S/H: Ways to help Catt produce new roots & transition?

[emmajs243]

Let me start by saying...Ray, don't be mad at me if I am freaking too early still!

It has officially been a month since I transitioned my first "test" Catt into s/h and I am worried I have set my plant up for failure and killed it! I know Ray, I know, it's only been a month, things can look bad, and just DONT panic and repot back to bark because this will definitely stress it more!

when I repotted the orchid she had new roots coming out, not many but a few green little tips breaking out. First, I feel like I should have waited for a stronger flourish of new roots to appear.

Second, The act of repotting her was just absolutely horrific due to me just.....oh I can't even say the words. I basically broke off one of the two larger new roots and a pseudobulb....I'm pretty sure I did other damaging things too although I can't remember them....it was bad guys....it was my first repot of a Catt and first repot to s/h and idk....Catt roots are not as flexible as phals and I wasn't expecting it! BUT, it happened and I'm still trying to recover! But now, every time I look at my little s/h plant she just reminds me of all the trauma I caused her!

The tiny little root tips that were once growing strong have now completely stopped growing out, her once plump little pseudobulbs now are getting wrinkles through them, AND she only has one surviving new root that is still actually growing. I feel like when I broke the other longer root and did so much other damage I should have stopped and aborted the s/h attempt with her right then!

So please tell me, is there ANYTHING I can do to help her along or encourage new root growth? I have been using a kelp extract growth stimulant called "Orchid Love" Idk if anyone has heard of it....I found it on Amazon before I knew Ray made his own! Also, I fertilize with the MSU fertilizer and she is on a heat mat constently in the warmest room. She even has a water resistant thermometer sitting on top of her LECA beads with her and she never goes below 70 F. I have zero issues with a "dry line" or really anything. Just wondering if I can do anything to help her pull through this!

I have heard about rooting gels and have highly considered it but I was hoping It wouldn't come to that. Idk. I am a tad weary of them...maybe undeservingly? I just feel like if I was more experienced then I would use them but being new and having zero experience with them, I worry they might do more harm then good due to user error.

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What are your growing conditions? Temperature, light, humidity? How often are you watering? When you water, do you completely fill the container to the brim, then let it drain? Do you ever let the reservoir go dry?

[emmajs243]

Hey thank you ES for responding! I forgot that we don't all actually REALLY know each other sometimes! I feel like I have posted SO much that I worry everyone has my conditions memorized by now! 😉

Temp stays a tad 80-82 F with a slight drop at nighttime but only around 73-75 F. In addition the Catt is on a heat mat.

Let me add she is a seedling that was only in a 2 & 1/2 inch pot. I was hoping the girl would have had an easier transition as a seedling versus a mature plant....Idk if this is true at all but just something i had seen brought up so that's why I chose a seedling plus she WAS putting out new roots.

Humidity is always around 55%-65% for her. Because she is a seedling, I do keep her on lower light (like advised....I think maybe by you! Maybe not? Can't remember!) So although she is in a room with a South and South east facing window she is quite a few feet back so gets good morning light and more indirect light consistently throughout the rest of the day.

The reservoir never runs dry and none of her LECA ever has become dry. No top layer nothin. I have to top off her reservoir about every 3-4 days (I think the heat mat speeds up the evaporation) and she isn't in a huge deli container but more like an oversized SOLO cup. I wasn't sure if "The Dry Line" would cause me issues in the 32 oz container with how small she was.

Every watering I do completely flush the container for a good minute or two. I do a good rinse of all the leca and also do many times of filling the cup to the brim with water and letting it drain quickly.

After I flush the pot thoroughly with water I do a quick flush of my fertilizer mixed with Orchid Love (fertilizer is at 1/6 tsp MSU per gallon...recommended is 1/2 tsp/gal during winter. I was worried on what amount to do in s/h however so kicked it down....maybe too much?). And the orchid Love is at 3/4 strength.

In addition, I do have fans running through all my orchid rooms. Just not directly on the plants but rotating pointed away from them.

About a week after transitioning she started having white mold covering her pseudobulbs and roots. About a week ago i finally flushed her like normal then gave her a quick spritz of half strength physan 20 and let it sit for a few minutes then flushed afterwards. Since then, the mold has disappeared and stopped taking over.

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I wonder whether what you report as mold is rather a mass of scale or mealybug insects. White mold doesn't generally grow on green pseudobulbs. Both of these insects can look like a patch of white mold. Seedlings won't grow at all when these are present. Physan will not likely kill them.

For a seedling I would consider watering every day, until the roots grow into the moist zone. If the roots get too dry for too long, they die.

[emmajs243]

Oh! Very good to know ES! Thank you! I will kick my watering up! I definitely can quite easily and am willing to I just didn't know if less watering would be better then more or what to do! I will kick up her waterings!!

And ya on the mold/whatever substance....that's what I was told too is that it should stay only on dead tissue. It was like a dusting at first like I poofed a cloud of flour above my plant but then kinda continued spreading to a cob webby type appearance even dusting the LECA. I posted photos of it and asked on here worried it might be snow mold because that is the only thing i could find that resembled it but i ended up finding other videos and photos of this "white mold" during the transition period to s/h.

But it did eventually begin to dust the pseudobulbs and green roots and that's when I finally did the physan 20....about ten days ago and have had zero issues since. The seedling next to that hadn't been repotted or anything and was well alive also even started to show the early "dust" signs of this stuff and I just lowered that ones humidity and it quickly disappeared....

It definitely didn't have the "fuzzy" look of mealybugs I know that much. Scale, not too sure I don't think so but, I really am not too experienced of educated on white scale. I would guess since Physan worked it was some sort of mold? Idk, I found it weird if many experience it during the transition to s/h why hasn't it been named it identified officially yet? BUT, there are so many molds and micro organisms im positive it's a much more complicated process then it sounds!

Thank you for the help and advise ES!

[emmajs243]

Ughhhh ES....I think I am losing this girl due to terrible timing on my part and the trauma during repotting. I think you were right that I should have just held off for much stronger root growth. I just didn't know what to expect and she had snails in her pot that I wanted to ensure were gone but I think she is officially dying.

Now her one last new root has also rotted and a pseudobulb has rotted and the leaf has fallen off. So she has zero roots....I feel like I should have aborted the idea a month ago when she still had a root or two alive and I could see the toll it was taking....idk if there is anything I can do to save her at this point or not...

I do have a follow up question. As I was looking at her I found an issue in my brain with s/h....for plants like Catts....they produce a new growth and then new roots form from that growths based to sustain that new growth. When you go to s/h and the old roots all die, how do the rest of the older pseudobulbs really thrive? They don't ever put out new roots again right? Only the new growth? So aren't they just constantly using the resources from those new growths???

---------- Post added at 12:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 PM ----------

I just was still such a worrier at this point in growing. I am amazed how relaxed I've become with all of my Catt finally but ugh I wish I could turn back the clock because now I'm a little worried about trying s:h again and me messing it up!

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It is critically important to wait to move Cattleyas to S/H until new roots are forming.

Most of the old roots will die soon after moving to S/H.

Most Cattleyas only make new roots during one brief period during their growth cycle. Catts that only have one growth cycle per year may only make roots during one single 3-4 week period out of the entire year. This is the only time you can move them to S/H and hope they survive.

If you repot at the wrong time, the plant will need to survive without roots for many months. A large healthy plant in high humidity may survive this treatment, but it will be set back badly.

Some hybrid Catts continue to push new growth as soon as the old growth has matured. Such hybrids may make new growth, and make new roots, 2-4 times per year or more. However, this is not the case for all Catts.

Some orchids can continue growing new roots throughout the year. They can be moved to S/H whenever ambient conditions are suitable for them to grow. Examples of these are most hybrid Phals, and many hybrid Paphs. But most Cattleya alliance plants should only be moved to S/H just as new roots begin.

[emmajs243]

Oh, let me clarify! She had new roots forming. Thats why I moved her. Everyone said, "wait for new roots", I waited for new roots, I got new roots, There just weren't very many new roots.

I too read that many Catts may only produce new roots for about a month out of the entire year so I figured if I waited for warmer weather, she probably wouldn't be growing new roots anymore...I was however worried that maybe she would have stronger root growth later in the year since many kept saying wait for spring because that is when new roots usually really grow strongly versus the few new roots I had growing at the time. I weighed the options but figured I didn't want to miss repotting while having new root tips especially with the snails.

The problem, there were only a couple of new roots...one, I snapped when repotting and still am slapping myself for....the other, smallest one just stopped growing after repotting and the third one was fine and had grown down into the LECA and seemed like it was quite happy...Its position made it very hard to spot once growing into the LECA so I finally had stopped watching the one little root because it seemed so happy...

This week when the leaf fell off and pseudobulb started to rot, I really peered to see the root again and thats when I found it rotted....No idea why. It was a new, white with a bright green little tip, root that had grown down into the LECA and seemed quite happy a week or so ago...I have indeed been watering daily like you suggested in hopes of helping her to start her roots back growing again but she seems to be drastically worsening.

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I don't know what might have happened. I still think it might be due to insect infestation.

[WaterWitchin]

I'm not nearly as cautious as E.S. when it comes to moving over a Catt. Having said that, it appears your experience with the Catt has something else going on other than moving to S/H.