Orchid help - repotting needed?

[Shadeflower]

It's looking ok but it is lacking a bit of vegetative growth.
I'm suspecting it will lose it's lower leaf by christmas and will then only have 3 leaves left - a phal this size should have 6 so it has a bit of catching up to do.

I think this one could benefit from more regular spraying with a spray bottle.

I'd estimate that most of the functioning roots are outside the substrate which is fine but these roots should be kept a bit more hydrated.

Long term it really needs to be potted deeper. More stem should be cut away from the bottom, then I forgot to mention that if roots are dry they are very stiff and snap easily so to bend them into a new pot they should be soaked for half an hour in warm water, then they will bend much easier.
The reason I say this is because most of the funtional roots are currently outside of the pot and if they were more hydrated watering might be easier.

For now I would recommend more regular spraying the roots.

Think of this one as being half potted and half bare root at the moment.

Bare root plants need to be sprayed regularly, potted plants get watered once a week so that is what I would do with this one. Weigh the pot and don't let it dry out comepltely every week but give the aerial roots a quick spray twice a week also.

[WaterWitchin]

I agree with ShadeFlower, and looking back through here, would have said the same before with your original post then your repot. The leaves all look like it isn't getting enough water.

Part of that has to do with the roots not being in the bark medium. It's growing more like a mount than a potted plant with all the exposed roots. If you mounted it, that's fine, but mounting means watering very often (maybe even daily or every other day). Otherwise you're going to have to up spraying the exposed roots a LOT.

[071W]

Originally Posted by Shadeflower

It's looking ok but it is lacking a bit of vegetative growth.
I'm suspecting it will lose it's lower leaf by christmas and will then only have 3 leaves left - a phal this size should have 6 so it has a bit of catching up to do.

I think this one could benefit from more regular spraying with a spray bottle.

I'd estimate that most of the functioning roots are outside the substrate which is fine but these roots should be kept a bit more hydrated.

Long term it really needs to be potted deeper. More stem should be cut away from the bottom, then I forgot to mention that if roots are dry they are very stiff and snap easily so to bend them into a new pot they should be soaked for half an hour in warm water, then they will bend much easier.
The reason I say this is because most of the funtional roots are currently outside of the pot and if they were more hydrated watering might be easier.

For now I would recommend more regular spraying the roots.

Think of this one as being half potted and half bare root at the moment.

Bare root plants need to be sprayed regularly, potted plants get watered once a week so that is what I would do with this one. Weigh the pot and don't let it dry out comepltely every week but give the aerial roots a quick spray twice a week also.

Thanks for the reply!

Do you think I should give it another go at repotting and try to cover the roots? It was quite difficult initially to fit them all in as they were quite stiff.

[WaterWitchin]

Phals handle transplant pretty easily. If you don't want to take care of it as a mount, wouldn't hurt. If you decide to repot, how about taking a picture of it de-potted and Shady or I could take a look.

Need to soak roots well before repotting.

[071W]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

Phals handle transplant pretty easily. If you don't want to take care of it as a mount, wouldn't hurt. If you decide to repot, how about taking a picture of it de-potted and Shady or I could take a look.

Need to soak roots well before repotting.

Yeah I can do that,

I watered it on monday so is it ok if I soak it up today?

Also do I soak it up while its still potted or do I take the phal out and soak it with its roots exposed in warm water?

Thanks!

[Dusty Ol' Man]

Originally Posted by 071W

Yeah I can do that,

I watered it on monday so is it ok if I soak it up today?

Also do I soak it up while its still potted or do I take the phal out and soak it with its roots exposed in warm water?

Thanks!

Soaking it today won't hurt anything and will help in getting it out of the pot if some of the roots have attached themselves to the pot. Soak it in the pot.

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by 071W

Yeah I can do that,

I watered it on monday so is it ok if I soak it up today?

Also do I soak it up while its still potted or do I take the phal out and soak it with its roots exposed in warm water?

Thanks!

Either way works. A half hour or so ought to do it.

[071W]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

Phals handle transplant pretty easily. If you don't want to take care of it as a mount, wouldn't hurt. If you decide to repot, how about taking a picture of it de-potted and Shady or I could take a look.

Need to soak roots well before repotting.

Hi! So I soaked it for around 1h and it's looking like this (see attached photo)

Roots are still quite rigid, hard to fold them so they fit in the pot.

[WaterWitchin]

That thing is a BEAST of roots. I rarely see someone with a Phal that has that kind of root system in a pot. Usually if it has that kind of root system it's mounted.

If you don't want to disturb it too much, I'd look for a tall cymbidium pot or something similar. Maybe try to stick some foam packing peanuts in the middle of the root mass so with the extra medium it doesn't stay too wet.

Or you can attempt to untangle roots, but you're going to break quite a few of them and you're still going to need a taller pot.

Or you could mount it, but it's doubtful you want to experiment with that since you're a relatively new orchid grower. And it requires being watered much more often than in a pot with bark.

Wait for some more comments, and let's think about it!

[Roberta]

I'd go with a tall pot. Cymbidium pots (available on line) work. Also terra cotta "rose pots" are tall-form.
If you can't find a suitable tall, narrow pot, another trick to avoid having too much "dead space" in the middle of a large pot is to invert a smaller pot (a net pot/ plastic basket works great) in the middle, so that you create an air pocket that doesn't get filled in with medium.