0:00
The first time I ever got a catacetum orchid, it was in dormancy, so yes, it did look like this
0:06
and I thought it was the ugliest little thing. I was like, how in the world is this an orchid
0:12
But yes, it's an orchid. Catacetum orchids are one of my favorite orchids, and they are not tricky
0:18
though they do have a different cycle than a phalanopsis or a catella or dendrobium
0:24
And they have their own special rules to what is the right time to pot, what is the very time to pot, what is the
0:29
right time to water and once you get those down they're easy be easy hi I'm
0:39
Amanda Matthews and thank you for watching this video at Orcadaria where I teach
0:43
you how to cultivate orchids and craft terrarians when is the correct time to
0:48
oh gosh sorry I'm gonna cut this out oh if you're used to growing phalanopsis
0:56
orchids the difference in this is it doesn't grow in the hot, humid rainforest in the tropical and subtropical climates of Southeast Asia
1:06
Catacetambs do not grow like phalanopsis orchids just attach to the bark
1:10
What they'll grow is they'll grow on a palm tree. So they grow in the plains and in the savannah
1:16
So where the palm tree goes straight and then the leaves turn out
1:21
the catacetum is going to nestle in that between the bark and the leaf that is going out to the side
1:28
So it's going to settle in there. And in these places, it doesn't rain for a long, long time
1:33
When I lived in Brazil, where I was, it would not rain for four months straight
1:39
Sometimes it would get up to rain five months and then we'd have to go into humidity alerts
1:43
You know, like here they have snow days where they cancel school from snow
1:47
In Brasilia, they would have humidity days because the humidity was actually lower than the Sahara Desert, believe it or not
1:55
So we would have to stay home. We would have to do all kinds of things like
1:59
white towels in the rooms and get water pans and distribute where they would divide which days who would
2:05
use the water since it was so scarce. So this is where catacetums live. They do not mind living in that
2:13
space for that long of a time without being water. So in Brazil when these would grow, they're used
2:19
to not getting a drop of water. As soon as they get water, they will stunt, almost stunt their root growth
2:27
So this catacetum orchid is going to feel the temperature change. It's also going to feel the change in humidity
2:37
And that's going to signal the orchid that rains are coming. And as soon as the rains come, they really want that root system to be already developed
2:48
That's why they start sending out new roots before the rains are coming
2:55
Now, to repot, you want to repot. want to make sure there already are roots growing, but they haven't touched the potting media yet
3:04
I like to wait till I see the roots. Some people repotted a little bit before. Like as in this
3:11
example, I waited a little bit too long to repot. So those roots are already starting to go down
3:20
into the potting media and I don't want that. You can already see the roots are growing out of the
3:26
suitable and it starting to go down into that potting media you want to repot before those roots touch the old potting media So right as you see new roots that the perfect time to repot
3:41
And that usually coincides with spring. And once they reach that pawning media, it's going to be really hard to retrain them to like a new pawning media
3:53
So that's why you have to repot and don't water. Now this is one of the hardest things to do because it really, you know, you're always used to the phalanopsis roots
4:06
So I can't, I don't want to cut too many roots. I don't want to take this off
4:10
I just want to, I want to make sure that they're healthy
4:15
Well, a catacetum is different. A catacetum has already used all these roots and these roots are useless
4:22
You can cut them away. So that's what I'm going to do now. I'm going to take off this old potting meeting
4:29
and being very careful to not break any of the new roots
4:35
The new roots should be right underneath or to the side of the suitable
4:41
These roots are just yearly. They do not do anything for the orchid anymore
4:47
All this is just dead here. And it looks like this was an even smaller plug
4:54
So let's take this off. I am going to cut these old flower spikes
4:59
off now. I could have done that a long time ago because I will not be needing them. So here's the second one
5:07
And this one I have to really make sure that I do not, I preserve those roots and do not touch those roots
5:15
I'm going to actually cut this side off of first and then go around removing this old potting media
5:23
See there are no good roots left. This is just pure sphagnum
5:29
All the roots went to the outside on this one. To make this easier, you can slit the knife right down the side and open it up a little bit
5:37
And this is not the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, but it will be. And on to catacetum number three, which has one new pseudobul growing here and one new suitable growing here
5:51
So it's growing out both to the sides of the orchids, so I need to be careful about this repot
5:58
and there's probably roots under here, so I need to be careful with that
6:03
So let's cut. See, and when you're cutting, you're just cutting the old sphagnum away
6:09
All this is dead, dead, dead, dead. So you can get rid of that
6:14
On some repots, like a phallinopsis repot, some advice is to soak the orchid so that the roots become malleable
6:22
and can easily exit that pot. you do not want to do this with the catacetum. Now it's dry like this because it's been dry for about
6:32
four months now and that's what catacetum's like. Now in a case like this, how do you know if it's an older
6:40
root or a newer root? The newer roots are always going to have green tips on them. They are
6:46
whiter than the beige color old roots. So this is a newer root right here and this older root is
6:56
beige it paper it sounds like you squishing a brown paper bag when you deal with older roots so since there are a lot of older roots right in here mixed with the newer roots and I don want to risk damaging them
7:14
I'm going to leave this section of the older roots. I have my three orchids and it's time
7:20
to pick a pot that's going to work. This was the first pseudobope that ever grew on this orchid
7:27
This is the second one and this is going to be the third one, which will be probably one
7:33
third of bigger than the older ones. So when I repot, I want to visually calculate the size of this
7:40
and add a third to it. And that's probably what this is going to be. One thing about repotting
7:47
catacetum orchids, when you pick a pot, you're not going to pick the pot that a phalanopsis is like
7:53
which has lots of holes in the side and it's aerated and has holes on the bottom for good drainage
7:58
You're going to want a cup or any kind of bottle that you want to reuse
8:06
It should not drain because we're going to make the holes in this special made for the catacetum
8:12
Sometimes it's really hard to find a pot that actually works for catacetum, but any water bottle that you have for this size of orchid
8:22
it would fit in this pot perfectly. So sometimes these are the best to use
8:28
Now that I am done with this, I'm going to cut it around here
8:33
So it will have all of this to grow down and create root. And cut it around there
8:40
Okay, that's about it. If you're having problems, finding pots for your catacetum
8:46
because next year, obviously, this one will not work anymore, a water bottle
8:50
It will have to be something bigger. So you can improvise anything in your home, just like this
8:56
I'm going to take this popcorn out. and I'm going to cut it right about here
9:01
So now that I've cut this off, why do I want a pot that doesn't have drainage
9:06
Well, in fact, it does. You're going to count about two to three fingers from the top
9:12
And it's not a finger like your hairdresser when you go to the salon and say
9:16
you know, cut three fingers off my hair and they whack your hair off. Don't do that. Now I have holes all the way around the pot
9:26
What I'm going to do now is you can eat. either use styrofoam peanuts or I'm going to use pea pebbles. So let me get those
9:36
So here's the pea pebbles inside the pot. Now I'm going to fill it with orchid bark
9:42
Some people like to use pure sphagnum moss. That is okay too. I don't because I have a heavy
9:51
hand in watering and I tend to overwater way more than I should. So I'm going to use bark. Either
9:57
One is fine as long as you know your schedule and you know when to use it
10:03
So I have bark that I have pre-soaked and it's not going to make a difference now, but it will in a couple months when you pre-soak it
10:12
So you're going to fill this almost at the top. Now I know this sounds insane to fill it that much, but yes, those roots are going to grow down and drink water from the reservoir, which there always will be water in the reservoir
10:27
So get that name tag and make sure you're not covering the water hole
10:32
Now I'm going to fertilize this. The good thing about catacetum orchids is that you can fertilize them easy and you do not have to worry about But you can get little pebbles
10:50
There are several name brands here and I do not want to get involved with name brands
10:55
But you get one that is just a pellet and it will dissolve over time
11:01
So of course I'm not going to use this much. It's a tiny orchid
11:05
So just a squeeze, just about that much, and I'm going to put it on the side of the pot, like so
11:13
On the other side, I'm going to use just a normal regular fertilizer, just a squeeze also
11:20
And I'm going to put it on the other side. Now I'm going to put my catacetum orchid in
11:28
Put the back bulbs or the oldest bulbs to the very side, to the very side, so that the very side
11:35
so that the front of the orchid still can grow. And to keep it here, I'm going to put sphagnum moss on top of it
11:43
I do not want this sphagnum moss dripping wet. So I'm going to squeeze the most water I want out of it
11:49
And this is just to prevent the roots from drying out until they can reach that reservoir of water
11:58
When the orchid senses that it is rising in humidity, that's when we use this damps num because the damps num will not provide enough water to hinder the root growth
12:13
but it will be just humid around there. It will be enough humidity to signal, hey, I need to get more roots growing
12:20
Once you actually water this, the orchid will hinder the production of roots
12:26
and because the roots are already stable, they're going to soak up everything. That is also why it's important that you do not over
12:32
water at this stage. The roots are not ready and they're not adapted to being watered
12:37
They will have a hard time. You want this around the suitable but not directly on top of it
12:45
So later come by and take it away from the top of the suitable. I do not want this orchid moving
12:53
inside the pot. When you repot a phalanopsis orchid, it is really good to water it afterwards
13:00
wait one day and then really water it. For a catacetum orchid, you do not want to do this
13:07
You are not going to water this until that root that was here gets down to about at least three inches
13:17
But if you can wait until it gets about eight inches, then water
13:22
The more you wait for watering a catacetum orchid, the better that it will be
13:28
I forgot the fertilizer. rewind. So they're going to travel down all the way to this reservoir to get water
13:37
And that's what they do in the palm trees. That's what they do in these coconut trees
13:40
You can see the roots. That's why you need a transparent pot for catacetums
13:46
I mean, it's awfully ugly. I know, but the flowers are just beautiful. They're actually one of my favorites
13:52
If you've enjoyed this video, please give it a like, a subscribe, a thumbs up
13:56
Just help me say something in the comments. If you disagree with something
14:00
please say that too because this is a community and we learn from each other's comments so please
14:06
do that and don't stop your orchid care here if you want to watch these two videos i strongly
14:12
suggest that and happy cultivating
