Cattleya Crisis AGAIN!

[sandra]

What am I doing wrong here? My cattleya bloomed beautifully this Spring. (sidenote: I hadn't had it in my possession long enough to kill it when it bloomed...but now's another story. ) After the flowering, I repotted it. I did it primarily because there was a distinctable odor of rot. What I uncovered when I removed all the old media was every single root rotted…every one. (I'm placing blame here on the grower, that something was wrong before I took possession because I made sure this plant was thoroughly dry between waterings.) I cut away all the roots, bathed it in a rooting hormone, sprinkled cinnamon, potted it up in fresh bark media and put it in a shady spot. I didn’t water for over 2 weeks and when I started noticing the eyes on the ps.bulbs, I began its watering regimen (drying thoroughly between watering). It’s now in a sunny spot, I wait for the media to dry, 2 ps.bulbs growing fast with more beginning to put forth growth BUT…..the plant has become shriveled in appearance. It looks dehydrated, the bulbs are wrinkly, the leaves in tact, some looking better than others. Should I be watering this more often at this point? There aren’t any roots to rot by watering it before the media dries and I'm holding off on fertilizing until it starts rooting.

All of my other 10 plus catts are growing and doing nicely so I’m assuming because of the surgery performed on this catt., special attention is required that differs from it’s typical care but what to do, I haven’t a clue. Do I dare mention changing the media to sphag, possibly?

[fred]

sandra sphagnum moss may just be the answer untill you get a good growth of new roots.

that is what I would to get the orchid back.

I hope that helps

[kmarch]

Orchids take in water and nutrients through their roots. If there are no roots on your Cattleya, the plant is not taking in any water, which could be one reason why your plant looks dehydrated even though you are being disciplined in your watering habits. Increased watering at this point won't affect the plant because its mechanism for taking in water is gone. It cold be sitting in water and still not be taking any in.

How are the new growths coming? Growing any new roots yet? Another possibility is that new growths use up nutrients and water so the plant could also become shriveled as the new growth uses energy reserves from the rest of the plant. The solution may be as simple as doing nothing ans allowing the plant time to grow new growths and new roots.

Not being able to actually see how shriveled your pseudobulbs are makes it difficult to assess how dire your situation is. At any rate your plant, being without roots, has suffered a setback and it will require some recovery time. that may mean you loose back growths, pseudobulbs and leaves, it may mean that the new growths are smaller at first until the plant has grown a viable root system. I'm not trying to be pessimistic, just trying to let you know what you might expect.

(As a side note, some of you may have noticed that overwatering and underwatering an orchid produce the same symptoms, namely the appearance of dehydration; the overwatered plant begins to loose roots thus reducing the amount of water the plant takes in; the underwatered plant simply doesn't have enough water available to take in. In both cases the plant takes in less water and therefore looks dehydrated.)

[sandra]

Originally Posted by kmarch

Not being able to actually see how shriveled your pseudobulbs are makes it difficult to assess how dire your situation is.

Well Kevin, a picture's worth a thousand words, they say so here goes. Warning: this is very scary and not meant for the faint at heart....


I just looked a bit further this morning and there are lots of roots growing now. I remember Jerry posting a response about catts and how in Asia, every season after blooming they cut all the roots away and pot up rootless. Who am I to have assumed that was all there was to promoting new and faster growth but that's what I assumed and as well, the roots on this were rotted thru and thru.

Is it advised that I cut the back ps.bulbs or divide it, leaving 3-4 ps.bulbs for each division? Obviously, I won't have what it could have been but if it will restore faster this way, I'd rather have 2 smaller plants with blooming potential in this century.

Sphag?

[kmarch]

The Good News
Your new growth looks good, really quite good in my opinion. Does it seem to be actively growing? Bigger today than last week? If so you're making progress. Also even though they are shriveled, your pseudobulbs do not look dead or rotten to me from what I can tell from the pic.

The Challenge
There are a couple of challenges here:
1) reducing water loss from your plant - your new growth is using up some of the plants energy reserves (pseudobulbs are plump when they're hydrated and contain energy stores) you can't help this, you actually want the new growht to use the stored energy so it can mature and grow new roots. Your plant can also lose water through transpiration (the plant breathing). So I'd recomend you put is somewhere where it can get more humidity (and therefore won't loose moisture to the drier outside air). Can you put a clear plastic baggie over it all, pot and everything, to create a kind of mini-greenhouse effect with higher humidity inside?

2) patience - no need to comment further, the one word says it all.

Couple More Things
1) I would definitely not divide the plant. Think of that new shoot drawing on the rest of the plant for its energy and nutrients. If you cut the plant in half, you've just also cut in half the amount fo energy that new shoot has to draw upon. It's the same as beign on a long road trip and you see you're starting to get low on gas, so.....you immediately siphon off half of your remaining gas? No, don't split the plant up.

2) I know the sphag-n-bag method is popular on the forum but I'm alsways a little concerned about the extra moisture rotting off new growths. You could do a half-way thing whereby you bag the potted plant (as I mentioned above). I'm sure others will have opinions on this. i'd like to hear them as well.

Best of luck!

[Vivienne]

Sandra - I agree with Kevin - that new growth looks really good.

Even though you're in Florida with high humidity, I'd opt for the baggy over the plant option as well, but be certain you're careful with the lighting. Does anyone know if plastic bags amplify light levels (like a magnifying glass does)?

I know you'll get that Catt back to happy and healthy status in no time!

[sandra]

I read your response Kevin and felt re-newed, heard the birds singing again, smelled the flowers in the garden, LOL. Life is good again! Really though, I'm quite pleased, very in fact to feel hopeful again. It's been bothering me terribly.

Humidity is what this plant is getting already and in mega doses. Florida's humidity on a dry summer day is about 85% and probably higher. It's very, very humid here every day in summer Kevin. I'll do the bag method although this plant is huge and will have to hunt for one large enough but I'll do it if you advise after learning about the humidity it's already receiving.

As long as I'm doing everything correctly for this plant, my patience is also in mega doses.

I'm so happy with this news that I think I'll buy the maltissa that I saw yesterday.

Thank you for weighing in on this. It's going to be a good day!

P.S. Yes, the new growth (about 4 now) actively growing and see the difference every day.

[Vivienne]

Sandra - 85% - we wouldn't know what to do here in Colorado. The other day on the news they were going on and on about how the humidity was going to be very high for the next day or two. Yep - they were predicting 50% humidity.

[sandra]

Really Vivienne? You knowing the weather I'm talking about and still think I should get a plastic bag wrapped over this? I could probably use a large garbage bag and keep it out of the sunnier part on the patio.

I'm very happy with all this news!

[sandra]

Vivienne, I spent 26 years in California. The only humidity they know is when they open the dish washer in mid cycle!!!!

Originally Posted by Vivienne

Sandra - 85% - we wouldn't know what to do here in Colorado. The other day on the news they were going on and on about how the humidity was going to be very high for the next day or two. Yep - they were predicting 50% humidity.

[Vivienne]

LOL Sandra - opening the dishwasher in mid-cycle. Too funny.

I know the humidity is high there but has it been windy at all? Could that be robbing any humidity?

At any rate... the happy new growth is a good sign and wonderful news.

[prisana]

Sandra, sorry to hear about another orchid misadventure , it's probably from the nursery. I once bought a mini phal , put in on the table that night. By the next morning, the whole top medium was covered in white mold. I repotted it , but there were no roots..and after an attempt of shooting out 2 new little leaves..the orchid god took him anyways. So now I try to look into the pot after I get home from the store..to see if everything is in order in there....

Your plant shoud be fine...I've had some looking worst than yours and they ended up thriving later. I've heard somewhere that if the plant is too big, you could wrap the bottom with sphag and stick it in a pot instead, but I'm not sure how that will work with your new growth coming out.. I don't think it will like being wrapped up.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I have used sphag&bag very extensively, and new growths don't rot. 85% is not high enough if the plant is going to have to be without roots for more than just a few weeks. Sphag&bag will hold a plant in good condition for a very long time. Now that your plant has roots tho, the time for sphag&bag is over, and the bulbs should start to fill out again a little as the roots start to take in moisture.

[chefatplay]

Sandy, so sorry to hear of your catt catastrophe! It does look as though you have mothered it back to impending health. Good going, you go girl!!! Have a cattini on me!

[sandra]

prisana, that's interesting because I would have thought that the condition of this orchid was in prime shape because I did buy it from a nursery rather than a chain store. I didn't even consider that it was in such bad shape because it was a nursery and also because the buds were days away from blooming then. Wouldn't you think a nursery would be giving the plants the right conditions all along? I have always checked and typically repot all orchids when I get them home, even the ones in spike. They've always continued to bloom, uninterrupted. This practice will now include any from nurseries in the future. Live and learn....

Cynthia, this plants has been rootless for the past 3 1/2 weeks already. It's just recently that this new growth ocurred but I'm going to put a plastic bag over it anyway.

[kmarch]

Thanks for the sphag&bag advice. In the future I won't be so worried about losing new growth to sphag&bag technique. Do you treat with Physan or anythign like that when you sphag&bag?

[sandra]

Although the roots have begun developing, I still want to encourage more rooting and hydration. I put sphag at the bottom of the bag. I'll uncover it by the weekend. Can't hurt at this point, can it?