C harrisoniana escapes

[Roberta]

Here is Cattleya loddigesii 'Volcano Queen'. I show its progrssion of pots. It started out in the clay pot. The very oldest growths have totally dried up and been clipped, but then you can see it starting to escape. The whole thing was then place in a plastic pot. And it continued its march. The plastic pot then got dropped into a plastic basket and there the roots have grown nicely between the pot and basket, now escaping from the basket. The old pseudobulb at the edge of the clay pot still has a bit of green, probably about 1 more year and I'll clip it and remove the clay pot. But it doesn't really matter, since I probably won't try to remove it from the next pot, or basket. Don't want to risk disturbing roots of a bifoliate Catt? So don't. just give it room to run.

Should be C. harrisoniana. My error!

[Louis_W]

Beautiful flowers!

[DeaC]

Great to know R! My 3 bi's are traveling as well but am gonna follow your advice...as usual. Thx.

[mopwr]

Great plant and a good illustration of what you mentioned on my earlier thread - about how they just crawl and wander. Someone needs to start making oval pots for cattleyas 4" wide x 4" deep, but up to 12" long... Start them on one end and add more media as they reach the other end, ha.

A tangent, but for the cattleyas I grow on windowsills, because I can change the orientation of the light, I've found that I can "steer" new growths to make more of a circle pattern around the pot to keep them in a bit longer, not sure that would work for all, but seems to keep some plants a bit more manageable for my limited space.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by mopwr

Great plant and a good illustration of what you mentioned on my earlier thread - about how they just crawl and wander. Someone needs to start making oval pots for cattleyas 4" wide x 4" deep, but up to 12" long... Start them on one end and add more media as they reach the other end, ha.

A tangent, but for the cattleyas I grow on windowsills, because I can change the orientation of the light, I've found that I can "steer" new growths to make more of a circle pattern around the pot to keep them in a bit longer, not sure that would work for all, but seems to keep some plants a bit more manageable for my limited space.

Thanks! Santa Barbara Orchid Estate often just drops plants into lager pots (with no additional medium) as they grow. The space between pots (plastic) seems to have the right combination of humidity and air that roots grow readily into the space. (I have found on repotting SBOE plants, 5 or 6 pots on a medium-sized plant). This approach doesn't work as well for me as it does for them (probably they get better humdity closer to the coast) Another trick is to put a pot with medium right next to the escaping roots, so that new growth and new roots establish in that pot - once new growth is well established with roots in the adjoining pot, the plant can be divided without missing a beat. (SVO uses this "trick". )

[estación seca]

I was at Sunset Valley Orchids in June and took these photos of a Cattleya leopoldii in flower.



Here is the base of the plant. The flowering growth is at the far right. The newer portion of the plant grew into a pot that was set on the bench next to the previous pot.



But looking farther left you can see the oldest part of the rhizome in the air. The plant previously was in a now-gone pot, and crawled from that into the current pot in the center of the photo.

I'm using my phone, so unable to rotate the first image properly.

[Roberta]

Looks like there is another adjoining pot, for dividing again in a year or two.

[isurus79]

Beautiful!

FYI - I believe this one used to be sold as loddigesii var. harrisoniana. Therefore, its just Cattleya harrisoniana, which makes sense considering the bloom timing (loddigesii blooms in spring, harrisoniana blooms in summer).

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by isurus79

Beautiful!

FYI - I believe this one used to be sold as loddigesii var. harrisoniana. Therefore, its just Cattleya harrisoniana, which makes sense considering the bloom timing (loddigesii blooms in spring, harrisoniana blooms in summer).

Actually, I think it IS labeled harrisoniana... my mistake. Will change the thread header. The two get mixed up so often.

[Louis_W]

Oh cool, in that case I have the same plant. It hasn't flowered yet but now I'm especially excited for it!

Keith writes about that dividing strategy too. His photos of his giant guttata 'breko leopard' have that situation down in the pot. Funny seeing a 4" pot with two 3' canes coming out talk about top heavy...

Since I grow in SH I'm hoping I can simply remove the pot and pot the plant up and it won't notice. It will have almost no change in pot sonditions and the inorganic media isn't going anywhere. I haven't gotten to that point yet with any of my large bifoliates so it just theory but Ill post about it when the time comes