I'm not very familiar with 'old' catts and I just had to repot one out of a 5" pot after the blooms faded because there was about 15 aerial roots growing over the side. I know I should put them in pots that will take 1-2 years growth so I repotted into a 6" with as much space as possible between the two leading growths and the side of the pot.

This baby has 14 healthy PBs with about the smallest 5 a bit shriveled and the rest are chubby, happy things. All of them have healthy leaves. There are 3 new growths off the leading edge and after watching the growth for a while since repotting , it looks like they'll outgrow the pot again before the winter rest. That's okay with me since they bloom best when a bit pot-bound but here's some questions. At what point do I start removing the old back bulbs? Do I take off the old, partially shriveled ones and leave a healthy one attached to see if it sprouts a new leading growth? Is there a best quantity of old bulbs to remove as a group and start a new plant?

Any advice appreciated.

Oh, c'mon guys, at least give me a clue instead of ignoring me.

Sorry Ernie, not ignoring, I just have no clue....hopefully one of the Catt. growers will check in.

Sorry Ernie, I don't have a clue either. I don't grow Catts, hopefully someone who also grows Catts can post a reply!

I'd help, but I only have about 3. I've had them for several years not and they are doing NOTHING. (At least I have not killed them.......YET!) :roll:

Ernie in my limited experience, you can cut the back bulbs 4 or 5 of them, and repot them also. They should, if healthy and rooted well enough grow new growths for ya. When I am repotting I remove the older shrivelled bulbs, but I throw them away they do not have leaves. Good luck let us know how it turned out!

Ernie

There are a couple of Catt Masters in our area including Ed M if he's watching posts. It seems like the rule of thumb is to keep the 4 to 6 most recent growths. But in the last couple of years I've been keeping a few Catts, some you can just keep increasing the pot size and you might get multiple leads going from old as well as the newest growths, and get a monster flowering beast.

I've been told that you can also cut between the backbulbs and the new ones, leaving them in the same pot, and this will also promote multiple leads in the same pot.

Ernie,

Tadd is right. You should keep at least 3, but preferably 4-5 growths together. Needless to say; cut off any pseudobulbs that are brown or beginning to yellow. Cut off roots that have browned or rotted from the back pseudobulbs. Then put all the good roots carefully into a pot that will allow for two years growing.
I was also taught that if the plant is not outgrowing the pot and has about 8-10 growths; you can (using a sharp knive) cut the plant in half. Leave it in the pot this way for another year. You should force both divisions to send new growths. Then, after it's next blooming, you can separate into two divisions easily.
Both ways have worked extremely well for my catts.