Coring Phalaenopsis?

[Dalachin]

You could tie it into its pot and hang it sideways. It’s great that it us holding onto so many leaves, it must be happy!

[Ray]

Have you considered a bent wire clip that "clamps" on the pot rim?

This drawing shows the ones I used to make to hold down the rhizome of a newly-planted cattleya-type plant, but if you use a long enough piece of wire, you can bend a 90° angle and make a vertical stake, instead, by bending the extended left end of image 3 upward.

[Dimples]

If you have a plastic mesh bag from store bought onions/potatoes/garlic, you could cover the top of the pot (zip ties around the rim?) and hang it so that the plant hangs downwards and the pot top is now a “side”. Sort of a potted hanging mount?

[Mountaineer370]

Originally Posted by Arizona Jeanie

I must be doing something wrong, it just takes stakes with it and goes over to the side. I find it hard to anchor the stake in the orchid bark, even with added rocks.
Can you post pictures?
Thanks!

Sorry, I don't have any staked like that presently, and the ones I have done it with before, I don't have photos. But I see the current pot yours is in appears to have the slits on the sides, which are identical to the pots I use. I can recall a number of different tricks I would use depending on the plant and the situation. I have put stakes into the pot from the outside of it, in through those slits on the side, keeping the stake upright, and then tied the plant to one of those. That makes it impossible for the stake to gradually slide through the bark chunks.

Likewise, with stakes on the "downhill" side as Ray calls it, I make sure the stake goes into the bark very close to the base of the plant and I angle it down and toward the side. And that stake, I may use soft string to anchor it to the opposite side of the pot, again using those slots in the sides.

I have also used a bent coat hanger to anchor one of mine, making a curve around the base of the Phal. where it meets the media and then making a 90-degree bend at the other end that I could hook over the edge of the pot. That plant is still upright in the pot, but the growing parts of the stem are starting to curve over.

The one I'm getting ready to repot is really going to be tricky because, again, it seems to be still pretty much upright in the pot until you get past the lower leaves, and then it has made a big curve so that the top part of the stem is going almost sideways.

Oftentimes, with these really big Phals, when they're in bloom, I have to put the plastic pots into heavy clay pots for more support to keep them from tipping over.

[Roberta]

A thought if you can manage a mounted plant... mount with leaves pointed downward and roots above. Some orchids just have a downward-facing growth habit. I wonder if this one has some Phal gigantea in its ancestry.

Or if you can't mount it, maybe hang it in a basket with roots in the pot and the leaves sticking out the bottom. But if it wants to grow downward, it's just doing what comes naturally. And it is likely to never get crown rot that way.

[Arizona Jeanie]

It's very dry here, I don't think it would do well mounted. Besides, I don't have room.
I am intrigued with having a mesh cover over the bark then hanging it upside down or sideways. Sort of mounted but in bark.
But, what about lighting? Overhead plant light?
And, how would I water?
I think I'd need a combination hanger, plant light, and bucket. I'm just not that clever.
And I still don't have room.
Thanks for the replies and suggestions, what a great forum!

[Roberta]

When fighting gravity, sphag may be easier to deal with than bark, easier to keep it from falling out of the pot.

[Arizona Jeanie]

Nights are getting chilly, it was time to bring it in. This may be temporary, I don't particularly like it, but better than topping it.
Orchid wins, who needs a guest room?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Arizona Jeanie

Nights are getting chilly, it was time to bring it in. This may be temporary, I don't particularly like it, but better than topping it.
Orchid wins, who needs a guest room?

NOW you're talking. Orchids rule. Can lead to this... http://orchidcentral.org/GrowingAreas/indoor.jpg

[Mountaineer370]

Looking carefully at both of the pics you posted, I think you have an advantage in that the stem seems to be growing pretty straight. It ends up leaning in the pot because of the sheer weight of the plant and the looseness of the large bark media.

I think there's a good chance of being able to straighten it up by repositioning it when you repot (which you said you have done in the past), but this time, use some combination of stakes, wires, and/or the post you talked about to anchor it more securely.

It looks like a very healthy plant, with six or seven leaves on each side. Just curious, I can see a tag in the pic. What Phal. species or hybrid is it?