Sorry, another 'when to water...?' question!

[Jeff214]

My first growth started its second flush of roots and the spike is starting to grow. I think this may be ready to be watered.

Meanwhile on the other side of the bulb, two new growths started. Roots have just poked out and are clearly not ready to be watered.

Should I hold off watering until the second set of growth is larger? Or do you think it's fine to water now?

[Roberta]

I'd be inclined to start watering. Sometimes I also get a "straggler" growth or two after there is one that is running the show. I go ahead and base my watering/fertilizing on that main growth. The little ones may or may not catch up, but I favor the main one to optimize. Don't know if that's best approach, but that's what I do, and plants seem to do nicely.

[Jeff214]

Thanks, I'll try to water to the main growth. I do worry that if I hold out much longer, the main growth may suffer as the reserves from the old pbulbs are depleted.

[Roberta]

I just think it's time... I have noticed that where I have somewhat marginal ones (water or not water?) and put them outside with the definitely active ones, the area is getting well-watered, all of them have take off. Once the serious watering starts, I have them growing so fast that I can almost watch them.

[isurus79]

I would actually wait to water that one for a few more weeks. There's plenty of juice left in the backbulb and the roots don't look long enough to me.

[Keysguy]

I could go either way on the watering but what I would do right now is repot it and get it deeper in the new pot. If you don't, you're going to run the risk of the new bulbs getting so heavy they list out of the pot and it won't take much of a bump for them to fall off.

[Roberta]

I would never want to repot any of the Catasetinae when they're in the growth phase. They routinely climb out of pots, it doesn't seem to faze them. (They'll even do "birds-nest" roots like other Cymbidae.) But the time to repot them is when they're dormant or just coming out of dormancy. At this point, I'd be very afraid of disturbing roots.

[Keysguy]

Perhaps it is the difference in our growing environments Roberta and I don't see Jeff's location other than US.

Anyway, I do my pruning and repotting of these in the spring when they look like Jeff's, then immediately start watering. (I have to have them set up in the shade house before I leave for the summer.) Maybe it's wrong but when I get back in the fall, they are monsters.

[Roberta]

I think that they may, indeed, be happier in Florida... If it works, it's not "wrong". Jeff does live in southern California. I do know that I have gotten small plants from Sunset Valley Orchids that are totally escaping their very small pots (roots all over the place, out the holds, down the side) - and they don't miss a beat when up-potted in the late fall/early winter when they go dormant. If I really have to, I might drop-pot something mid-season (slide out of old pot and pop into a larger one, being very careful to not disturb roots) but even then, it's likely to be after the new growth is pretty close to full-grown, not just as its developing. My preference if the plant is getting too top-heavy is to drop the whole thing (pot included) into a terracotta pot for the weight and stability. So that just shows that a range of approaches work!

[Jeff214]

Thanks for everyone's feed back. I did start watering the Clowesia (in the photo above) lightly yesterday. The rest of my Catasetinae are behind and I'll probably experiment a bit on the timing of watering.

I live in San Diego, and it can be quite dry during the day. I have been spritzing with water 1-2 times a day for the last three weeks. It tends to dry off very quickly and all seem fine so far. (unsure if any of this is making a difference)

And yes, I was planning to put a terra cotta pot (or two) around it keep it balanced.