SEEDLING CATTLEYAS ARE so much fun. They do not take up much space in your growing area when you first bring them home, so you can buy lots of them at orchid shows without worrying about where you are going to put them. You get to watch each plant grow bigger and stronger and imagine what its first blooms will look like. If you decide the flower was worth the wait, you give it a permanent home in your growing area. When it starts growing out of the pot, you move it into a larger pot and look forward to it producing multiple flower spikes and putting on a real show. Then one day your plant is growing out of an 8- or 10-inch (20- or 25-cm) pot, you start running out of options and eventually you have to decide to either find a bigger pot or divide the plant.
[1] I got this Cattlianthe (Laeliocattleya) Panipasa ‘Royal Satin’ from Bill Tippit when we lived in Houston. It is a cross between Cattlianthe (Laeliocattleya) Adolph Hecker and Cattleya guttata made by Raymond Burr of Sea God Nurseries. This prolific fall bloomer was in a place of honor in a 16-inch (41-cm) pot until it outgrew the pot. It was time to find it a new home(s).
I have a serious orchid addiction, so it goes without saying that I am always running out of bench space. A compounding problem is my love of the large standard cattleyas that, not coincidentally, take up a lot of space. I needed a way of potting up my overgrown cattleyas without having one pot turn into two or three or four, so I often pot divisions into the same pot. Spoiler alert: You will be ineligible for AOS cultural awards by having more than one plant in a pot, but if your primary goal is getting the most flowers per square inch (square centimeter) of pot space, read on.
[2] Cattleya (Sophrolaeliocattleya) Tuchenbach — an overgrown bifoliate.
(A) This bifoliate cattleya is starting to grow new roots, so it is time to stop neglecting it and start the overdue repotting session.
(B) There are two actively growing leads. Work from the back of the plant to protect the tender young growths. Remove the old tired pseudobulbs.
(C) You may have to use a knife to separate the roots attached to the outside of the pot. Make sure the roots are wet and soon they’re free!
(D) If this plant is potted as a single piece into this 10-inch (25-cm) pot, the lead on the left will be out of the pot within a year.
(E) Cut away the older growths that will never bloom again, and rid the plant of ugly leaf syndrome at the same time.
(F) Trimming the second growth is tougher because I left only two pseudobulbs plus the new growth; eliminating ugly leaf syndrome prevailed over leaving the desired three growths.
(G) Situate the first piece in the pot and splay the roots over a layer of lava rock or other drainage material placed at the bottom of the pot.
(H) Situate the second piece in the pot and spread those roots out, holding both pieces so they will be at the right depth in the pot.
(I) Backfill with your potting mix of choice, making sure the midpoints of the rhizomes are about even with the top of the potting mix.
Before you start, work out a plan for how you are going to repot that huge cattleya. Start the process by finding the youngest growth and working backward until you have counted off 3–5 pseudobulbs; this represents a potential cutting point. If you have the plant growing in several different directions, trace all the growths back from youngest to oldest. Envision how the separate pieces will look in the pot.
Choose the right time to repot, when new root growth is initiating, so your plant will reestablish quickly. Always work from the back of the plant, whether water blasting, pulling off papery sheaths or performing surgery. Work away from the tender new growths so you will not break off a new lead and utter something you might later regret. Once you have made your cuts, orient the growths in their new home without potting medium to get an idea of whether your plan will work, whether additional surgery is necessary, or whether you should break down and put those pieces into more than one pot. Once you have settled on a plan, you can start backfilling and securing the plant.
[3] Rhyncholaeliocattleya (Brassolaeliocattleya) Mahina Yahiro — an overgrown unifoliate.
(A) This unifoliate cattleya needs to be repotted or it will rapidly become too unstable in the pot to support its blooms.
(B) The desirable front part of the plant has three new growing leads. Pot up the backbulbs or put them on the raffle table at your club.
(C) The front half of the plant will fit into an 8-inch (20-cm) pot, but just barely. It will outgrow this pot in a year or two. Either divide it or put it in a 10-inch (25-cm) pot.
(D) The front division can be cut into two pieces and both pieces set in the pot. Here the first piece is oriented in the pot.
(E) Situate the second piece in the pot, and while holding both pieces at the proper depth, backfill with your mix of choice.
(F) Sshh. Purely organic fertilizer is the latest snake oil I am testing, spread on the media of newly potted orchids. Report to follow.
How many times have you repotted a cattleya only to find that the leaf on the oldest pseudobulb yellows and dies within a month or two? You say to yourself, “If I had removed that oldest growth, I would have another inch or two (2–5 cm) in the pot for the plant to grow and added another year before it has to be repotted. When planning how to repot a given orchid, balance the benefit of the food and water stored in that pseudobulb against the negative of how ugly that oldest growth is. Be brutal and cut away the old growths that suffer from ugly plant syndrome. If you end up with a great-looking section of backbulbs with lots of live eyes, either repot it or leave it bareroot on a plant tray and bring it in to the raffle table at your club (bring a picture of the plant for the newbies so they know what they are bidding on). But, if the backbulbs are suffering from ugly plant syndrome, just kiss that part of the plant goodbye.
[4] Several months later.
(A) Sometimes you will find a cattleya that grows radially along the rhizome rather than linearly. Pot these in the center of the pot.
(B) I did not do too well with this one when I potted it two months ago. I will be lucky to get a year in the pot before I have to carve it up again.
(C) This cattleya is recovering nicely from being repotted two months ago. I’m hoping for blooms on each of the four new leads.
Although the general rule is that you should strive to keep at least three and preferably five pseudobulbs to ensure the plant has enough energy reserves to recover from transplant shock, there are strong, vigorous growers that will recover well even if repotted with fewer growths. I was once given a Myrmecophilabrysiana with a single large pseudobulb and thought, Hmmm, wonder how long this will take to flower? It had a beautiful bloom less than two years later. Each cattleya is different, and not too many of them have ever read the orchid books. Learn to trust your instincts. Do not be afraid to try something different if it feels like it is the right thing to do.
— Sue Bottom started growing orchids in Houston in the mid-1990s after her husband Terry built her first greenhouse. They settled into St. Augustine, Florida, Sue with her orchids and Terry with his camera and are active in the St. Augustine Orchid Society, maintaining the society’s website and publishing its monthly newsletter. Sue is also a member of the AOS Editorial Board (sbottom15@hotmail.com).
