Repotting Cattleya dowiana | Repot & Chat | Flushing dead algae + Redecorating Update Tour

[@TheOrchidRoom]

So I'm not sure what happened to my brain today, but this is a 13 month update on the Catt dowiana, the date on the order screenshot is the only one you can rely on here apparently 😆🤦‍♀️ Sorry! 🙂 Schwerter shipped out next day, one day delivery, so I had the plant in my paws by the end of September 2019.

[@NinjaOrchids]

Love the style of this video 🥰 felt like getting a walk about with a cup of tea in hand ... frog brush ... vital ... must get me one! Muffin's sofa awhhhh 😍 fantastic root system 👍🏼 the size of that purpurata cross 🤭😂 awesome!

[@TheOrchidRoom]

I wish you could come round for a cup of tea and have a tour for real! I'll see if I can find a frog brush for you 😉 😆💗 Muffin is the best! He has kept me sane recently 💗

[@darcylyon9986]

The new place is looking great. One day I hope to find a dowiana, they are so beautifu

[@noahokin5581]

It’s looking amazing! I am so jealous of your conservatory it is stunning! And your napenthes are looking great too!

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Haha I totally forgot about the nepenthes, they got left out in the greenhouse for too long, got too cold and lost loads of pitchers. They're recovering now though, so resilient!

[@noahokin5581]

Muffin is looking good too! (Now is your time to ramble)

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Hahaha! 🤣😁 He loves his new food 💗 Thankyou!

[@saral2442]

Great job! I love watching plant (especially orchid!) maintenance! It's relaxing and satisfying to see the nice cleaned up plant at the end:)

[@marygorchidsmore2058]

Great update! Your lounge looks great after the decoration. I am a bit worried about your sink. Be careful when cleaning your orchids, it might clog up your sink. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to see what's in bloom video and some more repotting. Have a lovely weekend.

[@GoldenArrow297]

You got some massive Cattleya. You renovation is worth waiting for.

[@suethorpe7850]

Amazing looking grow room. How fabulous it will be as it matures.

[@liverocks2025]

You do what you need to do, we will wait until you’re good and ready. You did a great job on your grow space. I’m always in awe to see how good your plants look. My plants are doing good 2-3 months after transitioning to SH, you know starting new roots and shoots but it will need a year I think to see real change on the plant as a whole. But in the meantime I love seeing your plants😄

[@wandashaw3551]

Hi Annabelle, glad you're doing well! I personally love your glitter/fairy light wall! Your orchids are so pretty! And taking down that wallpaper had to be a challenge!! Take your time and we'll be here waiting! Happy growing and decorating! 😍

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Hi Wanda! 😀💗 I enjoyed taking down the wallpaper for about 20 minutes, then it got boring 😆 it came off relatively easily but still took 2 days! The whole house is wallpapered so now I need to work up the courage to move on to another room! Thanks so much for watching 💗

[@TrishsOrchidLife]

Lounge is looking good. Great random video!! ❤️

[@kouprakrisnaabhay3206]

Binge watching your videos and truly binge learning. Thank you for sharing.

[@tinakauder6605]

I am soooo feeling with you ‼️ You know, life ain't always smooth and polished so why should your videos be? I really liked simply seeing this update and how you tackle current "construction sites", this is real life and we all can relate. For me this video was comforting and inspiring and motivating and I definitely wouldn't mind a video like this here and there... rather than no video at all 😊😘

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Thankyou Tina 💗 Hope your new house is under control also!!

[@helenhawkins4054]

I love watching you repot. Enjoyed the video, vert relaxing.

[@bettapalfish9057]

All your hard work looks fabulous. So jealous of all your lighted large space. Great for orchids.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Thankyou 😀💗

[@KP-gw5zv]

That was a fun video. I like what you are doing to the sitting area and I truly love the orchid room. So full and green and lush looking. Learned how you do the re pot so I am not that far off in how I do my re pot. Looking forward to the many updates on this Cattleya dowiana. When I see the algea on my pots I panic so I guess I should not. Anyways loved the video and have a great day.

[@mariakarathanasi9799]

Hey loved the video, i really missed them all this time! love all the blooms, and youve done such a great job with painting, thanks for sharing and looking forward to more videos. Have a great day.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Thankyou! 😀

[@Ian-pf2pw]

I love the dowiana it is so green and looks so fresh and healthy 🌱

[@TheOrchidRoom]

It's such a cute plant with its long leaves and fat bulbs! 🤗

[@normantorok5919]

Hey, so exciting to see your channel pop up in the feed, we missed you :) It's generous you sharing your home with us, really a lovely space...congrats on all the renovations, looks like a job well done. Those shelves in the window, damn clever...and that conservatory...wow. Super glad for you.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Hi Norman! Thanks so much 🙂💗 Now I just need to stop myself covering the entire window with orchids 😆

[@normantorok5919]

@@TheOrchidRoom Oh come now...let's be realistic...its gonna happen :)

[@sheiselwilliams1]

I love your glitter wall. At 65 years old I now think I need one.😁

[@vlr7017]

Your collection is sooo beautiful! Super video like always 😊

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Thankyou 💗🙂

[@liverocks2025]

They are doing really great in SH, love how lush the leaves look🌿

[@orchidsbythelake]

Your plants all look so clean! As well as the grow room! I don’t know if you had a chance to watch my greenhouse update but compare to mine, yours is so clean!!! My wife would love your conservatory... and dowiana... yes, they are expensive aren’t they? I now have access to wholesale price and yet hesitant to buy them because it’s so expensive! Even wholesale price.... so expensive.... so as C. rex... I can’t even find rex in any wholesale world...

[@jokennedy2943]

All looking good! 🌱🌺🌸

[@tammyjohnson7401]

I have 5 lovely Phalenopsis two are rescue. I want to get a Catliya one day, sooner then later. Enjoyed your video. Thank you

[@tropicalplantsfinland]

I'm always up for all the videos you upload. :) so would be interested on the all repots.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

😀💗

[@NicoleDeanna]

Conservatory looks great!

[@DanAl2440]

I really like those corner shelves👍🏽

[@MelissaWalker82]

Great progress all the way around!

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Thankyou 🙂 💗

[@Spencer_Plant_Projects]

I have a couple of dowiana seedlings. I'm finding that they are not nearly as fussy as people have mentioned, in my conditions at least. Excited to see yours develop in S/H compared to my bark grown babies.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

I find this also with my couple of dowiana! I wonder if they don't love being too dry before rewatering, and get stress related rot when dried too much followed by staying too wet, like miltoniopsis sensitivity to erwinia when stressed? Baceause all I hear is how slow they are to grow and how they rot so easily, and maybe after a few more years I'll think that too, who knows.

[@Spencer_Plant_Projects]

@@TheOrchidRoom i think a lot of the growing advice for orchids is based around greenhouse culture. in temperate areas I think they are sensitive to cold wet roots in the winter. not an issue for an indoor grower like me. I have also heard that there was clones with poor genetics floating around- many people are hesitant to cull seedlings of a valuable species at any point in the flasking process due to $$$ lost. many poorly growing plants (species and hybrids) are floating around due to the latter reason-

[@dancealiasable]

Omg Im so envious of yr orchid room I wish one day I can live I a plave that has a room like that for plants. Living in an apartment is just so sad sometime.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

I totally get it, I'm very lucky to have been able to move somewhere with such a fantastic space! But before this I was just cramming them into a spare bedroom and they also grew amazingly, so there are ways around 🙂 Even if it's just windowsills and the odd table, it's still going to make you happy as they grow and thats the whole point really isn't it 🙂

[@dancealiasable]

@@TheOrchidRoom absolutely but still to have that orchid I would put a couch in there and can sit there for hours sipping on tea.and appreciate the marvel of nature lol

[@TheOrchidRoom]

I really want to get a cafe type table and chair set just for this! It's a constant mess though with quick repots happening on the floor at any given time 😆 Need to get a storage bench I think!

[@dancealiasable]

@@TheOrchidRoom oh you should do it I mean it would be amazing to sit there when the room is full of blooms

[@olya4903]

A+ glitter wall and frog brush💯 The place is looking fantastic! If it makes you feel better, I've been filming orchid videos since April and have yet to post a single one (maybe 2 are done being edited?). Also, question: when you have a chance, could you talk about which plant lights are on the shelf in your lounge that has the house plants, and if you're happy with them? I am planning a similar setup and am overwhelmed by lighting options.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Hahaha! 💗🐸 Essential items I'd say 😀 Sorry to hear that, it's tough starting a channel, I say you just throw the videos out there and hope not too many see them while you learn 😆 I still cringe so much when people rewatch my first videos! One of orchie dees first phal repots blew up recently, and she wished it was a newer video that got all the attention! I can totally imagine being the same if that ever happened to me. Yes no problem re shelf lights! 🙂 I had to mix in cool white LED strips as the actual lights I bought were too red toned, not enough blue.

[@mariakarathanasi9799]

PS love your help ( muffin)👌🤣🤣😍

[@lucamartinelli1156]

Lovely

[@rianmilit]

Oh, the house is looking great, love the glitter wall. And the grow room really is a relaxation area. Gosh, your Frances Fox is looking awesome, I bought a small division this year, however it got a weird rot from the top of the pbulbs, in the middle of the section, and it spread quickly. I might give it another try in the future. Do you have an ID on the gorgeous phal with a huge cascade of flowers that is in your lounge, near the window? It looks stunning.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Sorry to hear about your Frances! Sometimes these things happen, I definitely think you should try again! No sorry just a NoID IKEA phalaenopsis, there are lots of very similar hybrids that are very common here at least 🙂

[@rianmilit]

@@TheOrchidRoom I will, definitely, but I will wait for next year, I think. Looking forward for more updates from you, how are the Sansevieria doing?

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Good plan, it's getting a bit late now for new plants. I had an Ecuagenera order from the start of September that's been delayed, worried about it! The Sansevieria are doing great, I actually moved them into the lounge because I wanted more plants on this shelf hiding the bags of seedling jars 😆 but they are getting a bit big for the cups I planted them in, very top heavy. Need to think up a nice pot combination for them!

[@loho1125]

Your conservatory looks so amazing🤩! I would like to see the Frances Fox repot😊 + Did the last of the Cleisocentron crosses eventually fail or is it still looking promising🤔

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Thankyou! I didn't get round to doing the others today once I edited, so I'll maybe just record Frances when I do her. She's spiking rn, but that new growth is going to be a real pain to work with once it starts making roots! Shockingly, the Cleisocentron x Phal Su's Glad Kid 'Blue' pod is continuing to swell. Its quite big now. Even if it carries it to maturity though, there's still a chance of very few or no viable seeds I think. But it's promising that it's nice and plump already!

[@MattbyNature]

So funny. I received my Cattleya dowiana from Schwerter in the mail today. It's still much smaller than yours... Hopefully it's going to go through the glowup yours had!

[@TheOrchidRoom]

I saw they still had them, and wondered if their ones now were the same seedling batch they had when I bought this before, and how much they had grown? I hope your little baby does well too! 🙂💗 I find them quite easy going, but know they have a bad reputation!

[@stephennorthfield9360]

Very much enjoyed the video. Would like to know your charge rate for decorating 😉 maybe an opportunity for another youtube channel. Just love the stunning array of flowering orchids.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Hahaha! Thankyou! I've never done anything like it before, only ever rented, so I was keen to get that wallpaper down and make the area brighter (for me and the plants 😁). I watched a lot of painting tutorials before I started, was super careful about taping up all the coving and joins etc, nice clean lines, then ended up painting them all white anyway, as after taking the tape off they looked so yellow against the white walls! 🤣

[@wandashaw3551]

Hi Rachel I was wondering if you ever mixed Leca and spaghnum moss together in self watering? Thanks again

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Hi Wanda, Not really, the sphagnum would negate the LECA. You'd still need to repot every year due to the sphagnum breakdown, and the moisture level in the pot would be similar to using pure sphagnum. I don't see the benefit? Other than if you wanted to do self-watering with Sphagnum, but didn't have enough sphagnum left so wanted to bulk it out. Hope that helps 🙂 Annabel

[@wandashaw3551]

@@TheOrchidRoom makes very good sense to me! Thank you for your advice! Heard this suggested by another orchid you tuber and it didn’t sound like a good idea!

[@MilanOfCreagan]

Comment about your glitter wall made me laugh so much 😅😅 slowly catching up on videos. Do you have any purpuratas then?

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Hey Milan! Hope you're well. I have a couple of purpurata variety young plants, probably 3 or so years from adult size. I also have 2 purpurata hybrids, I think I showed one here (purpurata x tenebrosa, can't remember if it's in this video) and also one I've had in bloom a few times, Lc elegans.

[@darcylyon1870]

How did you get all the leca out from the drain?

[@sue0303]

Do you grow your African violet in leca also？ Will you make a video of your AV sometime?

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Yes they are all in LECA 🙂 I can make a video sometime if you like 🙂

[@sue0303]

@@TheOrchidRoom yes, I would love to see a video of your African Violet in LECA. I have a few trailing AV that I keep wondering if I can transfer to Leca. Looking forward to your AV video 😀 Thank you so much.

[@KAMJKJ]

We are antiipating an update on rynhchostylis retusa potte in semi hydro setup

[@TheOrchidRoom]

It's been in a few videos and a tour recently- I'll be doing a vanda update at some point when I have time!

[@danielm.1441]

I have the exact same 'fan plaster' ceiling.

[@TheOrchidRoom]

Are you in the UK? Some of the artexing was peeling off on this one in the corner, where there had been some damp that got in a long time ago and the ceiling never got re-plastered. So I pulled the peeling, falling off bits off, and filled, but its such a pain, won't match up obviously. Painted over and at least from a distance you can't tell.

[@danielm.1441]

@@TheOrchidRoom Yup, we moved in to our first house in Feb just before the lockdown! So no work done, but we've got minor damp issues to solve too... waiting for the pandemic to be over/vaccine really before starting anything major

[@TheOrchidRoom]

I can understand that, I also would rather not have new people coming and going from the house for maintenance etc. I even took a chance and ordered all the paints online, not wanting to make unnecessary trips with the increasing case load right now 😥 I need to sell my old car at the moment and keep putting it off, buying one right now was stressful enough- rather not have a stream of unknown people in and out of it. So difficult, I guess this is life now 😥 I hope all goes well with the new house decorating 🙂

[@TheDanEdwards]

You'll enjoy the C. Pacavia. The C. tenebrosa tends to make the colors of C. purpurata more vibrant, and often the flowers are quite large. Here's a C. Pacavia I had many years ago: flic.kr/p/2k1Dm6n .

[@TheOrchidRoom]

That's beautiful! I'm even more excited for it to bloom now, it was a bit of an impulse purchase but I'm so glad I bought it, it grows so well!