Cattylea repot or not?

[moniluhum]

Roots exploded last two weeks. Do I repot and risk damaging roots or let it be?

[Lorraine]

Perfect time to repot. Make sure to trim off all dead roots . I have found that most repotting is more successful if there is active new growth of roots or new pseudobulbs.

[moniluhum]

Ok. I will. Now what would you recommend more plastic or clay?

[Lorraine]

Originally Posted by moniluhum

Ok. I will. Now what would you recommend more plastic or clay?

I have all my catts in clay pots, mounted or in wood baskets. The roots do better if they dry out between watering. All mine grow outside year round. I use stalite with charcoal and sponge rock for my mix. It drains well and no worries about anything deteriorating in the mix. I don't know where or how your growing area is set up. Plastic will not breath and for me causes more trouble. Growers use plastic due to the light weight for transporting and costs. Most of their plants are seedling or just blooming size and the growing areas are usually specific for them. Hope this helps.

[silken]

I agree that now is the perfect time to re-pot this plant. I grow most of my Cattleyas in clear plastic pots with medium bark and they seem to do well and the roots seem to like the light. I can also see how things are doing in the root zone.

As far as type of pot and media, it all depends what works well for your growing situation.

[WhiteRabbit]

I have Catts in both plastic and clay pots. Both work for me. That said, I usually use bark mix in plastic pots - at least for ones over 4" - and chc in clay pots, unless it's 7" or more ...

Tho sometimes I just use whatever is ready to go...