Question about Catasetum dormancy
 

Hello everyone,
Today I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Fredclarkeara After Dark 'SVO Black Pearl'. It's a large, robust plant, as Catasetinae tend to be. This one in particular has a large, not-quite-mature new growth. This is great, but it's February in Upstate NY. I know these plants need a dormant period, because I have 2 already that have been dormant since about Thanksgiving. My other 2 Catasetinae flourish in our hot, humid summers, but I don't know what to do with my new FDK. After Dark. Do I keep it growing right up until next October without dormancy? Or do I try to force it into a brief dormancy around April, then wake it up in June? I'd like to get it on the same growth cycle as my other 2 Catasetum

I hope someone chimes in on this one. I just got my first catasetum (dormant) and I'm trying to learn as much as I can.

I don't have experience with plants looking like that during the winter. I have read posts on old threads mentioning people in Hawaii growing these plants warm all year, and the plants not needing a dormancy if grown this way. I can't remember exactly in which threads I read this. I would suggest you use the search function in the maroon top menu and try to find these threads here.

Even in a warm climate, they need at least a short dry dormant period. I think I might be able to keep it in a long growth cycle then let it go dormant sometime in October, which would be a relatively normal time to go dormant.