catt seedlings

[momokev]

Hi Jason,

Good to have your input. How often do you water your 2" catt seedlings?

Lisa

[Jmoney]

In 3" clay pots, in a mix consisting of fine chc, med chc, charcoal, and on a south windowsill, about every 4 days. The top of the mix gets sprayed every morning, or whenever I remember.

[Heather]

I'm a catt mister too! I started doing that this winter when I was a little unsure how dry they were - watering once a week at that point. Now I water more often since it is summer, but they still seem to like the misting, so I kept it up.

[momokev]

Glad to read your post, Jason, as always. I feel good about my watering schedule since I've had your imput. Since mine are in smaller, 2 inch clay rose pots, I don't feel that I'm overwatering by watering every 3 days. I do need to start misting though, as I only do that on plants with poor root systems. I do have a humidifer close by, so that has helped, I'm sure.

As for the little babies, I might try cutting back to every other day again, and misting the tops in between. Or I might just mist more, and water less. Their roots are only about 1/2 inch long, or smaller. I'm wondering if I should have sphag'ed for a while. Dang, rambling..... sorry.

Orchid growing by trial and error,

Lisa

[Cinderella]

Lisa, thanks for checking with your Catt expert.

Jason, I have always wondered...what does charcoal do in a mix?

[Aerides]

Lisa

Jason, that sounds about right to me too for that mix, in those pots and in that exposure. I like to mist the surface and aerial roots of my catts daily too. My catts don't have the red root tips, but I have a Rhyncostylis in a basket that has all red root tips. Glad to read that it's not unhealthy.

John

[Jmoney]

Lisa, I didn't realize you were using 2" clay pots. I think you are watering correctly. Since clay dries out so rapidly when compared to plastic, on warm sunny days it would not be unreasonable in the least bit to water 2" pots *every* day. Maybe even more often during a heat wave.

Cinderella: charcoal is kind of the "voodoo" in orchid growing. Many mixes contain it, and it is supposed to "sweeten" the mix by absorbing various toxins. It is used occasionally in medicine, in certain types of medication overdose, and does absorb odors. I don't know if it's ever been *proven* to help in orchid growing. But of course I like to stick 10-20% of charcoal in all my mixes anyway.

[momokev]

Cinderella,

I has a quote from one of my books for you, 'Orchids, care and cultivation' by Gerald Leroy-Terquem & Jean Parisot about charcoal.

"It has antiseptic properties associated with its power to absorb bacteria and microorganisms"

Lisa

[Cinderella]

huh, do you use it too, Lisa?

[Jmoney]

Cinderella,

I has a quote from one of my books for you, 'Orchids, care and cultivation' by Gerald Leroy-Terquem & Jean Parisot about charcoal.

"It has antiseptic properties associated with its power to absorb bacteria and microorganisms"

Lisa

I believe charcoal is more likely to absorb chemical toxins, i.e. plant wastes, than microscopic bugs. Or at least it's supposed to do that.