spin off of another thread- Catt sheaths & repotting

[exasperatus2002]

I didnt want to hijack anothers thread so here I go with my situation/question--

---From jerrymeola, To Kid A

You have a couple of issues.

That is a great number of sheats and you may have an outstanding bloom. Part of it is because you let it go so long without a re-pot.

This is also the problem since re-potting a greatly overgrown Cattleya is a guessing game.

You can move it to a larger pot and leave the entire root ball as is. This works well many times and can give good results for a couple of years.

I find that this technique eventually causes the middle of the plant to die while new growth goes around the outside. At that point the best solution is to divide the plant and start from smaller pieces. This is not fast and can take a couple of years.

You can try to remove the medium and separate the roots, but often this is impossible and it can easily disturb the flowering.

I would leave it until the flowers bloom. It should be great. Then when you see new roots starting re-pot the plant. Try to remove the old medium and loosen the roots and if you can not loosen the roots, then decide if you want to leave the roots and just move it to a larger pot or if you want to divide it now.

Like I said the issue is not serious now and you have a couple of years before you may have to divide it. I had one last 6 years this way, that my wife did not want to divide. Six years was too long, we lost it. ------

I have a Guaranthe aurantiaca which has 15 pb's of which 4 have green sheaths & 2 have old failed sheaths from before I had it. Theres also 1 pod, 1 old spike and 5 pb's that are short and the oldest pbs from when I first bought it with out sheaths. Theres also 2 new pbs at this time. The pod is from the 3rd time it bloomed for me. The other sheaths have not produced for me yet or shown signs of blooming. So far it seems to bloom from only the oldest growth. Is this normal or could it be in need of a repot like it was suggested in the thread quoted above? Should all of the sheaths have produced blooms?

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[kmarch]

One important bit of info is missing: When was it last repotted? For cattleya alliance plants I like to repot every 2 years if using a bark mix.

I disagree with Jerry that dividing is necessary for the long term survival of the plant (if I read his comments right). Dividing is not necessary. If you condinue to repot and pot us as needed, you could theoretically let it go forever without dividing.

[jerrymeola]

If you re-pot every two years as kmarch you can probably go forever. It is when it gets too pot bound from lack of re-potting that the center roots can strangle each other. The photo in the original thread looked like it could raise these problems

Your plant does not look like it falls into this category. The plant if anything does not look pot bound. Especially since you said it is the older sheats that are flowering. New pseudobulbs have to reach full growth before flowering.

Your plant is growing normally. Eventually the new growth will reach flowering size.

You should get on a regular re-potting schedule. Every two years is adequate. This plant looks like the medium may wash right off. All you would need to do is separate the roots that are growing into each other and remove any old dead roots, then re-pot.

On a plant that is starting to intertwine roots, go to the bottom and remove any styro most growers use in Cattleya. Then wiggle your fingers in the center bottom and the medium will start to fall out. If you try to start on the sides, you can break roots. Eventually you will be able to loosen the sides by gently squeezing the plant, the medium will start to fall off from the sides through the middle. Do not worry about any roots that break off in the middle. The plant is done with them anyway.

[exasperatus2002]

Its been 2-3 years since last repot. I know it needs it since most of the growth is out on the side of the pot and with it being a plastic pot, its prone to tipping over easily.

[kid a]

Good luck! Yours looks less overgrown than mine, mine is undoubtedly way to overgrown.

[patticake]

If you want to wait to re-pot until after your pod is harvested, you can put the plastic pot inside a heavy ceramic pot. It will stabilize it so it won't tip.