Catasetum tabulare - early watering.

[orchidsarefun]

Anyone who grows these knows these are amongst the last species to lose their leaves. Mine still has 2 sad looking leaves. I started a 1x per week watering regime. No new growth and the older bulbs still look shriveled. This is the final experiment - watering despite no obvious signs of growth and prior to full dormancy.



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[WhiteRabbit]

I don't grow these types - but am interested to see what transpires!

[orchidsarefun]

The plant still has 2 ( dying ) leaves but a new growth has started. This is about 6-8 weeks earlier than last year.
On the one hand earlier growth may mean more spikes and a bigger bulb. On the other I don't know if a shorter dormancy has any negative effect on plant health. However growing indoors with fertilizer, etc is not a replication of its natural environment anyway. Time will tell.



Watering at 1x per week continues.

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[orchidsarefun]

Update.
This appears to be growing a spike on an immature bulb. It bloomed less than 6 months ago and normally bloomed 1x per year.
As with macroglossum, it appears that a benefit of early/continuous watering ( no dry dormancy ) is a speeded up bloom cycle.

[orchidsarefun]

This ultimately went on to have 2 successive spikes. I have kept on watering, basically 1x per week. It still has all it's foliage with no signs of yellowing. It's in a clay pot so it dries out very quickly.
The strange thing I noticed is that an older root started branching. 3 green tips have emerged. Hopefully the photo shows them. This appears to be waking up before it's gone to sleep! If air roots are branching, then the roots in the pot should be too. It may be one of those catasetums that don't really need a rest period? Similar to pileatum? That is also in full leaf.

[jcec1]

This is a really interesting study, I do let my Catasetum types dry out for winter, but I do water the new growth much earlier than recommended.

I also have two small seedlings that started new growth in December, so I didn't stop watering them, now they have an old growth with leaves and a new growth as well, they are in clear pots and there has been no root rot.

So who knows what is the "correct" regime for them.

[orchidsarefun]

The pay off for this were the 2 spikes. And the plant is not that large. However with others, like Fdk., I have an overwintering space problem. I can only place them outdoors in late May and they take up too much space indoors from October - May. The days of large plants are over for me.

[orchidsarefun]

Update
This year the plant has already bloomed 1x , 2nd spike will bloom - 12 buds - in the next 3 weeks and a 3rd spike has just started.

Early and consistent watering has obviously paid off in obtaining 3 spikes in a single growing season. I didn't repot and the plant looks messy...dead bulbs. I'll probably repot early next year. Roots are still growing and branching above the media.

[orchidsarefun]

Photos. I've added a layer of sphagnum as my indoor humidity is low - around 50%.

[isurus79]

Looks great! I'm curious to see this year's root growth when you repot. To me, that will tell us if early watering was successful.