Can I repot while Phal. is flowering?

[yonkerj3]

Just wondering if i could repot a Phal while it is flowering? I am wondering because the roots on top appear to be dried out and look thirsty. Have had the plant for about three weeks. Or should I just put potting media over them and wait until it is done flowering?

Thank you for helping the newb!

[johnblagg]

If if is not showing any signs of decline and the only thing you are concerened about is the areial roots ....I would leave it alone.

If you see a problem other than this then gently unpot and check the roots in the medium and the medium.I would not be concerned about the roots on top of medium if its a recent purchase they suffered from all the changes in enviroment from GH to store to your home but it will grow new ones.

[Angurek]

The only time I would recommend repotting during flowering would be if and only if it were an emergency (I.E. if the plant's roots were rotting in a saturated medium, if it were sphag-suffocated plant, etc). Otherwise, if the plant is healthy overall, I would wait until the flowers fade to repot. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing the blooms.

[mayres]

My opinion on this is different than the previous posts. I repot nearly all phals regardless of whether or not they are flowering soon after purchase - it doesn't hurt them a bit, and often times it has helped them. You never know what the condition is of the roots underneath the media unless you check. I recommend always repotting into the media of your choice ASAP and cleaning up any root issues (if present) at that time. If the media is fresh and it already is the media that you prefer it will not hurt a thing to "pack it back up as originally obtained - but at least now you know for certain. Henceforth you will know that any conditions that negatively affect your plant are from your care and not someone previous.

[mspatt]

I agree with Mayres...repot ASAP, especially if your new phal is in sphagnum. As he said, you can check out the roots and trim them up if need be. A lot of growers pack that moss in the pot so tight that your poor orchid doesn't stand a very good chance of getting away without rot of some kind.

I make it a habit to repot whenever I get a new plant. The only time I lost a spike was because I can be a klutz!!

[slipperfreak]

I agree with the view that it's best to repot a new plant as soon as you can. While it won't hurt the plant doing this while it's in spike, it WILL decrease the lifespan of the flowers. However, your flowers will probably not live as long as they can anyway because of the shock of the plant being transferred from nursery to home.