Growing Catts in cork
 

Hi everyone.

I purchased an orchid growing book and it had awesome pictures of catts growing in old wine corks only. Has anyone ever done this? do you recommend? why or why not?

Yep, it works great. I only grow my Catts that need to dry really quickly in straight cork (eg. amethestyoglossas). Most of my Catts are grown with wine corks in the bottom half of the pot with large bark in the top half. Its a good 'in between' way to grow your Catts. Its not quite mounted and its not traditionally potted and works great for me!

thanks for your reply!!! :)

You can purchase cork chunks at repotme.com. I use a couple different potting mediums from them that contain the cork chunks and my 'chids love it. All of their 'imperial' blends contain cork. You should check them out.

Thanks Becca. A lot of my $$ has gone to repotme. They are excellent though.


I guess the reason I'm asking is because I have about 8 catts potted in lava rock, and although they seem to be growing, they aren't doing much of anything else. I dunno what I'm doing wrong--if anything. I mean, I can tell they are growing lots of roots and some have new leaves, but not much else. I don't give them too much light, they are not wet because they are potted in lava rock, so I dunno. THey are in my front porch, which is slightly shaded but HOT. I moved one more forward and it got sunburned, so I placed them slightly out of the sun.

Maybe they should be wetter. I water them about once a week.

Give the Imperial Cattleya Mix a try, I don't think you will be disappointed! My phals love imperial phal mix and I am just now trying the imperial dendrobium mix and am getting ready to try the imperial phrag mix. That is how much I like it!

Hmmm....If your Catts are growing well in lava rock then I dont know that you should change your media in order to make them bloom. The media is not the problem. The most common reason for a lack of blooms is not enough light. If you are going to introduce them to higher light level, you have to do it slowly. Orchids are like pale skinned people. If a pale person is stuck in the Miami sun for very long they get burnt! You have slowly allow your pale person/orchid to get used to more and more sun over time. In all honesty, I dont see you getting any more value out of cork that lava rock. In fact, lava rock will never rot! Could you post some pics of your plants? It might help!

I agree with Steve. Cork is not the magic bullet. Do they get any sun? Disturbing something that is growing roots and producing new growth will probably set the plant back.

Giving them more light might produce sheaths but the other thing to consider, catts have a bloom time and it might not be the time for them to bloom.

I would also consider watering them more often than once a week. Miami + high temps = lots of water During the summer my catts in a basket/lava rock in the g/h get watered daily. Your watering will decrease when your "winter" (LOL) arrives.

Brooke

thanks everyone. I will try and upload pics today. I'm totally technology un-savvy.

in agreement about summer here-it's still damnably hot for november!! :)

I agree with the others, your Catt's need more light but need to be introduced slowly to the brighter light, like small intervals. I am not an expert at this since I grow under lights, does any one have any recommendations for what type of time increments to use as a gradual increase? An hour, couple hours, few hours, perhaps less then an hour to start? I guess you could just do it on days when you are home and check the leaves to feel when they are starting to get warm to the touch.

Im actually a big fan of putting the plants under a tree or some bushes and moving them slowly 'into the light.' I dont know how observant you are, but if you know how the sun tracks across your yard throughout the year, you can put your plants in an area with increasing sunlight as the seasons change. That could be kind of a pain in the rear though! I think using existing cover to provide a 'dappled' sunlight effect would be the easiest way to move them into brighter conditions. Doing this now is the best time of year because the sun is getting progressively weaker as we approach winter. Hopefully by next summer your plants should have a nice red/purple sheen across their leaves and they will be well adapted to life in the sun! :goodluck:

P.S. Remember to keep an eye on them because burning can happen pretty quickly, as in a matter of hours. Just like pale people!

I'm going to go ahead and do this. I will try and upload some pics today also.

How much fertilizer do you recommend? I use MSU 1/4 tsp per gallon x 3 weeks and the 4th I flush.

Im not sure what the recommended feeding is with the MSU formula. However, now that winter is coming, I would back off on the fertilizing until you see spring growth popping up. I stop all fertilizing around now until spring. Just a personal preference.

Ok. I will definitely do this. Thank you very much for all of your advice. :) :)

Hi guys.

I'm sorry I took so long in providing the pictures. Here are the cattleyas that I was talking about. They are all on the front porch (pics included) which faces east, I think. Any suggestions or comments are welcome. Thanks for the help!!

Here's the link: peeweelovesbooks - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Hi there!
I mount everything I can on Cork, as she dries well. And the roots Love it!! Going in every nook and crany!
And all my Catts in my Chid Hotel outside, are in Lava rock. I water everything daily, except in this yucky FL cold!
The pics are my link below!