That would, hands down, have to be my first Cym. It just had no more room to grow so I soaked it, pulled it (with much force) out of the pot with the intention to divide it. I picked at this thing for HOURS....LOL. Long story short, my husband had to saw this thing in half with the wood saw. I can remember just standing there looking at that root mass (that THING) and feeling completely hopeless. My husband adding that I was going to "kill my nice lily" ......aaah .....jeezzzzz........
Well I fumbled my way through it, and have two nice plants today.

And cats? I have them, never was just totally taken with them. But, I have a brand new respect for them now. Not to long ago I had the privilege of visiting an orchid greenhouse owned by a older (93!!) gentleman. His catts had long ago crawled out of their pots and had rooted into his wooden benches and kept right on going. It was an amazing sight. He snapped off several "cuttings" with reckless abandon (EEEK), and handed them to me. Told me to "string them up they'll grow roots when they take a notion" .......well I knew that, but somehow the pressure was on. I panicked a little - just sure I would kill these "cuttings" this dear old gentleman had given me. But sure enough, I strung them up - ( hanging from a string in the GH) and the old pb's and leaves soon went to howdy in a hand basket. But, I have bran new growths/leads and beautiful roots. 4 out of the 6 are already potted/mounted and taking off. The other 2 coming right along. He didn't know/remember what these things are telling me only the "purple kind" or the "white kind" .......and it will be a looooog time coming, but I've got a feeling they are going to be something special. If not in flowers, they will still be special to me, because of the source.

pcan - I love stories like yours. "When they get a notion," indeed. I used to fret about dividing large catts, but these days don't mind if I lose most of the roots because they almost always come back. One of the dangers is that the division get repotted with lots of roots that will die and leave a mushy moist pocket that promotes rot. So I'm ruthless in removing roots that don't look viable.

First thing: Brooke, if you ever want to part with a piece of that, you let me know....

Secondly: I never really have horror stories of repotting, because I tend to just mount things, the first time they need to be repotted, or I just pot up without moving anything in the original pot. I do have some pretty terrible experiences trying to hold big bruiser cattelyas and dens to a mount and tie it on and not drop the sphagnum pad and not drop the whole thing on my foot.

But that's me. I like mounts.

-Cj

pcan, "String them up and they'll get roots when they take a notion". I love it.

About sawing big plants to divide: My first year with orchids, I tried the "one of each" approach to finding out what I liked and could grow, and ordered one cymbid.

I got this huge honking thing that looked it had been cut with a spade. (that's what I used to do to divide daylilies). But I bet it was sawn -- just a clean straight cut, right thru the middle of several of the bulbs. BTW it never missed a beat, (the cut was old and dry) and it bloomed that fall.

So those things are tuffff. A lot of catts, too. The only catts I've had given me consistent trouble were Slcs, which pine in the summer heat here.

CJ-- dropping it on your foot? Yes, I've done that, not mounts, but pots. It's a graceful ballet, actually. Like the tenderfoot dancing in an old western. LOL

I once had to use a hatchet to chop apart a huge, yellow Onc that had just gotten so huge. A knife wouldn't cut through the thing. The pieces lived and grew just fine.

Kevin

Brooke - that is a beauty! How large is it? I really enjoy the colors on it.

CJ/mehitabel yes I have done the dropping on the foot thing...and it is a ballet because for the 3 milliseconds that the pot has left my hands and is heading towards the floor, the decision to let it land on my foot to cushion the fall, and the decision to move my foot away so it doesn't get crushed flashes through my head, and manifests in some sort of crazy dance (often accompanied by a yell) which invariably leads to both the pot smashing, *AND* landing partially on my foot.

I haven't ever grown anything big enough to have to do anything dramatic...but I did rip out and repot my latouria dendrobium 3 or 4 times within a month a few years back because 'it wasn't doing anything' (the horror...yes I know)...and one time I left it sitting in mild detergent water for 2 days before repotting! I know I'm terrible but I think the plant has forgiven me because it put out a new growth this year.

A hatchet, Kevin? That's what we had to use cutting zoysia turf. Nothing else would do it. (zoysia will grow in concrete).

Amazing how pragmatic we all are, innit? Whatever works :P

Forgot to add, I was always afraid I'd cut off some fingers hacking away with that thing. Didn't simply because I kept one hand behind my back at all times. :0

A short, 2" hack wouldn't do the job on the concrete-grass. . You had to hack it from about shoulder height.

Did you hold that oncid with one hand and hack with the other, Kevin? :P

pcan - I guess I'll quit referring to my catt giving gentleman as elderly - he is a spring chicken at 84 compared to yours. Gosh I love the string 'em up. You probably have some of the oldies but goodies growing for you. Be sure to take pics of the string 'em ups.

Cj - I would be happy to trade you one of my plants for something that wants to live in dark, gloomy, sunless KY. Let's talk seriously in the spring when I can safely ship south. Who needs three of these.

Kevin - hatchet???? Not in my hands unless I'm better aiming it than I am an axe. If you ever get bored, I can tell you a couple of stories about me and snakes and axes.

No cyms for me - I read the pictures in the books about cym dividing and chainsaw seems more appropriate. I have one lone warm growing mini cym and it doesn't like me, nor I it.

Calvin - glad you like the pics. It is a big boy, definitely not a good candidate for under lights. It had been hanging in a g/h and to keep it upright under lights I had to put it in a big storage container. I was efficient last year and marked when I repotted it 11-02 and I think that was the last time I marked a repot.

I too have done the ballet of dropped pots - quite good at it actually but sheesh, I brag too much.

Brooke

Snakes and axes? That does not sound like a pretty outcome for any snake. I happen to like snakes. An ax and a squirrel could be kind of funny.

mehit - Nope. Just laid the Onc on the grass and hacked away.

Brooke: Done! You get in touch this spring and we'll work something out.

-Cj

Will do Cj. I checked last night when I closed the g/h and the one has 7 p-bulbs. I want to keep the little guy and watch him grow. He also has his roots growing in, through and over the lava rock and I will never be able to dislodge it without breaking the roots.

Kevin if I lived in MN, in the city, I wouldn't worry about snakes either. Squirels are not a problem here - my black snakes eat them for snacks. Eventually, they will get big enough to eat the ground hog that is taking up residence around my barn.

Brooke

Check out the Black and Decker battery saws .. :) Gin

LOL, Gin. Good to see you :)

The horror stories about cyms good be mine. These things are outrageously difficult to split into pieces! Last spring, one of my cyms split its pot so I had to deal with it. I used a saw and divided it into 5 pieces. It sure was tough to get rid of the dried up pbulbs. I thought it would be interesting to try different media so I potted the pieces in: orchid bark, clay pellets, horse manure, wood chips and soil. Interestingly, everything grew, the horse manure and orchid bark did the best. I just looked at them all in the greenhouse and they are all pushing out flower spikes -- one of the sections has 8 flower spikes right now. On the other hand, I have divided other orchids and they have sulked and died. Too much horror there....

I had the same "problem" with C. Porcia 'Cannizaro'. It was a huge plant. These types of Gurianthe types have short rhizomes and make excellent specimen plants. But I too had the plant growing in a clay pot and had to take a hammer to it to break it apart. Otherwise, the plant was virtually embedded. I didn't need a hacksaw or anything like that, i flame sterilized pruning shears did the trick. I hope you flame sterilize your cutting instruments with a propane blow torch. Cymbidiums are a pain too. I use a large (old) sterilized heavy kitchen knife to cut through the plant. You just need a sharp tool and some leverage. A hatchet sounds too indiscriminate. You don't want to accidently chop through a pseudobulb.

Oh toyo, C. Porcia is on my "list". My husband couldn't even get the pruning shears into the mass, thus the hacksaw. This plant had to be in that pot for years. Yes, flame sterilized the tools. I don't know if he did the hacksaw since I hopefully will never need it again to divide something.

Brooke

In ruminating on the subject, I think the most difficult plant I've ever had to divide was a huge Guarianthe (Cattleya, at the time) bowringiana. Those onion-like pseudobulb bases all clustered together were a pain. I ended up using a long, very sharp, bread knife. One of those "cuts through steel and slices tomatoes paper thin" jobbers.

-Cj