Hmmmmm.... I am apologizing in advance for any posts I may step on since at this time no one else has posted but given the amount of time I usually take with these things someone undoubtedly will. Mind you, I've rarely ever been able to afford blooming size orchids, let alone plants in spike but when I have done they were not shipped to me, ever. Certainly not bare root! So now you have learned a lesson. I am going to stop well short of claiming that the roots on the Catt were all dead as you observed since I certainly am not in a position to observe for myself. I do feel there must have been some life in them to have gotten the Catt as far as they did. If perhaps in the shipping the sphag moss (they were wrapped in sphag I hope) dried out the roots might not look like much but Catts are used to that sort of thing. I have been on this board now for more than a dozen years and I have read hundreds of posts where so and so receives a very compromised plant from a grower and hits the ground running with various resuce efforts. Shouldn't the grower be immediately contacted and arrangements made to return the plant? Ok. I've beaten you up enough. What can we do for this plant. First is give us the numbers. You are claiming that ventilation, temp and humidity are all good. Why not let us be the judge of that? Light? You know that's my obsession. Would I think the light is good? And personally I don't believe light should be reduced for ailing plants I believe the opposite but I am in the minority. I believe that is because for those whom vast quantities of light are available don't understand that for those whose standard setup is not even providing an adequate amount of light don't have any lower to go with respect to seedlings or ailing plants.

You have a rootless Catt and it needs energy to make new roots. Light. Period. End of story. Lots of it either by intensity or by duration or both. All the Superthrive or KLN or dried salamander toes in Baton Rouge won't restart growth without adequate Cattleya level illumination.

H

The old pbulbs aren't going to grow new roots, new roots will come from new growths (old roots aren't necessarily dead). A lot of catts slow down or just go dormant in winter. I don't recall if M. Song is one of them but since I grow in the south hybrids often behave differently for me. A lot of catts also bloom when they are done growing for the year. Hence, it can be in bloom and look/act dead at the same time.

How do you get new growth? As Howard said, it needs light so it can start a new growth cycle. Fussing over it does no good. Often, I just toss catt divisions in a corner of my grow area, unpotted, and wait for new growth prior to potting them up, if I acquire them in the winter. I might give it water on a rare occasion if I think of it.

The good news, once it's warm enough (should be soon even where you are), stick that plant outside and let ma nature take care of it for the summer. By Sept., it will be a whole new plant. Catts are very easy to grow, as long as you give them adequate light.

Laura

Listen to Howard about light (well other things too, but he knows light!)

And I agree, you should have immediately questioned the seller if you received a rootless plant.

And I know that you won't want to do this, but...those flowers (esp. in the absence of viable roots adding health to the plant) are going to suck the life out of those pbs. Flower production takes a lot of energy, and if you really want to keep the plant, you should probably cut off the flowers, to spare the pbs some energy for them to use to make roots. The flowers are probably the main reason why your pbs are shrinking every day.

Can you post any pictures?

Carolyn

Get some Clonex or Doc's rooting gel hormone and paint it on the growing eyes. It also helps to swish the top of the plant around in a dilute solution of Hormex or Superthrive or KLN.

Read the FAQ for the sphag n bag method of re-rooting. It can take a little time.

I agree with Howard, you may have cut off some real roots, which look pretty dry and stick-like on a bare root plant. With bare-roots a soak in dilute Hormex or other rooting solution is the way to restart them. And BTW, Howard, I've bought bare-root divisions from Odom's, and they took right away.

I also agree with Howard: give it good light.

Cattleya can go bare-root without damage, so their condition occurred before shipping, not because they were shipped bare-root.

I would cut off the spike at this point and wait for the next growth to have it bloom. Or send it back for a replacement, although IMO the time for that was the day after you got it.

The plant was an ebay action (okay, Howard, beat me up, I guess I deserve it.) It was not much money, so I guess I got what I paid for. I did contact the grower and he wanted photos, etc., claiming the plant was healthy, he is not responsible for what happens during shipping, etc. etc. etc. I don't have the time to do all this, so he wins this one. And, yes, I have learned a valuable lesson. I will increase the light immediately. The light now is 2500-3000fc under the HID, and when the sun is shinning, the light increases to over 5000fc. I keep the lights on for 12-14 hours a day. I thought that was sufficient. Humidity between 40-50 percent. An overhead fan running all the time. Removing the flower and the bud...heartbreaking...I will think about that one. I did think the roots were dead. They were completely shriveled and brown. No white, no green tips. I'll try the rooting gel, the Superthrive, but I will remember...it's the light that's most important. I hope that during the summer it perks up. Thanks! Liz

I know I am jumping in on this post a little late....but I too purchased the same plant, and I am sure from the same seller as I bought mine cheap in an ebay action as well. I had bought three plants at the time, and the C. Merry Song is the only one that looked good, except it's root system. I immediately got a credit (replacements) for the other two since I did take pictures upon the plants arrival and the leafs looked bad. The two that replaced it were in just as bad shape in my opinion. I soaked the roots upon arrival in a solution of KLN and then potted them. I figured the same, there must be some life in the roots if the plants made it this far. It didn't appear to be growing any new roots or leaves, and I was also in the process of converting my plants to s/h, which most are doing well in. So I took the plant out of what I had it potted in, Aussie Gold Orchid Mix, to find all of the roots dead...I knew they were dead because I could pull the velamen of the root off easily. The roots looked the same as they had on the first day they arrived. Upon arrival of my other two replacement plants I was able to pull the velamen off of the roots I thought were dead as well. I put the plant in sphag-n-bag and the leafs started turning black starting at the middle of the leafs. I took the plant out and trimmed the leafs and put it back in....again same problem with remaining leafs, and the black started spreading to the pseudobulbs as well....so now I have a poor pathetic looking piece of plant that is now an experiment to see if it will come back with no roots.....and no leafs. Yes I know I am joking my self! I just wanted to share my experience with the same ebay seller...I will never ever buy from him again no matter how cheap his plants are! By the way Liz, how is your plant doing? :)

That had to be a bill_asia special on eBay. His plants are notoriously hideous. I got three from him a couple of years ago and all of them made it to the trash within a month.

Thanks, Howard...you just reminded me that I need to order some bat toes.

You are correct on the name of the seller! I can't believe he is still in business....I would imagine that most people who buy from him would be having the same problems...it isn't like this has only happened once with him....I should have learned my lesson the first time, but for a beginner, his prices are so luring!

clintdawley let me know if you find a good vendor for bat toes. They are sooooo expensive I can only afford a buy one, get ten free type deal. Plus free shipping.

Would love to know if the plant survived.

Brooke

I must add my comment about Bill_Asia. When I recently received two plants from him, I left NEUTRAL feedback explaining what I didn't like! Several days later I received a note from eBay saying he had left negative feedback for me and was offering to cancel his negative if I cancelled my neutral. I hate to admit I caved to protect my feedback status. But......so much for the affectiveness of feedback! IF I purchase on eBay again, it will be much more carefully and I'll check out a seller thru the orchid forums. Learned my lesson! Actually my plants did survive, but only because I took immediate action and knew what to do! Buyer beware!

I'll have a wild guess and suggest that the orchid in question is Lc. Mari's Song.

This bare root thing is a worry because my son sold a couple of my orchids on EBAY and bare rooted them to save on freight. EEEeek.

One problem with Cattleyas is that some of them decide to make roots once a year and if you miss the bus the plant might have to go a while before it makes a new set. I know, spag and bag and all that stuff. But all i do is pot in as small a pot as possible and place the plant in my best growing spots.

I'm late happening across this thread, but had an experience pertaining to the plant and the Ebay seller.

First, to reaffirm that the seller is bill_asia and the Cattleyas are mericlones of Lc. 'Mari's Song'. He's still selling them and still calling them 'Merry Song', a corrupted version of the cultivar epithet that probably results form an English language difficulty.

I bought one of these during the past winter. I had always admired 'Mari's Song' and was tempted by the low price. The "in spike" plant arrived with two buds, one about to open and the other in the process of aborting. The plant would have been healthy except that the roots were dehydrated entirely beyond recovery. I babied it along for a few days to see the flower and then cut that off to deal with the rootless plant, which required an intensive-care sphag and bag treatment for recovery and new growth.

I sent bill_asia an e-mail to complain about the dead roots and to recommend that he not ship plants in such condition. He responded by firmly stating that an orchid's roots must be dried out prior to shipment and that he will ship an orchid no other way.

He described part of his handling process, which involves taking sold orchids out of their pots, removing all the medium, spraying with fungicide (as if), and letting the plants sit upright for three days to dry. The next step, which he had already demonstrated, is to wrap a dried out plant in dry paper, slap it into a box and mail it. A seedling or mericlone that has spent every day of its young life in a medium does not have roots that are acclimated to withstand that treatment.

Bill seems like a nice guy who hopes to please his customers, but he is blindly determined to follow a handling and shipping method that ensures more plant trauma than customer satisfaction. I would not recommend dealing with him unless you are willing to receive a weakened or damaged plant that must be nursed back to health.

This is funny. I just received two orchids from this same seller. I freely admit I made a newbie mistake and thought that "Near Blooming Size" meant they would be about the size of the infamous bag babies from Sunbulb. The auction was for a catt hybrid (2 for .99? D'oh!), which arrived in okay shape, except that they were tiny seedings! I despaired immediately when I opened the package because the plants wre so tiny. I told my SO that I doubted I could keep them alive. Well, I didn't have to worry long because that night my kitten crept up onto the windowsil and ate both of them.
But, to return to the original topic, is it best to wait until a catt (or BLC/LC) shows new growth after blooming before moving it outside? How often should the plant be watered if one is hoping to encourage new growth?
As far as "sphag and bag", I haven't been at this as long as many of the other people on this board, but that method has never worked for me either. I was able to revive a rootless dend by adding a little sphag to the bark mix and throwing it outside, but I think in a bag you end up with molds, fungus and so on because there's no air movement.

"...is it best to wait until a catt (or BLC/LC) shows new growth after blooming before moving it outside?"

That depends. Is your situation inside such that all things considered the catt will throw new growth? Is the situation outside such that it will be an improvement on the situation inside? Answers to those questions will point the way.

"How often should the plant be watered if one is hoping to encourage new growth?"

Again, it depends. Is the plant outdoors in a high light, high air movement location resulting in lots of moisture loss from the medium? In that case near every day watering may not bee too much. Indoors in typical orchid mix in clay 2x week or 1x week in plastic. These are just guidlines.

"As far as "sphag and bag", I haven't been at this as long as many of the other people on this board, but that method has never worked for me either"

Catts for the most part should not need bagging. Their p-bulbs store moisture to pull them through the rootless period. Most people do not give enough light to the bag fearing that they will cook the plant but without really good light there won't be any new root growth. Whether you bag or not plenty of strong, even illumination is neccessary to get things growing.

H

I just re-read the thread about my "Merry Song" and I can't believe how many other newbies fell for Bill's prices and actually bought the same plant! Well, an update -- the plant never did bloom. The buds just dried up and died. The plant, however, spent the summer outside and has a new growth. Prior to this purchase, I did buy some Phals. from Bill. I am happy to report that they are doing well. When purchased, they really were BS and the roots were alive! Needless to say, I got lucky with the Phals and I never bought from Bill Asia again and I never will! Liz