Repot this Catt?

[lmartiny]

Here is phase two of my repot questions. I bought this catt at a show about two months ago. The blooms are coming to an end, but there are two more coming out. It is very root bound and top heavy and I'm having some concerns about the roots, watering, etc.













Here is the weed I'd questioned. Not a keiki
but I'm still curious.

[digitalgate]

If you want to see bloom in 3 months time . Don't do anything.
If you want another plant, so that you can have a sense of procreation satisfaction. (Yeh i have another plant for the same price.) you can wait for 6-9 months for another flower sure..

The easiest method and ensure you get a bloom faster put another pot next to the new growth shoot and wait for 4 month for the roots to get establishe. Once the new pseudobulb have growth 7 to eight inches of root in the new pot and firmly grip the new pot. Count the new bulb as number 1. Count 3 more bulb along that line and cut the root of the old bulb (2 bulb would be easier to cut slower to bloom). You will have
back bulb hanging outside the new pot. Personally, there is a way to ensure the old bulb and new bulb stay within the pot and above the pot line. You need someone to show you how to cut and tie. Very difficult for me to write.

I show you a cutting i did yesterday later when the sun is bright for me to take a photo (10 hours from now)

[patticake]

I always re-pot right after I get a plant. If you don't disturb the roots much, it will be fine. If you want to divide, etc., I would wait. The plant has done fine thus far, just make sure you keep up the watering while it's this tight, IF you wait, that is!

[Brooke]

I would repot to get the plant cleaned up. I see lots of hiding places for creepy crawlies to hang out.

The size of the plant and the growth over the edge would suggest to me the media might not be in the best condition unless it is being growing a lava type mix.

Brooke

[FLBob]

I would be looking to repot the plant. My preference would be to keep it as a large plant instead of dividing. I'd put in into a basket and use a large well draining medium. I like a medium of charcoal, aliflor, and bark, where all the bits are quarter sized.
As Brooke pointed out, that plant has been in the pot for a while and if the medium is organic (bark) it is breaking down under the plant.
I think the roots are looking a bit dehydrated.
By keeping the plant together you should have a strong plant that re-blooms consistently.

[jerrymeola]

For the plant to have grown over the side of the pot so much it is clear that it has not been re-potted in a couple of years.

It used to be OK to up size a plant like this or leave it longer in the pot, but the quality of bark now is so poor that it decomposes much faster. What will happen is the bark and roots in the center will rot and eventually the center of the plant will die. It is not unusual for me to find plants a year or two from this condition that have no good roots in the pot and lives totally on the roots outside the pot.

Your plant still looks good so it is a good time to re-pot. Re-potting a plant this size is mostly to remove the old bark. As the bark gets bad new roots will not grow into the area of decomposition.

Two things in your photo indicate this. The only flowers are on the single new growth over the side and the older leaves are starting to curl. A plant this size should have had 3-5 spikes and about 10 flowers. It should have several flowering sections. It indicates to me that the older part of the plant is not getting water. You will find when you remove the pot, that here is no new root growth in that section to bring the water to the plant.

When you re-pot you may find the roots in the old section of pot to look OK or they can be as soft as mush. Either way the plant is capable of growing new roots.

The roots over the side have stopped growing. This is common in a home where you do not have daily watering from a sprinkler system as the plant had for years. If you decide to put them in a pot you have to be careful with watering. The velum on these roots have never seen a pot and need time to adjust. You may decide to wait a few months until new roots are starting.

You may decide to cut the new growth to form a new plant and re-pot the old plant back into a pot about the same size. I often do this size because I believe that the plant begins to grow off balance at this point. It is only growing along that new pseudobulb. For a large specimen plant I want to see growth in 3-4 directions on a plant this size.

There is no urgency on this re-potting. Several months will not make a difference but a couple of years will. Think about it a while before beginning. Decide what you would like to do if the roots in the pot are bad and what to do if rot is minimal. (I never find old Cattleya that have perfect roots). Decide what might make you divide the plant and if division is a possibility do you want a lot of plant or keep most of it as a large plant.

I do hundreds of these size a year and often decide after I remove the pot to change my mind on what to do with it.

Keep in mind that you do not have to complete the re-pot in one day. A plant this size can be left bare root on a work bench for a week or two without damage. If we cut we usually leave them bare rooted for at least two weeks. Then they cauterize the cuts naturally. If not you have to treat to prevent fungal rot at the cuts.

You might consider an 8 inch basket for the re-pot. I am a big fan of the ability of baskets to handle the issue of rotting roots on old plants. You need to decide on what you like for this plant. Baskets can be used in place of pots. They do no have to be hung. You would re-pot into a basket in the same manner as a pot with bark around the roots. Pretend it is a pot and go from there. This will become more common as there is no longer any manufacturer making 10 inch pots.

I recently gave a re-potting seminar and each participant got a Cattleya and the choice of a clay pot, a basket or a mount. 90% of the participants chose the basket or the mount.

Take your time and think what you would like for this plant in two years when you will need to repot again.

[lmartiny]

Thanks for all of the input. I looked at the medium and it is black rocks. (smooth, not porous) Also, it did have several spikes of flowers all over when I bought it. I may have lost them prematurely with the stress of moving it around with the weather we've had the past month. Looks like a basket is the preferred choice. There are not many choices of containers when you have to go to an 8" or 10" size. I am going to wait for now, based on your input. At least while it still has a couple of blooms. I do want to keep it whole, if that is possible when I tackle it. thanks again.

[davetheorchidaddict]

I always repot when I get a new plant because I have lost too many waiting until they finish blooming and the roots are rotted. I mount most of mine so they usually establish themselves rapidly. I just recieved three from Hawaii and then I pulled them out of the pot, the new medium around the plant was holding in a square root bundle from the 2 1/2 inch pot.