To divide or not to divide?

[mexicowpants]

Had this Catasetum Shawna Austin "Fanfare" for a couple of seasons now. The first season it produced 3 new bulbs, all of which spiked; 2nd season it threw out 5 new growths, of which 3 matured and spiked. This year, it's thrown out another 3 new growths.
I'm just a bit concerned about it right now though, as it seems to be effectively growing on itself -- it has a LOT of very shrivelled up old PBs, and I'm worried that this might be impeding its growth a bit (I remember reading that Catasetum should ideally be kept in small pots of between 3 and 6 PBs).
Would you guys recommend dividing this plant, and removing the most shrivelled of the old PBs? Or would it be best just leaving it as is, and for nature to take its course? If division is the way forward, how should I proceed?

Cheers!

[estación seca]

Fred Clarke of Sunset Valley Orchids showed photos of various Catasetinae in habitat bearing dozens if not hundreds of back bulbs. I think people divide them for space reasons, not because it helps the plant. I would not divide that plant.

[isurus79]

I'd also leave it together as one. However, you might want more water retentive media. A lot of those bulbs look smaller than they should be.

---------- Post added at 09:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:01 PM ----------

Big plants tend to throw female flowers. If you get females this year, chop it up next year.

[mexicowpants]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

isurus79: A lot of those bulbs are from at least 2.5 years ago, before we acquired it ( it wasn't in the best condition when we got it, but being total novices at the time, we didn't really know ant different). Yeah, it's in a not-very-water-retentive medium (mixture of pumice and pine bark -- this is the same mix as we got it in, but just more of it and in a bigger pot, it had overgrown its previous pot before being sorely neglected), but it's thoroughly doused every couple of days during growing season -- and slowly but surely it's putting out bigger and better pbs.
What media would you recommend, and how often do you water?

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by mexicowpants

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What media would you recommend, and how often do you water?

I pot mine in long fiber spag and water just as the media begins to dry out. They slowly get more and more water until they don't fully dry out during the summer.

[estación seca]

Steve, how do you pick pot size for these?

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Steve, how do you pick pot size for these?

I generally give them more room than I would for other orchids, but not a whole lot. The media gets changed every other year and mature bulbs on many Catasetinae can be fairly robust so they can take up a lot of room.

[mexicowpants]

Thanks for the input - I'll give it a go in sphag this year, see how it goes.

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