Catasetum pendulum is found in Western coastal Mexico, states of Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Michoacán, and Colima. It grows on palms, deciduous oaks, dying trees with rotting wood, and decaying stumps in hillside forest at altitudes of 60 to 1000 meters. Heavy plants sometimes tumble to the ground and become terrestrial in soil covered by pine-oak mulch.
Catasetum pendulum also called as The Pendant Catasetum, is a species of the genus Catasetum. This species was described by Calaway Homer Dodson in 1977.
IDENTIFY CATASETUM PENDULUM ORCHID PLANT
Catasetum pendulum is found in Western coastal Mexico, states of Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Michoacán, and Colima. It grows on palms, deciduous oaks, dying trees with rotting wood, and decaying stumps in hillside forest at altitudes of 60 to 1000 meters. Heavy plants sometimes tumble to the ground and become terrestrial in soil covered by pine-oak mulch.
It is a medium sized, hot to cool growing epiphyte with fusiform, slightly curved, to 14 cm long and 2.5 cm wide pseudobulbs enveloped by imbricating, leaf-bearing sheaths and carrying medium green, plicate, oblanceolate, flexible, apically acuminate, long-tapering into the articulate base, to 28 cm long and 4.5 cm wide leaves.
The Pendant Catasetum blooms on a basal, pendant, erect then pendent, to 45 cm long, 3 to 17 flowered, racemose inflorescence occurring in the summer and fall. The male flowers are 5.5 cm in diameter with coloration green, darkest on the outside of the lip sac; column very light green, glossy. The female flowers are not seen.
The key to identify this species is its ,ale inflorescence pendent. Lip lowermost, with smooth lateral margins overlapping around the column, forming a nearly rectangular orifice. The flowers are completely green.
CATASETUM PENDULUM ORCHID PLANT CARE AND CULTURE
Cultural information should only be used as a guide, and should be to be adapted to suit you. Your physical location; where you grow your plants, how much time you have to devote to their care, and many other factors, will need to be taken into account. Only then can you decide on the cultural methods that best suit you and your plants.
Light:
Catasetum pendulum are sun-loving plant and needs a light level of 30000-60000 lux. Unless the strong air movement found in the natural habitat can be duplicated, however, the grower should provide some shade (40-60 % shade). This species can be grown under lights if sufficient light intensity can be provided, and the plant certainly can be summered outdoors if their moisture requirements can be met.
Temperature:
Their climate is tropical to subtropical, with dry, near desert-like conditions. It has an even longer dry season and low humidity almost year-round. Most of the moisture results from nighttime dews. Temperatures range from a maximum 40°C to a minimum 15°C. In cultivation, 18°C is the ideal minimum night temperature.
Humidity:
The Pendant Catasetum tolerate an environment with 40 - 60 % relative humidity during their growing season, but for optimal development of new growth and flowering, 70 % is recommended.
Substrate, growing media and repotting:
Catasetum pendulum can be grown in pot, container or wooden basket with fir bark, osmunda, tree fern fiber, charcoal, and sphagnum, in various proportions or combined with still other ingredients such as sponge rock, perlite, leaf mold, peat, and bark screenings as substrate. This plant can also mounted on wood. This option presupposes that the plant is sufficiently strong, that it is not so large as to be unwieldy when hanging from its mount, that the grower can provide adequate humidity for it during the growing season, that the conversion to mounting is done at the very beginning of the growth cycle, and that the species is known to adapt readily to this cultural practice.
It is recommended to repot every year and never wait more than two years. The optimal time for potting or repotting is when new growth on a plant emerging from dormancy is about 5 cm tall and the nubs have developed into new roots that are reaching for support.
Watering:
In its natural habitat it receives rainfall frequently even while dormant. Mounted, basket-grown, and unconventionally potted plant may be watered every sunny day during the growing season, provided conditions are such that they dry off relatively quickly. In the case of conventionally potted adult plants, it should not be necessary to water more than once or, at most, twice a week. This species like to dry out at least slightly between waterings.
Fertilizer:
Fertilize with an appropriate formulation at least every week during the growing season, or fertilize with a weak formula every time the plants are watered. It is important to begin regular applications of high-nitrogen fertilizer (such as 10-5-5) with a full range of trace elements. As the leaves begin to unfurl, and well before flowering, add a high-phosphorus formula to develop big, strong pseudobulbs capable of producing robust inflorescences. Any of the soluble products with a large second-digit number (for example, 3-12-6) constitute a good source of phosphorus.
Rest period:
Catasetum pendulum requires a long, dry rest period. In their natural habitat the dry season lasts 8 months, with the rains beginning in June. When the plants are leafless and no new growths are visible, the grower must respect their state of dormancy. Watering frequency should be reduced during dormancy. Fertilization should stop completely during this period.
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