Catt amethystoglossa fail

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by trdyl

Steve,

Thanks for posting this. I just put an C. amethystoglossa in SH a little over a week ago. I'll be sure to keep a watchful eye out now.

I hope you have better luck! I'm curious to see if the species doesn't like the method or if I messed up somehow. I suspect the latter.

Be sure to post pics and updates on this! Actually, I'd love it if you posted a picture of your setup here. I'm always curious how other people grow their 'chids.

[tucker85]

My C. amethystoglossa has grown well in a clay pot with the same type of LECA that's in your picture and a little tree fern fiber mixed in. Mine has a good root system and just finished blooming. It's not in S/H but it seems that S/H would work since amethystoglossa likes a lot of moisture. I find that bifoliate cattleyas can be very temperamental, even when you're careful about timing your repotting. Good luck.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by tucker85

It's not in S/H but it seems that S/H would work since amethystoglossa likes a lot of moisture.

That was my thinking, that they should like a lot of water while growing. This is a species that tends to put out a growth and then throw roots as the growth is maturing or is pretty close. I wonder if I should have let the media dry out when the roots were growing? But then they wouldn't be adapted to the wet conditions...... oh well. I'll let others give it a try with this species. I still have two Cattleya types in s/h as rescues and they are doing pretty well so far.

[gerneveyn]

I've had this happen to me with catts and other orchids. I prefer S/H so what I do is put the new roots closer to the top of the reservoir either in the same pot or make a container with a deeper reservoir. From the pic, you've got a good 2-3 inches between the reservoir and those new roots. I would pull out the plant, take out the media so that those new roots are within an inch of the reservoir, and pot it back up. After the roots grow longer, then you can raise the plant higher above the reservoir. I usually wait until the plant is really thriving in the shallower set up with several long roots before I raise it.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by gerneveyn

I've had this happen to me with catts and other orchids. I prefer S/H so what I do is put the new roots closer to the top of the reservoir either in the same pot or make a container with a deeper reservoir. From the pic, you've got a good 2-3 inches between the reservoir and those new roots. I would pull out the plant, take out the media so that those new roots are within an inch of the reservoir, and pot it back up. After the roots grow longer, then you can raise the plant higher above the reservoir. I usually wait until the plant is really thriving in the shallower set up with several long roots before I raise it.

That's an interesting way to do it. I think the problem was it was too wet for the roots though. The clay was soaking wet all the to the surface, despite its distance from the well, so I'm not sure that putting the roots closer to the well would work better. What do you think?

[gerneveyn]

When you put it in S/H, you left all of the actively growing roots. The longer, older roots didn't adjust and died, but you have new roots which will adjust. The reason I lower mine is because the short roots don't get enough water at 2-3 inches from the top of the reservoir, which I usually leave at about an 1.25 inches. If that were my plant, I would wait to see if the roots grew deeper into the media before giving up on S/H.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by gerneveyn

but you have new roots which will adjust

Ya, that was the problem. The new roots never adjusted and rejected the media over the course of 3 separate growths!

I do have a project in mind with one half of the C. leopoldii which also rejected the s/h.....

[ALToronto]

I've been following this thread with interest. I have four non-rescue catts in s/h, and they seem to be doing ok so far (but way too soon to know for sure) - in the 2 months since I transplanted them, they've all grown new roots into the medium, and two are putting out new growths.

However, I'm keeping the medium on the dry side, flushing maybe once a week. I alternate fertilizer solution and pure water. So I'm not sure if what I'm doing even qualifies as s/h - maybe just using LECA as a medium?

My catt rescues in s/h are doing mostly ok, but it seems like the smaller and more desperate the rescue, the better it does (nothing to lose, I guess). Ones that would've survived in more conventional media are not doing too well.

I'm still not sold on s/h for catts.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by ALToronto

My catt rescues in s/h are doing mostly ok, but it seems like the smaller and more desperate the rescue, the better it does (nothing to lose, I guess). Ones that would've survived in more conventional media are not doing too well.

I'm still not sold on s/h for catts.

Yep, rescues do really well in s/h! My 2 rescues (I think I mentioned this before) are both doing pretty well.

I've also seen pics of finicky Catt species doing really well in s/h, so I know some are doing it right. For example, I'm a member of a group on flicker that is dedicated to growing 'chid in s/h and there are some really nice looking plants there! Check it out: Flickr: The Orchids in semi hydro s/h Pool

You'll notice my Catt walkeriana in that set that exploded with growth one summer. It was in a shallow pot and was in 100+ degree weather without break for over 40 days and LOVED it! I watered it (and all the 'chids I had outside) 2x per day and they grew like mad (the walkeriana put on 6 new bulbs that summer in 2 separates flushes of growth!). Anyway, the C. walkeriana had a shallow water well and it would evaporate between waterings, so I think that might be the key with some of these hot, dry loving Catts.

I mentioned in a previous post that I will be doing an experiment with half of the Catt. leopoldii that I pulled the s/h plug on, along with the amethystoglossa. I'm gonna put the 6 backbubls outside this summer in a s/h pot, but I'm going to have the pot be fairly shallow and place the drainage hole fairly low so that it will need to be refilled each day. I'll see if this works. If the plant croaks, no worries because I have the front half in coir. Maybe a shallower well is the key with some of the warmer growing Catts that like to dry out? I dunno. We'll see.

---------- Post added at 09:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:30 PM ----------

Oh, I forgot to mention the C. walkeriana outgrew the pot, so I repotted it in a larger pot (with s/h style potting) and I gave it a deeper water well. Needless to say, I had to rescue it with coir and this is one plant that I think is truly worthy of an AM/AOS or even an FCC (its my avatar here on OB), so rescuing that plant was REALLY important to me! Luckily it put out a new growth and roots last fall and it has 2 new growths coming in, so it has stabilized. Frustrating though.

[DTEguy]

What is the name of the LECA that you are using?