

Thanks so much to you both for sharing your knowledge on this matter. That was my intuition, but it is nice to have it confirmed.

I'm really enjoying growing plants in the Catasetum group and don't want to mess it up.