Repot new Catasetinae seedlings now?

[estación seca]

Just yesterday I got 3 Catasetinae from Fred Clarke of Sunset Valley Orchids:
8190 Cl. Rebecca Northen
JH 38 (Cyc. warscewiczii 'Leo' AM/AOS x Cycd. Freckled Sweetheart 'Samantha' AM/AOS)
8108 Ctsm. Karen Armstrong



The moss was moist and looks like it has been watered for some time this season. I was able to slip the Rebecca out of its pot but not the others. There is only a small amount of moss above the foam packing peanuts in the pots.



My question: Is it reasonable to pot these up by settling the root balls as undisturbed as possible into new media? I would try to use the reservoir PET bottle method described on isurus79's YouTube site.

[isurus79]

Personally, I would leave them in their current pots and move them over next winter/spring.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Steve. What about if we are really bad with sphagnum? I am not wanting to repot but I am scared I’ll kill one in a year of sphag!!!

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by estación seca

My question: Is it reasonable to pot these up by settling the root balls as undisturbed as possible into new media?

ES - it is reasonable to do that - especially when your approach involves minimal disturbance to the rootball.

Even though I wouldn't do it for your plants (but would do it for one of my own plants) - I wouldn't be afraid of disturbing the rootball. For a hybrid (Fdk) last season, I removed every bit of sphagnum from one of my plants, and potted it into scoria. This was right in the middle of a growing season. It kept growing very nicely.

The thing here is - I only did it for one plant. Safer that way heheh ----- for testing that is.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

Steve. What about if we are really bad with sphagnum? I am not wanting to repot but I am scared I’ll kill one in a year of sphag!!!

I bet you could just put it into a net pot (or basket?) of the same size and be ok! Even a clay pot of the same size with styrofoam peanuts left in the bottom should be ok in Florida.

[estación seca]

I wrote to Fred Clarke at SVO. His response is:

Yes watering has started. It is important to not disturb the roots at this time, you can add more moss around the existing and slip to a 3.5” pot. Clay pots work well.

I'm going to do this with the ones I can get out of the pots without root damage, and move them to the reservoir bottles next spring. If I use clay rather than plastic I'll probably need to stand them in shallow dishes of water. With work I can't look at them every day.

[Dorchid]

Fred also said to let the media almost dry out between watering at this size and that it could be increased to every 3rd day in a month or so. Considering that, you may not want to set them in water just yet.

[DirtyCoconuts]

I’m gonna have to bother Fred too

My issue is complicated by the fact that I grow my catasetum exposed to the elements and I fear the inundation they will get will be too much, even in a clay pot.

I think I’ll maybe slide them out of the plastic and just put rocks around it to get max aeration inside a 4” clay pot

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

I think I’ll maybe slide them out of the plastic and just put rocks around it to get max aeration inside a 4” clay pot

Sounds like a good idea to me!

[estación seca]

I don't have a 3.5" / 9cm clay pot. This is a 4.5" azalea pot (lower than a standard pot.) I put one layer of LECA on the bottom. I wrapped barely moist sphagnum around the undisturbed root ball and stuffed it into the pot. Now it goes in front of the evaporative cooler in the sunroom.

The lower leaves arrived yellow. I sprayed it with dish soap solution to kill any spider mites on arrival. The chance of arriving from a reputable grower with spider mites is minimal, but I don't want to take risks with such a small plant. Any time I see a Catasetinae with yellowing leaves, and it's not time to go dormant, I spray with dish soap solution or 70% alcohol.