Cattleya Rescue + major surgery

16 years ago

***WARNING*** Some images may be too graphic for orchid lovers.

Text is also long. Skip the text if you wish :)

Back in January, my mother in law needed to "streamline" her orchid collection as it was getting hard for her to maintain everything alone.

This meant giving away some not-so-hot plants to friends and family so that she can focus on the ones she really loves.

There was one beautiful and very large cattleya that needed some serious TLC and she entrusted me with trying to revive it.

This is the picture of the cattleya when she first showed it to me in January:

It had no tag so we just called it "white cattleya" for the time being.

It is potted in a 12" hanging plastic pot. And from what I heard, it was a division she planted over 12 years ago and never repotted since.

We waited until late March before we attempted to do anything with it because I wanted to wait for better weather. I also needed to complete the greenhouse first so that the orchid can have a proper place to recover.

When I unpotted the plant, it was severely rootbound and there were several new leads that were trapped under the pot and died. This led to some stinky dead matter that has been brewing in the pot for some time now.

Also, there was no sign of any potting medium left. It was all roots and dead young leads.

Who knew that orchid bark would completely disappear after only 12 years? :)

Anyway, while cleaning away the dead matter, a yellow tag jumps out from the tangled mess. It was the original tag: Cattleya Hawaiian Wedding Song 'virgin'.

While none of us are from Hawaii, my wife and I love the place. And this plant also gave us most of the flowers that we used for my wife's bouquet for our wedding a couple of years ago. So I now had some feeling of global karma that I have to revive this plant as it made a significant contribution to our wedding years ago.

The plant was big enough that I was able to divide it safely into four main divisions. Some "smaller" divisions containing 3-6 p-bulbs also naturally broke away during the process. I also had some single "old" p-bulbs that I'm not sure if they still have any possibility to grow new leads.

Fast forward to June, here are some pictures of the new divisions as they are sprouting new leads and roots.

Group shot:

3 divisions in 12" wire baskets wrapped in shade cloth fabric. 1 division is in a 10" wood slat basket.

I'm trying out Aussie Gold mix for the first time and I needed the net to hold the media in the basket since the basket's gaps are too big.

One of the divisions showing new leads:

Close up of the new roots. Things look encouraging so far:

This is one of the "smaller" divisions that broke of naturally.

This was the center part of the original plant and clearly was in the worst shape of the entire bunch. It appears to be healing nicely though with new leads.

I am hoping that they are healthy enough to bloom this season, but that may be too optimistic considering the trauma they just had with dividing and repotting.

I will post more photo updates as soon as there are any significant events.

If everything works out, she has another identical cattleya that she wants me to divide and repot.

Now this is the "bigger" sister of the one I previously revived. This one is nearly 4 times as big.

If this one works out too, I may have several dozen excess C. Hawaiian Wedding Song 'virgin' plants available for trade by 2008 or 2009 lol.

~John

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Comments (12)

clintdawley
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Cool. Nice save.

Put me down for one!!
aerides
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Ouch - that first pic is painful. Cool story, though. The smaller division that broke off "naturally" is just perfect for me. :>)

I'm sure you'll be awash in white flowers in the not-too-distant future. Nice going!

John
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Charm
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You worked wonders on that one! I'll trade with you too if you like, keep me in mind....~Charm P.s. I use coco coir to line the inside of my baskets and the orchids love it.
olyagrove
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Impressive: rescue mission -- success

Me too, me too- I want to trade :)

Olya
sdahl
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Great rescue! I had to cringe at the first picture. Some catts can be incredibly tough, can't they?

Sharon
wetfeet101b
Original Author
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks. I'll definitely keep you folks in mind when its time for trades :).

Do those injuries on the leaves look like sunburn? or more of a bacterial/fungal damage?
I cant see how those would have been sunburned like that since they are in a shadehouse and in San Diego climate.
Here in Riverside (which is a much harsher climate), I can put some catts in full sun and they dont burn like that.

Perhaps the severe rootbound condition would have contributed to this as well?
aerides
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Definitely sunburn/sunscorch IMHO. Like I said, ouch! I think I'll stay in this year!

John :>)
cattleya17
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
hey can i have a division i mean only if it okay look at my page for address contact me
jane__ny
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Where did you begin to cut?? I have a large Blc which is in real need of dividing, but its growth pattern is from so many points, I can't figure out where to begin.

You did a great job!

Jane
wetfeet101b
Original Author
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
The rhizomes on this plant was a tangled mess as well. Imagine 12+ years of no divisions. The leads were going in all directons like Medusa's hair.

***Warning***
Copy my steps at your own risk.
I do not consider myself an expert.
This was not based on any specific scientific background.
I just relied on my backyard intuition.
***

Now that we got that out of the way, This is the approach I took based on the plant's condition:
1. I needed to "liberate" the center of the plant since it was getting crowded (almost crushed) by the all the newer growth that was surrounding it.
2. From the top looking down, I chose a "central" pseudobulb and imagined a circle containing about a dozen pseudobulbs that are closest to it. This was then designated as the "central plant" which needed to be extracted.
3. I cut all the main rizhomes that extend out from beyond this centeral plant.
4. With all this cutting, I ended up with the central plant, a very large clump of about 20 connected pseudobulbs, two other clumps with about a dozen pseudobulbs each and a few clumps with 3-6 pseudobulbs.
5. Throughout this cutting, I planned to keep each clump with at least a minimum of 6 pseudobulbs but sometimes it was not practical to do so. Some pseudobulbs just happened to be in the way so they were cut away either a singles or up to three pseudobulbs.
6. The singles were in bad shape anyway, so I did not feel bad about cutting them away. They are now in rehab, hopefully there is still some life in them and they can sprout new leads.
7. I wanted to divide the resulting clumps further but decided to withold it until these current divisions have recovered for a couple of seasons.

jane,
If you post a pic of the blc that you are planning to divide, we can give you suggestions on where to cut. Ultimately though, it is your plant and will be more in tune with it and probably know best where to properly place the cuts.
My personal preference though is to keep each clump at a minimum of 6 pseudobulbs.
jane__ny
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
This was taken last summer. I don't have a recent photo. I can't figure out where to start as the pulbs are so close together and twisted in various directions. This plant sends two growths from one pbulb so it's hard to find a break to begin cutting. I divided it once about 3 yrs ago and lost some bulbs. I gave up!

{{gwi:1112082}}
orchidflowerchild
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You could always put it ina big basket and just let it get huge. Nothing like a speciment plant, I always say...

-Cj

Cattleya Rescue + major surgery

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