Theres hope...

[exasperatus2002]

Ok as I posted previously, after my Slc. Chia Lin 'New City' AM/AOS had its spike broke off by my cat, socks, I had to repot it because it was overgrowing the pot. When I did, I found it also had root rot' I trimmed off all the dead roots, washed off what was left and repotted it. I was sparingly watering it for the first few weeks then restored by normal practices. At this point All the PB's are heavily wrinkled (no doubt from the lack of roots to absorb water). Well Ive been holding onto hope that it'd pull thru since there hasnt been much sign of improvement in the wrinkles. Its only lost one leaf. Tonight I went to check on its moisture level (skewer method) and I found not one but two signs of life! Can you say Pseudobulbs! I can now.

bad roots-



Good sign- (the other is in the middle of the pot, couldnt get a shot)

[Debbie Hayden]

Sounds like your cat, in a sense, saved your catt.

[Leathal]

I think I am going to have to do the same thing with my catt. I do see a new root starting, but, I'm afraid if I leave it (wrinkled leaves and all) It will eventually die. It has shot some aerial roots and I try to mist them, but no improvement in the leaves

[patticake]

Yay! Congratulations on the new growth!

[jerrymeola]

Let's use this as an example of Cattleya care.

I am not surprised at the root rot. A famous grower, whose name I have forgotten, said all Cattleya rot - if the plant grows faster than the rot it lives and if the rot grows faster it dies. It is rare that I re-pot a Cattleya without some bad roots.

It is a coincidence that your plant is Chia Lin, since a customer of mine brought back a Chia Lin they had bought in bud in January. After the flower died so did the plant. I had not trimmed enough roots when re-potting and rot was faster than the plant. (needless to say I gave credit for the plant).

It is my belief that old roots do not do much for the plant. Cattleya grow new roots with each new pseudo-bulb and the oldest roots are a source of problems over time. They seem to only support the old non-growing bulbs. I also remove many old pseudo-bulbs, but that is a different discussion.

There was another thread where a forum member cut all the roots except the new growing roots from a Cattleya and most everyone panicked. I do this quite often, because I do not want plants dying on my customers. Six months on the bench and they are excellent plants again. If one occasionally dies on me so much better than a customer. I lose less Cattleya cutting the roots than when I try to save too many roots. Usually they still flower on their regular schedule.

These flowers were 7 inches, very fragrant and felt like velvet to the touch. They usually flower for me from December to March.

[mbasden]

Jerry you are right because I too have had to trim back a few plants to get rid of the old roots. It may take awhile but they do grow back since a cattelaya is monopodial (sp?) and that is the nature of this type of plant.