Need help with rootless c.nobilior

[Autumn Child]

I have just rescently bought a c.nobilior online and it came with almost no roots. I asked the grower about why they send me a rootless nobilior and they said that they have just repotted it and they have to cut all the roots into short stubs to save the plants energy so that it will grow new roots faster. They advised me to keep the plant cool and just spray once a day. I have been doing that for two weeks now and no newroot growth. furthermore, It shows sign of desication on its leaves, but the lead pseudobulb is not wrinkled yet. What should I do to promote root growth? I heard that spraying at night might help.

[tucker85]

I went to a repotting class one day where the demostrator cut every root off a Cattleya before repotting. I have had Catts with root rot where I cut most of the roots off and the plant survived. It takes a long time to get new roots and they may not even start until springtime. I have heard that it's best to leave them unpotted with some humidity (humidity tray or misting) until you see the first root start to emerge. Then pot it. I haven't done this myself so hopefully someone with personal experience will post.

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[RobS]

Although severe root pruning doesn't neccesarily harm a plant I don't see how it would save the plants energy. Personally with Cattleya's and relatives I completly remove the bad (soft) roots and cut back the really long ones untill they nicely fit in the new pot.

If I remember correctly C. nobilor is the not the easiest to grow an reastablish. Do you have a greenhouse it should be easier due to higher humidity although take care that the plant doesn't stay wet. Is the plant imported from South America or a seedling?

[Autumn Child]

Thank you for your advice.

I don't have a green house, but keeping humidity high is not a problem since Shanghai is quite humid even during the winter time. The plant is not an import from brazil. Its c.nobilior "perfection" x "brilliant" seedling, good parent breed and potentially produce lots of large flowers.

I also have three other nobiliors, all of them are doing fine, they came with good roots and i grow them s/h. C.walkeriana and one of the nobilior seedling are responding really well to my growing methods.

The rootless one is also planted in s/h setup with added support since the plant cannot hold itself up without the roots. humidity is about 50-70% with the water evaporating from the s/h setup. Light is about 1000-2000 foot candle.

[RobS]

Well then I think you should be fine. Good luck.

[smweaver]

Try to keep it shaded, keep the humidity as high as possible, maintain moderate (not hot) temperatures and don't water it. Although C. nobilior likes lots of light and heat while it's growing, a plant with no roots is going to be stressed by high light and heat. And even though you've got it in a semi-hydroponic set up, I would keep the pot pretty dry; the plant has no roots, so there's nothing for it to absorb water with anyway--other than the leaves, which is why you should try to keep the humidity level high (spritzing them regularly with water that's been laced with a very minute quantity of vitamin B might help also). I would even try to find a large glass cloche bell jar to place over it (or something comparable) in order to increase the humidity and help keep the leaves from becoming any more dehydrated (set the bell jar on top of something like the edge of a pencil or small piece of wood that allows air to get beneath the rim of the jar and reach the plant). And lastly, if I were you, I would not buy another plant from the grower who sent you this one. Rob is correct in that C. nobilior (and bifoliate cattleyas in general) is notoriously hard to re-establish--even when it HAS a full set of roots. Good luck with your plant.

[Autumn Child]

My s/h setup is primarily used to provide the rootless plant with constant humidity. The plant itself is not touching any water or wet leca.

I have used water culture to revive plants, but I have never done it with nobilior. I have successfully revived phals, oncidium and dendrobium. I have also read somewhere in this forum that catt can be grown with water culture. I know that c.walkeriana definitely can be revived with water culture since one of my walkeriana is growing roots into the water reservoir of my s/h setup. Even tough one of my nobilior is doing well and growing roots like crazy, it seems to be reluctant in growing roots into the water reservoir. It grows in the wet zone and grows sideway instead of growing deeper. Anyone have experience with water culture for nobilior?