Drying out moss?

[AThoele]

Is there any way to dry out the moss an orchid is potted in without unpotting the orchid? My husband gave me a new phal (likely because he feels bad about the bad luck I'm having with my first phals, but that's another thread!) and it is potted in moss. He brought it home on Saturday and, because of my experience with my first orchids, I haven't watered it since then because the moss isn't drying out. In fact, this morning it felt more damp than yesterday! I'm in Florida so it rains in the afternoon (the orchids are on my covered porch, not out in the rain) and is pretty humid all day. I really don't want to end up with root rot again. What, if anyting, can I do to help it dry out?

Thanks!

[seamonkey]

Is there some compelling reason not to re-pot? Sounds to me as though that would be a good bet. You could re-pot it into a medium bark mix; it would retain much less moisture. Also, there are orchid pots with holes all around the sides, which causes the medium to dry out a lot faster. The phals I have planted in such pots need to be watered almost twice as much as those I have in regular plastic pots!

By re-potting you'd also have a chance to check out the roots, which can save many a plant.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Second the motion.

[AThoele]

Ok, ok, I'll bite the bullet and repot it now. :P The only reason I wanted to wait was because it has such beatiful blooms right now, including a couple that haven't even opened yet and I heard that it will probably lose them if I repot it now. Is there anything I can do to minimize the chances of that happening? Either way I guess losing the blooms mow is much better than losing the whole plant.

Thanks!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The name of the game is "Avoid Damaging The Living Healthy Roots"!

[s.kallima]

I would not repot it if it is blooming now... first you may loose the flowers and second you will stress the plant even more... unless you cut the stems completely.
Why not try to stop watering until you can feel the moss is dry (weight of the pot). You could also take the entire plant out from its pot (do not disturb the roots) and let it dry a day or two, then put it back in the pot. It is also a good idea to make extra holes on the side of the pot to provide more air flow.

[dave b]

Many times, these moss bound phals are packed with a ton-o-moss, small pot, and packed way too tight. its is usually easy to carefully extract the plant, moss and all from the pot and remove some, and loosen it up. this allows for better air circ, and drying. You can add a couple styro peanuts or rocks in the bottom to help out also. I little bit of this wont hurt it, especially if its your run of the mill hybrid. You can wait until its done blooming, but that can take a while. By then, guess what you have, a mass of dead rotted roots. Ive repotted/refreshed the mix many of the box store phals before i give them away as gifts, and they do fine. Just my experience.

[Francesco]

If i were you I'd move it to a cork or ferm because it's quite difficult to "guess" when a moss-potted orchid is drying out!
Or simply repot it in a pot with a classic orchid substrate.

[WhiteRabbit]

At the very least remove some (a lot) of the sphag from the pot
Don't water unless it is dry.

That being said I have repotted phals while in bloom/bud with out harm. The most recent one I repotted one of the blooms withered but the other blooms are fine - and looks like its holding on the the buds too. You just need to be careful to avoid 'mechanica' damage to buds and blooms while repotting.

[seamonkey]

I've repotted phals in bloom with no ill effect. As others have said, just take care that the roots aren't damaged in the process and that the blooms aren't squooshed or snapped off. Good luck!