SVO

[katsucats]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Hey, maybe you got two plants! (But I got 2 tags on that one also, so guess they stuck together. I have 1 active growth, but also a beginning spike...)

Yeah, I've gotten two tags before as well. I was just saying in jest.

I tested the plants yesterday and predictably, none of them were positive. So far they're the only vendor I've bought more than 5 plants from with a totally clean record (no virus or fungal infections). That's gotta be worthy of mention.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by katsucats

I tested the plants yesterday and predictably, none of them were positive. So far they're the only vendor I've bought more than 5 plants from with a totally clean record (no virus or fungal infections). That's gotta be worthy of mention.

Fred Clarke runs a very clean operation. One thing that helps... the plants don't come from anyplace else... essentially everything that SVO sells is from their own breeding - from their own stud plants to seeds to new crosses. Occasionally something very special will be mericloned (Fdk. After Dark 'Black Pearl' once or twice), or large plants divided, still from SVO stock. So there's not the uncertainty of potentially bringing in virus or other ills from outside.

[estación seca]

They're seedlings, grown in large greenhouses filled with seedlings. No opportunity for becoming infected.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by estación seca

They're seedlings, grown in large greenhouses filled with seedlings. No opportunity for becoming infected.

There are larger plants too. (I have spent some time in those greenhouses... left a fair amount of cash behind...) But it IS something of a closed system - certainly new plants (obtained for breeding purposes) are acquired, but of course those get tested.

[katsucats]

They do have larger plants. I bought Encyclia baculus and Iwan. Appleblossom divisions from him and both tested negative. For the size of those plants and under 50, best value.

[avian]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Nice! What I do with those root machines that are climbing out of the pot, when it isn't the right time to pot (not rooting) is to cut the pot on one side (carefully, since you don't want to accidentally cut good roots), open up the pot a bit (clip the bottom too), and drop the whole thing into a larger pot. That way, roots have a chance to escape into the new pot without disturbing them. There is no need to remove medium, since the bark that they are in is very good. Or, even leave the pot intact, drop the whole thing into a larger pot, or basket - the new growth will climb over the side into the new medium.

They are currently in 3" pots so I'm assuming I should drop those into 4" pots. I wanted to get some repotme pots but I don't think the square pots will fit into the clear round repotme ones or will they. If I just drop the whole thing into larger pots when do I actually remove them from the smaller ones and transplant into the larger ones or do I just leave them double potted? I've repotted two previous Cattleyas I got from SVO and only used a little bit of the medium that was in the original pots but that's because I had knocked those plants over and most of the medium had fallen out. I initially tried to put them back into the 3" pots but I couldn't get them to fit without "squishing" the roots so put them into slightly larger pots. Those two were very slow showing any new growth compared to the other SVO Cattleyas I have.

Would you think it's better to drop the entire pot into a larger one or use the pot clipping method you described?

---------- Post added at 04:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:47 PM ----------

Originally Posted by realoldbeachbum

Leafmite: I received these beautiful plants from SVO yesterday. They were in excellent condition. Fat, fat pbulbs. I will only order from SVO in the future!

Two - Pot. Martha's Sunburst
One - Pot. Little Circle
One - Paph Hsinying Majakum

Those look very nice.
Why do you number your orchids?

[farley101]

Originally Posted by avian

They are currently in 3" pots so I'm assuming I should drop those into 4" pots. I wanted to get some repotme pots but I don't think the square pots will fit into the clear round repotme ones or will they. If I just drop the whole thing into larger pots when do I actually remove them from the smaller ones and transplant into the larger ones or do I just leave them double potted? I've repotted two previous Cattleyas I got from SVO and only used a little bit of the medium that was in the original pots but that's because I had knocked those plants over and most of the medium had fallen out. I initially tried to put them back into the 3" pots but I couldn't get them to fit without "squishing" the roots so put them into slightly larger pots. Those two were very slow showing any new growth compared to the other SVO Cattleyas I have.

Would you think it's better to drop the entire pot into a larger one or use the pot clipping method you described?[COLOR="Silver"]

I have repotted several from the 3" square to 4" round pots. They are pretty easy to pop out of the pot and drop into a bigger one. As Roberta mentioned, the medium in the pots is still pretty good so I try to leave as much in place and fill in around the square edges the best I can. I may trim some of the roots if they are dried and broken, but usually just get them in the medium.

I haven't seen my plants in 2 weeks but they were growing like crazy when I left.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by avian

They are currently in 3" pots so I'm assuming I should drop those into 4" pots. I wanted to get some repotme pots but I don't think the square pots will fit into the clear round repotme ones or will they. If I just drop the whole thing into larger pots when do I actually remove them from the smaller ones and transplant into the larger ones or do I just leave them double potted? I've repotted two previous Cattleyas I got from SVO and only used a little bit of the medium that was in the original pots but that's because I had knocked those plants over and most of the medium had fallen out. I initially tried to put them back into the 3" pots but I couldn't get them to fit without "squishing" the roots so put them into slightly larger pots. Those two were very slow showing any new growth compared to the other SVO Cattleyas I have.

Would you think it's better to drop the entire pot into a larger one or use the pot clipping method you described?

If it isn't the correct time to pot (new roots just emerging) I don't want to do anything that might harm those existing roots. When they are growing out of the drainage holes, and/or are stuck to the inside of the pot, it is pretty impossible to remove the plant without breaking roots. So I look at what the plant is going to do in the future - which is eventually to climb out of the pot. So rather than risk setting it back and damaging those existing roots, I just want to give it some room to grow once it escapes. That's not much different than what Santa Barbara Orchid Estate does with Catts... they have good humidity, so they don't even bother with medium once the plant gets to a good size (like these) - they just drop the whole thing into a pot that give maybe 1/2 inch to an inch air space in front of the plant. That space seems to hold humidity, and the plant doesn't miss the medium at all. I prefer to use some large bark - helps hold the spacing between the pots, and keeps a little more moisture. The extra pot also helps keep the whole thing from tipping over.

But then, I have found that my Catts do best with a bit of benign neglect. They grow best when they escape from the confines of the pot, so I just let them go.

Was the question about numbering plants addressed to me or to realoldbeachbum?