Dividing an Unruly Cattleya!

[@angelbabesuz1612]

Oh wow, I was watching with bated breath, I thought it was going to break! Beautiful plant :)

[@michaelmccarthy4077]

I was having flashbacks to when I repotted my RLC Settle Me Down this spring. I really had no intention of dividing the plant, but in the process of both getting it out of the pot and removing the old media, it literally broke into five pieces. At the time I wondered what I was going to do with five plants, then I posted on a facebook group I had four divisions. Had I realized it was an unusual and sought after hybrid, I'd have sold them rather than give them away.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Do you have a big plant left still? 😀 At least next time you know! Did you find dividing induced new growth/ dormant eye activation? I've noticed in a few cattleyas when I've knocked old bulbs off they seemed to redouble their efforts!

[@michaelmccarthy4077]

The Orchid Room oh yes, still a large plant, it is very vigorous. Most of the time when I repot, just disturbing the plant kicks dormant eyes into gear. In this case, I lost four leads but four new ones started.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Hi everyone, lots of comments about soaking so I wanted to explain this. Please read if you wondered why I didn't soak! 😊 If we think about what soaking does, semi hydro eliminates this requirement. The plant is in semi hydro so the roots are constantly wet... The whole pot is constantly wet. So it's had a year soaking, or 2 years soaking, essentially... The issue was where the roots had grown and compacted the hard LECA against the hard pot so it was larger in volume than the pot was actually able to hold. You can see this by how much media came out of the pot but wouldn't go back in. For organic media and traditional set ups, yes, you have to soak. It causes the roots to swell and detach from the pot and media and also increases root flexibility. For semi hydro, no soaking necessary, the roots have been wet from the time you put it into the pot to when you want to unpot. Another point I really wanted to make, especially for newcomers 😄 This isn't a how to video, I really filmed it for the division process and to see the root system. If you are using organic media in traditional set ups, please always soak your plants 😁 Thanks! Have a great day! 😁

[@MelissaWalker82]

The Orchid Room agree! Like a cork in a bottle, that was a tight fit and everything inside is moist enough that a soak wouldn’t have made much difference but a lot more mess I think.

[@orchidsbythelake]

Wow, you grew it really well!

[@christinenorton2510]

Blimey that was a task. Well done.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

I've never felt so defeated by a plant 😂 It was in a good way but I didn't anticipate the struggle 😀

[@christinenorton2510]

I could tell.lol

[@FernandaNascimentoOrchids]

It is a beautiful Cattleya and she looks much tidier now 😀

[@cherylpenn4509]

Please give me some hints on their care. I bought one with 2 leaves and it doesnt look great.........

[@Twigarati]

Oh boy 💪🏼😂 pot bound is a beautiful thing 😃

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Certainly gave my muscles a work out 😂 Apparently I need to go to the gym more...or maybe just repot more often to remove some LECA? 😅

[@RobertSterlingG]

I think its safe to say that rescue mission was a success. She's got some fight in her now!

[@taraldstein7165]

Interesting! Cattleyas have such beautiful blooms, but they are expensive and can be hard to find (at least here in Norway). Do you have any tips on growing them? If I invest in one, I'd like to be pretty sure I can keep it alive. My only success so far is a Paphiopedilum maudiae Femma (rebloomed after just 5 months!). Not so much luck with phals and dendrobium nobile types. I don't have a place for cooler winter rest, unfortunately.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Hi! Well done on reblooming your paph! 😁 For Cattleyas you'd need to make sure to keep them warm, like phals they are hot growers and really dislike cold, especially around the root zone. So if you can keep them on average above 18C they should do great but they'll hate cold drafty windowsills. They like very bright light however and would need that to bloom, I've yet to burn one despite full sun. They do very well in semi hydro for me but media will depend on climate, and if you're in a cooler climate semi hydro may be a bad idea as clay media keeps the root zone even cooler. Cold and wet roots are probably the worst thing for cattleyas. If you can find one I'd definitely give it a shot, they're easy growers as long as you've got somewhere warm and bright to keep them 😀

[@taraldstein7165]

@@TheOrchidRoom Thanks! That sounds promising :) I have some very bright LEDs and none of my plants need that bright light (my paph created the spike while I was trying them out, burned the sheath), and I also have heat mats.

[@victoriamarvelli8125]

Sometimes if you give the whole pot a good soak, it comes out easier. Try tape over the holes and soak it for a while.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Hi- it's in semi hydro so the whole pot is constantly wet. The issue was where it had been in the pot so long the roots had grown into all the air pockets and compacted all the LECA in the pot. The pot is solid and not flexible which is why it was an issue....

[@yai1595]

It is much easier to repot after soaking the roots for a while, they come out 1000 times faster 😊, at least for me.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Hi, the plant is in semi hydro so the roots are constantly wet... the whole pot is constantly wet. So it's had a year soaking... the issue was where the roots had grown and compacted the hard LECA against the hard pot so it was larger in volume than the pot was actually able to hold. You can see this by how much media came out if the pot but wouldn't go back in.. for organic media and traditional set ups, yes you have to soak. Is causes the roots to swell and detatch from the pot and media and also increases flexibility. For semi hydro, no soaking necessary, the roots have been wet from the time you put it into the pot to when you want to unpot.

[@marilynlott-bloor7486]

It might have been easier if you had soaked the orchid beforehand, but yay you did it

[@TheOrchidRoom]

It's in semi hydro, soaking wouldn't have helped, it's already been constantly moist for a long time. Soaking increases flexibility and causes roots to expand compared to dry roots. This was difficult because the roots had grown into the pot and compressed the LECA

[@marilynlott-bloor7486]

@@TheOrchidRoom oh it's hard to see that on screen of course. You certainly gave it your all.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

I did explain the compression issue in the video with the rigid pot but didn't explain semi hydro so maybe that's where the issue is 😄 I could have shortened the video of course but don't want to pretend that all my repots are super easy and nothing ever happens to make it difficult. Because who learns from that...Here is evidence that if you pot into a hard inflexible material and leave the repot too long, In an outer pot that doesn't flex, you will have many long issues with the repot 😂