Do I repot now...or wait until after flowering?

[Austinerd]

Hello,
I apologize in advance for the quality of these photos.
This is a tall phal NOID that was given to me as a gift about a year ago, it had a very tall spike of purple flowers (flowers were at least 4" wide). And now it appears to be very healthy, though I know I should repot it. However last night I noticed a little bud that I think is going to be a flower spike (you can see it if you look closeley at the closeup pic). Should I wait to repot this until after it's done flowering, or should I go ahead and do it now?
Thanks for all your help,
Dan

[Ethan]

Hi Dan,

First, does it have flowers already on it or is that picture of the flowers an old picture? If there are flowers you should probably leave it alone.

Otherwise, I would say it would be ok to repot now without upsetting it too much. However, by looking at your picture, it doesn't seem to be in much need of repotting. The bark doesn't look very broken down and the roots look good. That's just my opinion.

[Austinerd]

Ok thanks Ethan! Yes the picture with the flowers was from a year ago. It has only leaves right now.
I guess I just assumed I needed to repot it since it's been about a year. But I think I'll just leave him alone, it must be happy if it's fixing to flower again.
Thanks!
Dan

[camille1585]

If you and I are seeing the same nubbin, I afraid to say that it looks very much like a root and not a new spike. It looks quite round, whereas a spike will have more of a flattened mitten shape. I could be wrong, it's a bit hard to tell on this picture.
I agree, it's time for a repot soon. Bark starts to get a bit worn out after a year, and my phals always love the fresh medium. They grow like crazy after.

[Austinerd]

Hmm.....okay maybe I got too excited. I think I'll wait another week or so to see if it is a root. You're probably right, I think I was hoping for a flower so that's what I thought I was seeing.

[Ethan]

Hopefully some other people will give some more opinions on this - I'm not an expert!!! I do know, though that there's no rule that you have to repot after a certain amount of time goes by. You just want to repot when the medium starts breaking down as it will start to hold more water which spells "root rot".

[camille1585]

It would be nice to have a spike, but roots are good too! Another thing that makes me think root is that i have noticed on my phals (but maybe wrong) is that a new spike appears the leaf that's above the the previous spike.
For example if you have a spike coming from the 'crotch' (for lack of a better word!) of leaf #1 (starting from the bottom) the next spike is in the crotch of leaf #2, and so on.
Here the nubbin seems to be below the old spike.

[Austinerd]

That's cool....a new root is always a good thing too.
It's just so exciting when you get an orchid to rebloom for the first time! I will be patient.

[Ethan]

On a second look, I tend to agree with Camille. Another way to look at it is that it's coming from the 'flat' side of the plant. The spikes always come from the 'not flat' side. Does that make any sense??? LOL

[Austinerd]

Yup...makes sense. Ok it seems we have a consensus.