What to do with this mess

[Claire25]

I'm not sure why you haven't just gone ahead and air layered it...once it's repotted it's still going to be a gangly, awkward thing. Besides, you have a ton of healthy aerial roots coming out of the stem...you can sever the stem below some of these and repot the top part as a new plant, and the "headless" basal portion will send up some new plants...which you can then pot up separately and send to me.

[cabbo]

Originally Posted by Claire25

I'm not sure why you haven't just gone ahead and air layered it...once it's repotted it's still going to be a gangly, awkward thing. Besides, you have a ton of healthy aerial roots coming out of the stem...you can sever the stem below some of these and repot the top part as a new plant, and the "headless" basal portion will send up some new plants...which you can then pot up separately and send to me.

That sounds like a great idea. I'm not really sure what you mean by air layered though. The rest I understand.

[Claire25]

"Air layering" is a method of propagating plants whereby the stem or trunk is wounded in some way, with moss or soil wrapped in plastic applied to the wound, in order to promote the growth of roots. This way, the top half of the plant can be potted up separately from the bottom and--voila--you will have two plants. In the case of your Phal, mother nature has already done most of this for you...you have the roots, you just need to cut the stem...I always "layer" my Phals once they have a noticeable bare "neck" (usually before it gets much longer than 2 inches). The "stump" that's left at the bottom need not be repotted or otherwise disturbed...mine have always thrown off several new "seedling-size" baby plants that are the perfect size for gifts to my orchid-loving friends by the next Christmas.