My first thought is that Uncle Vito should ask the Sta Barbara Estate what
they do ... since that regimen, whatever it may be, successfully grew the
plants for the however many years before he bought them.
But more generally, Catts tend to be pretty hardy and adaptable. In
Belize,
where I've had a few op****tunities to see them growing in the wild, the
plants get a lot of rain for several months of the year, but they also
survive a very pronounced dry season, during which they may get no water
at
all (well, maybe a little morning dew) for a couple of months.
Here in South Florida, we don't water our mounted Catts any more than we
do
those in pots with medium, and they do just fine. In a low humidity
environment, I think more frequent watering would be advisable.
But as a testimonial to the "hardy" part: We dropped a tray of bareroot
Enc. alata while unloading our trailer at the end of a show. Several
weeks
later, while loading up for the next show, we noticed that some of them
had
rolled under one of the shelves. All survived, and most were in spike,
after at least 6 weeks in an ungodly hot, dark environment with no water
at
all. Not that I recommend such treatment <LOL>.
Kenni
"Ray B" <raybark@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:hCADj.768$Nr1.750@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Tenman wrote (in part):
>> What is commonly missed is that these plants neeed a good deal of
water.
>> They don't like to stay wet, but they still need the water..
>
> I think the "don't like to stay wet" part of our knowledge of
> orchid-growing comes from suffocating the roots in insufficiently airy
> media, and not from too much water, per se.
>
> Taking a clip from The Baker's orchidculture.com free sheet on Cattleya
> skinneri, for example:
> _____________________Plants usually grow in wet mountain forests from
near
> sea level to about
> 4100 ft. (1250 m), but they also occur on rocks at higher elevations
where
> rainfall is greater and eva****ation is less._____________________
> That sounds to me like "staying wet" is the norm. We have to consider,
> however, that the root systems are very much exposed (sort of like those
> of "Uncle Vito's" plants) to air so they im****tant gas exchange
processes
> that occur through the root systems go on unimpeded.
> --
>
> Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
> Plants, Supplies. Books, Artwork, and lots of Free Info!
>
>
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