Well, true, you don't want them to get THAT shriveled up. But mine do
show some signs of ridging from water usage, and this is normal, and
nothing to worry about during dormancy. But your response shows perhaps
some misunderstanding. My plants are very plump at the time they go into
dormancy. The 'shriveling' is really just some normal signs of ridging
in the bulbs by the END of the dormancy period. I have watered some
plants perhaps twice during the dormant period, but not when it is cold
or dark. As for 'terribly shriveled up', note that I say that rarely
happens. If it does, then the plant must be sick or rotting or
something. Left on their own, I can leave many of them for 2 to 3 months
with NO water, NO misting, and keep them in my 10% humidity on
windowsills with little or in many cases no signs of shriveling
whatsoever...depends on the species. Some Cycnoches like a little more
moisture, as do Mormodes. I would be venture to say that a plant that
actually shrivels up to the point of death due to withholding water
during dormancy is probably dying from some other cause anyway. They
just NEVER die from lack of water over the dormant period in my
experience. But then, I only have about 40 Catasetinae plants at
present, so my experience is perhaps more limited than some growers.
Remember the old practice of unpotting the plants and sticking them in
the garage to be forgotten until spring. I have corresponded with one
grower who still does this.

Mist them during dormancy... and you can kill them very quickly too.
Actually, I never did do much misting, even when I had a greenhouse with
hundreds of mixed types of orchids.

As for trying to prevent them from going into dormancy, I have never
found this to be even POSSIBLE through witholding watering, in years of
growing these plants. They go dormant quite on their own terms whether I
continue to water them or not. But if you keep watering them when they
want to go dormant, you kill them. Some growers cut off the leaves to
'force' dormancy. This seems ridiculous and totally unnatural to me.
Leaves are the plant's food factories. If the plant has them, it is
probably using them for something.

Under my conditions, almost all species go leafless in just a matter of
days right around Christmas time. Water them only if they send up
flowers or leaves. I often have plants that bloom in the fall while in
full leaf, then will go dormant completely dropping their leaves, then
in a few weeks send up more flowers, then go back to sleep again. Also,
some plants, whether species or hybrids, may show different bloom times
n different years for me.

profpam wrote in :

Robert said:
But even if your plant looks terribly
shriveled up (which rarely happens), mine often completely plump up
within 1 or 2 days of watering again in the spring.

If bulbs are terribly shriveled up, they usually do not respond to
water and do not even produce keikis. If a plant does not have the
bulbage, misting is needed and watering may be necessary as well as to
not allow it to go into dormancy. Once dormant and shriveled, if
there is no other new growth (whether dormant or otherwise) then the
catasetum is a goner.

. . . Pam

--
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* Bob Dickow ) *
* Hampton School of Music *
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