Oops - cattleya repot gone a bit wrong

[Kerry]

Oh dear, in a previous post I asked what was growing on one of my new babies, a Catt Bob Elliott, and the answer was of course roots.

As the roots were every day getting longer with the p-bulb and new roots were hanging out the pot, and the flower from the previous pseudobulb had died, I thought today was a good day to repot. I have a bit of charcol and lots of bark, and so the plant got a good soak last night to encourage roots to behave themselves.

Well they did, the plant got eased out of it's pit with only the slightest difficulty, and without further ado the newest p-bulb and the old one with the dying flowers promptly fell off. Completely. The rhizome apparently didn't like them.

So, I am quite happy to pot these two p-bulbs on, but the only thing I am concerned about is the fact that apart from the new growing roots on the new p-bulb, there are only two aerial roots on the old p-bulb. I only have bark or bark, perlite and peat mix, and a tiny bit of charcoal. Is there anything else I should do to try and encourage the roots to grow and support the plant, or should I just leave it be, keeping it slightly dry?



Pictures below of the remaining plant and root ball.



Oh, and by the way, how do you tell which of the catts roots are healthy? they all look pale or brown to me!

Thanks

[smartie2000]

...The catt roots look healthy. The brownish roots are also heathy, these are the roots that have adapted to grow in moist media rather than the air. I would just pot the two growth plant in your bark mix and stake it to keep it upright. I see that new roots are coming out already, it has been already stimulated

[Piper]

Don't worry, Kerry! They can do that. If you want, you can pot the small division in a pot with sphag. That will supply a nice humid environment to the few roots it has.

Or just put it in your bark mix and stake it carefully. It should be fine.

McJulie

[Kerry]

Well it got potted in the smallest clear plastic pot I had, in bark, with stakes to hold it up. I'd had to boil the pot, well put the pot in boiling water to sterilise it as I have no chemicals apart from toilet bleach!

It's sitting slightly back from the window with the others, and hopefully the rapid growth of the roots will continue.

Thanks for the reassurance, I thought I was doing ok, it's just I had planned to make divisions of 3-4 p-bulbs (as described in RV's picture walkthrough) and I was slightly surprsed by the newest bit just falling off!

[pavel]

Oh, and by the way, how do you tell which of the catts roots are healthy? they all look pale or brown to me!

Typically, dead roots are rather mushy or spongy as opposed to firm. Also when repotting & removing old media or dividing a plant, on dead roots the outer covering tends to come off.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Another trick to potting up an orchid with few roots is to take the staking wire that one normally uses to tie the plant to the stake and to make 'artificial' roots on the plants base. Tie large pieces of the tie line wire around the very bottom of the plant and leave the long ends going out away from the plants base. Carefully pot up the orchid making sure to cover the tie lines well and this will help to keep the orchid from falling over. The stake is also important, so don't forget that!

Cheers,
BD

[Kerry]

Good idea, thanks for that suggestion.

Although I think that Mr. Two Pseudobulbs might not appreciate being yanked around anymore. We had a little emergency propping up to do at the weekend, and he is well and truly anchored to about 5 wooden skewers sellotaped to the outside of the flower pot.