Curiosity

[john lapointe]

Good morning, I'm unsure where to post this, could be a beginners question. My question concerns dormancy, when receiving a plant from the southern hemisphere. how do I treat a plant that is just breaking dormancy in the southern hemisphere, shipped to northern hemisphere where the plants will be going into dormancy soon. Just received a Cynoches peruvianum, searched long for it and have no wish to hasten it's demise.

[Roberta]

Ah, now we know what it is... For the Catasetinae, I think just let it do what it is going to do. If putting out new growth, water and feed. It needs to build the energy to get it through the next dormancy whenever it decides to do it. If it loses leaves next spring or summer, cut back the watering but not completely dry (especially if it is hot)... I have had the situation where I got a South American-grown plant in this group be dormant when it should have been waking up, it sat there through the summer and following winter dormant, and then started growing normally. So let the plant tell you what it wants... it will probably take a full year or year and a half to completely adapt, but it should be fine in the meantime doing its thing out of season.

[Leafmite]

If it is breaking dormancy, growing it under lights and giving it 'longer days' as well as keeping it warm can be helpful. Plants take their cues by either temperature or light and can usually be fooled by adjusting these cues. Even so, it is never good to shut down the new growth of an orchid when it is just ending dormancy as it is using up its energy to start growth and will need to store more energy for the next bout.

Good luck!

[Roberta]

It sounds like this plant already thinks it is summer and is in full growth It is going to be indoors all winter anyway, put it with the "general population" until it shows signs of dormancy. This year it may skip dormancy altogether (since about the time that it would be thinking about going dormant it will be getting "spring, time to wake up" cues from the lengthening days. That is OK. In the process of flipping seasons, it will have one 18 month period where it's going to be off one way or the other. Then it will straighten out. Don't try to force it either way.