How Do I split this Den Kinganium Sara

[Joansorchid]

Today I took the den Sara out of the pot and this is how rootbound it is. It will be almost impossible to seperate the roots. Do I just take a sharp knife and cut through for a division. Also How many canes should be placed in a new pot? I expect I will be back with more questions.
Joan

[orchideric]

Dear Joan,

Find where there is a gap in the plant. Grab the root ball in both hands with your thumbs at the gap. Then twist front to back - one hand going clockwise and one going counterclockwise. The plant should split along a natural break without too much damage. You can use a knife but it is arbitrary and usually a few pseudoulbs will be needlessly sacrificed. In general only cut plants when they don't allow you to physically find natural breaks.

Hope that helps, Eric

[let_it_grow]

That looks like a very happy Den. I wish mine looked like that

[fultonh]

Wow, your plant sure looks like its happy and very healthy

[karren]

My kingi's are in bud and will bloom soon. They only bloom once a year because they respond to the seasons. I would not divide mine now, they might loss their bloom and not bloom next year. They tend to slow a bit when you mess with their roots. And they do like to be root bound.

If it were mine and it has buds I would slip it back into the pot and wait until it finishes blooming. Then I would take it out of the pot, soak it in water for a while and unwrap some of those roots and remove any degraded medium . Then pot it up into a slightly larger pot. No need to divide. It will then fill up the new pot with roots then start growing new canes etc. Too big of a pot and they will only grow roots. See another discussion.

These plants grow well as large clumps. New plants can be started from the kiekis that they produce.

[Roy]

WHY ???? would you want to divide this plant. The one thing that D. kingianum dislikes above all is being divided paticularly into small sizes. If you have to divide it I would cut it in half. These plants thrive and display themselves as big plants. If you divide into only a few canes it will take some time for it to regain any quality or flowering brilliance. The root system is as it should be for a healthy plant.

[shakkai]

Joan, With kingianum hybrids, winter is their dormant (and bloom) season. Now isn't the best time to divide them and repot. I do mine in the early spring once temps start to warm up (about when daffodils are in flower). They spent last summer outside - and they loved it!!

I agree with the others that they like to be pot bound, and your plant looks happy the way it is. If that one were mine, I would wait until Spring, then repot (as described by karren) into just a slightly bigger pot. I wouldn't divide it.

If you really have to divide it for some reason, make sure you soak the it for at least 30 minutes to make the roots pliable. It may be difficult to find a natural break in the clump, as the canes can be very crowded together, but if you start pulling apart roughly in the middle, you should find that you can get it to break apart naturally. It may take some time to work your way across the clump like this, but you'll do a lot less damage this way than by chopping it with a knife.

Again, if it were mine, I would just check the middle of the pot for dead roots and broken down medium, removing any that I found. Replace that with fresh medium, slip it into a slightly larger pot and fill in around the edges with more fresh medium new roots can grow into. In my pots for my larger ones, there is about 70% roots, 30% medium.

If you look through this thread, http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ng-flower.html, I posted some photos of some of my plants. There are a couple of whole plant shots later in the thread too.

[Joansorchid]

Hi
Thank you all for your quick responses and useful links! The reason that I wanted to split this plant was A) the seller said it needed repotting and B) I found a caterpillar in there which appeared to be a fungus gnat lavae! Yesterday I cut the pot off and could not see anything in there but what little compost is in there is very, very wet. I have left the chid overnight indoors with no pot hoping that it will dry out a little bit more for me to see if there are any other creepies in there. So far I have seen one wood louse.
Joan

[Roy]

Just cut it in half and remove the bad bits from the centre and repot, It will recover well.

[camille1585]

I ditto what Shakkai says.
I would repot into a slightly bigger pot(after blooming) but not divide it. Den kinganums are orchids which look great in bloom when they reach a certain size (like yours). I have had one since April, I think the same size as yours, and the number of blooms were amazing. Keikis are a great way to multiply it. I potted up 3 keikis together from a friend's plant, and they are growing tons of new canes right now.