10 Catts

[love2cee]

I purchased 10 bare root cattleya and received them today in the mail. Its 8pm so I cant plant them tonight, my question is can I plant them in spragh(?) or should I plant them in medium bark. They are babies, maybe 3 inches tall so they are real fragile (at least to me, kinda like holding a premie baby). Do I plant them separatly since they are all babies or together because they need each other? I had planned on having them live outside, so I know how to summer them, how do I "winter" them? Please HELP!!!!! Thank you all.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

You should pot each separately in a 2 to 2.5 inch diameter pot, each with a tag saying what name or cross it is. Use smallish bark. The best would be to keep the plants indoors for a while under a compact flouescent light. When they are a little larger, maybe next year, you can put them out. They need to get established first, and they are so small that a muching rodent, hungry snail, or other mishap wouldn't leave much left. These are short enough a tray of wet gravel should work to give them humidity, but don't let the pots sit in water. Cynthia, Prescott, AZ

[jerrymeola]

It is growing season and young cats do extremely well.

In Hawaii they can take these 'plug tray' cattleyas and bring them to flower in two years. I have had some that I have gotten to flower here in Florida in just one year (only certain species).

2 1/2 inch pots are commonly used but many growers pot directly into 3 1/2 to 4 inch pots. These take longer to flower but produce larger plants faster. I do some of each size.

If you can get some SuperThrive it works great on these plants.