Yes, there is hope. In fact, more than hope, there is a good chance that it will start up again.

First, stop watering it. Unpot it and clean it up really well, and perhaps a sphag and bag, since it grows in tropical and lower mountain rain forests.

We are not going for a keiki, rather we are trying to allow an eye to activate. I don't use any rooting stimulant, although I have tried them.

I agree, that Catt. is tough , I divided mine ended up with a couple of extra small pieces, they took off and grew . Gin

When the rhizome turns brown, THEN it's time to consider that the plant may be dead. If you're still seeing green? Don't give up easily!

I have had plants in the same condition as you described. Some make it easily, some need nursing and some don't make it. It's a great accomplishment when they recover!

Good Luck!

--Stitz--

If there is an active eye- you can try keiki pro on it to stimulate growth. I think Ray likes to do it - with good success. I don't repot them till I see good roots. I usually leave them in a clot pot spritz water every day or two depending on the weather. I have no idea why I rescued some of the catts- they have grown to be monster- they will swallow me one fine day!!

Dont give up on catts. They are very resilient plants.
I'm not a big fan of the sphag-n-bag method, but it works great for some people so give it a try as well.
I personally use a method of placing the backbulbs on top of a layer of sphagnum moss in an open pot.

Take a look at some of my backbulb "ressurections".

Here's a collection of backbulbs and "scraps" from dividing a large cattleya. Some are in better shape than the others:
{{gwi:175539}}

The activated eyes usually look like this:
{{gwi:175541}}

Here's an eye that activated and produced a new lead. Notice the nearly dead leaf left on the single pseudobulb:
{{gwi:175543}}

Fast forward several months:

{{gwi:175544}}

Here's another progression of a bunch with three pseudobulbs but one leaf attached.
{{gwi:175545}}

{{gwi:175546}}

More "ressurections"
Here are the two cattleyas from the previous pictures:
{{gwi:175547}}

Howeara
{{gwi:175548}}
Same howeara after a few months, this time I tried mounting it after it grew roots:
{{gwi:175549}}

NOID Lc or Blc, also responded better when mounted:
{{gwi:175550}}

Encyclia hybrid. In the background is a new sprout from a 1-inch long cutting (single node) from an epicattleya:
{{gwi:175551}}

A couple of grammatophylum backbulbs:
{{gwi:175552}}

Some will make it, some will not. But they will surely not make it if you dont try.
So if you have the time and space, you might as well give it a shot.

Happy Growing :)

hello, wetfeet, did you mount after they started new growth or before? thanks
sue

webfeet,
Your fotos do a great job of "explaining".
Thanks!

--Stitz--

Hello,
I recently bought 130 plants from a local orchid grower. Until last April he had 1000 plants. These were sold, with the exception of some which "needed some TLC". I guess I am a natural caregiver.

About half are cattleya alliance orchids. One of them is a Cattleya aurantiaca. Although all of the plants had been repotted within the last 2 months, I found it necessary to unpot them and work on them. As a matter of interest, so far I have left the Cattleya aurantiaca alone. It is one of two which look like they will do well on their own.

Many of these plants had visible new growth. They had been through a very dry spell and many leaves (almost all) were shriveled. Originally I thought I would just transition them into the greenhouse. But once I started unpotting a few to check them out, I was astonished at what I found.
The new growths were starting from deep down, in sodden bark. Today, after 4 days solid of repotting, I found ONE plant which had more than 6 viable roots.

I have read on the net that some cattleya alliance plants will send out new growth before roots. I believe this is what I am witnessing. It's a testimony to their WILL TO LIVE, that they will keep trying, through such awful conditions.
The upshot of my repotting is that I have about 8 or 9 in the "infirmary", which so far is with some wrung-out sphagnum in a plastic bag. They are not sealed...have been misting them daily, but giving air.
I think your Cattleya aurantiaca has a good chance. I would recommend checking very carefully for mites, etc. Also, unpot. If the roots look viable, you can repot using the same media. If you find problems, trim anything dead and consider a smaller pot with shallow media for the time being. It would be a shame if you found out in October that it really needed a repotting. Now is the time to make things happen for next season.
Good luck,
Ann

>>did you mount after they started new growth or before? thanks

For the two mounts pictured, I set them on top of sphagnum moss in a pot first and let them grow some roots.
Once I think that the roots are stable enough, I transferred them to the fern mounts.
I was worried that the backbulbs were already too dessicated and mounting them directly with no roots could speed up their dehydration even more (even inside a greenhouse)
At least by setting them first in a sphagnum pot, I will not have to mist them every hour to keep them hydrated :)

Thank you guys sooo much for all the encouragement and help. Last night, I cleaned up the roots on it and stuck it in a pot of spaghnum moss (I haven't had much luck with the spagh n' bag method). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it makes it. I'm curious, should I stop watering completely, or should it be misted once every few days?

Wetfeet, thank you so *so* much for the photos, it was really neat to get a glimpse of your backbulb resurrections. I had no idea that cattleya were so resilient!

As a side-note, this morning I found two new growths on the Coelogyne pandurata backbulb from the Petite Plaissance shopping spree....woohoo! :) What made it even more exciting was that this is my first ever backbulb.

Altair, sphag is great for re-rooting catts. Be sure to keep the rhyzome and pbs *on* the sphag instead of in it.

Good luck! PS, I agree with the people who said C aurantiaca is a trooper.

>>I'm curious, should I stop watering completely, or should it be misted once every few days?

Do what you can to keep the sphagnum moist, but not soaking wet.
The idea is to allow the water to continuously evaporate from the sphagnum and provide immediate humidity to the backbulbs.
If the sphag feels crispy, then it is too dry. If it gets too wet however, then the backbulb could rot.

That is why for the backbulb pots, I use different layers.
Bottom layer (3/4th of the total height): either medium orchid bark or perlite.
Top layer (1/4) of the total height: sphagnum moss.

This way, I can water the backbulb pots with the same watering nozzle as the other plants. The sphag absorbs what it can, and any excess water flows down through the orchid bark and eventually out of the pot.
I find that 100% sphag in a pot gets too wet for my preference.
Using perlite as your bottom layer, combined with a plastic pot will make the pot top-heavy. So when I use perlite as the bottom layer, I use clay pots to keep the whole thing stable.

Another benefit of using orchid bark as the bottom layer: Once the backbulb develops roots, all I need to do is gradually remove the amount of sphagnum moss on the pot as the roots grow directly into the orchid bark mix. One all the sphag has been removed, I top off the pot with more orchid bark.
No need to repot the plant once they roots grow. Unless you really prefer to transfer them to another pot or mount them.

thank you very much for all the detailed description of how to do this - it is very helpful. and to altair for starting this thread - i have enjoyed reading this and learned so much!
sue

Wetfeet, thank you so much for the detailed description of how to handle watering. I love your idea about putting bark mix into the bottom and then spaghnum on top! Definitely trying that one :)

Thanks wetfeet, that was very informative. I'm not trying to sidetrack the thread but you said and showed the magic word = Grammatophyllum !! I have a scriptum var. kiilani that is a 'mini' and I'm NOT complaining but it's got me a bit bewildered and maybe you can help. I got it in October 2007 and it is right now putting out 2 more spikes which is the 5th time since I got it !!!! Hard to put up with, LOL, but it has 1.5 pathetic leaves (don't remember if it dropped one) and finally is putting out what looks to be 2 new growths and 2 more ?? as well as the 2 spikes !!! Go figure !!! Maybe you know whattheheckisgoingonhere !!???????

Grammatophyllum scriptum var. kiilani
{{gwi:175553}}

closer view
{{gwi:175554}}

Can you tell this is my first Gramma ?? Appreciate anything you can share on this topic !!!

TIA, Chryss

I really cant give you any information on the grammatophylums.
The two backbulbs I have on the picture are my first attempts at growing these and I am still learning a lot about them.

Your plant looks happy though, and I think you are way ahead of me when it comes to gramms :)

Purely accidental !!!

C-

BTW, here's what the blooms look like but the pix does the color no justice !!!

{{gwi:175555}}

{{gwi:175556}}

Chryss