switching hemispheres with catasetum incurvum
 

i recently came back from the redlands orchid show in florida with 15 plants of catasetum incurvum; 12 i ordered from peru flora, and 3 from a vendor in colombia ( the flowers are slightly different) i purchased 2 plants from peruflora at the WOC in miami in '08 and was captivated by the flowers( i have about 1500 orchids of various genera). the '08 plants were purchased in january and managed some blooms in may. in the 2 years since the plants are still alive, but weaker, and have not bloomed. my new plants are healthy specimens, and the peruvian plants came with leaves which have since turned yellow and i assume the plants are heading into south american dormancy. i have decided to mount the plants on pieces of wood as per arthur holst's THE WORLD OF CATASETUMS recommendation. i need advice as to conditions of light and water while they adapt to my new england greenhouse. should i keep moderate light and water for the next year? i would hate to lose them. thanks

I tend to treat imports pretty much like established plants. As long as they still keep their leaves that is OK: but then most plants that I have imported in the past pretty much kept their leaves until sept-oct at which time it is OK to reduce watering.

Given that you use the mounting technique, using moderate should be OK. You may also find that the plant will throw out new shoots now.

I usually clip the leaves and enforce a short dormancy, and they usually spring another eye in a couple weeks. I think its better to get them on our schedule ASAP - and beyond that - the roots that they have now are virtually worthless. You need to get new roots for them to adapt to your area.

I grow incurvum in a bark mix, and it does fine.

so you would suggest removing the old roots. what about light and water during the transition to our season? i mounted because my wife overwaters everything, and i'm tired of argueing about it. would you apply superthrive or similar to stimulate new roots now?

I actually clip the leaves, and not the roots. Superthrive won't do anything. The roots only come in two flushes at the beginning of the growth season, i've never seen roots emerge later than about 6-8 weeks after the new growth starts. You can mount it if you water that much. I don't.

Just let the plant tell you what it wants to do. If its growing, water it. If its not actively growing, then stop watering it. That's the great thing about highly deciduous orchids. They will let you know what they want. And I would not worry about over watering an actively growing Catasetum. Its almost impossible to do so. When its not growing, however, that's totally different.