Re-potting - what medium is best?

[Vilija]

Good morning,

Yesterday night I have re-potted my orchid. I have never done it before. There were small tiny bugs running around so I thought they might damage an orchid and it needed emergency (or so I thought) re-potting. All I could get was B&Q Orchid compost and I am not sure how good/bad it is. I have cleaned and washed all roots, they all seemed nice and healthy but were tangled together and some of them were growing trough the holes at the bottom of the pot so I used new and bigger pot.

Please advise how to see does my orchid likes new compost or shall I get something different and re-pot it again???

[en3rmax]

Hi there Vilija,

I've never used the B&Q orchid mix before but i'm sure it will be fine, i take it it's a bark mix? bark mix is my favorite medium to repot.

The tiny bugs im the old medium will be spring tails, tiny silver bugs that spring about and come out more when you water the orchid.

Going up a pot size is not always the best thing, i take it your orchid is a phalaenopsis? the roots like to be tight in the pot, also keep the orchid in a more shaded position until it gets settled in to the new medium.

Did you soak the medium before you used it? i always soak bark over night.

Edit..... Just been reading about B&Q orchid mix, it says it has peat in it which is not good for a phalaenopsis, i would go for an all bark mix, i use small and medium douglas fir bark mixed with perlite and sponge.

Could you post some pics of your repot and we can get a better idea how you did.

thanku

[Vilija]

Hi en3rmax,

I think medium I used was a bit weird compare to the medium which previously was in the pot. It is very earthy and look like compost my mum used to plant normal plants.

Shall I order new medium and re-pot the plant again? Would you know where is best to buy it?

New spike just started to grow and I been told that it is better to re-pot while spike is small than before blooming.

Yes, my orchid is phalaenopsis.

Thanks

[en3rmax]

This is the medium i use

Orchid Compost sundries and orchid accessories

Orchid Accesories is a great site ran by Peter White a well respected orchid grower in the uk

You can't go wrong with this mix my orchids are really happy in it.

Here is a pic of my phal when i repotter it in the mix

[Vilija]

Thank you very much, I think I will repot it again. I don't want my beauty to die

Thank once again

[en3rmax]

You're quite welcome,

Post us some pics of your repot once it's done, that will be good.

[jeffg]

I agree bark seems to work well for most plants. There are only a few that seem to do well in the "soil" type mixes - the terrestrials.

[Vilija]

mix is ordered, new small pots are ordered, now will wait for delivery. My boyfriend was laughing that it is cheaper to buy a new plant but.... I love my old one

Thanks and I will post some pictures as soon as re-potting is complete

[en3rmax]

I used the 12cm phalaenopsis air cone pots off the same site for my repot

It's nice to look after the phal you have, the repotted phal of mine in the pic was brought for me by a really good friend and means a lot to me, it has new roots and a new leaf just starting so it is really happy with the medium.

When you get the bark soak it well over night then repot, try to get the medium nice and packed around the roots, just try to get it like it is in my pic and your phal should do great.

[Rhynno]

I used to use a sphagnum moss, perlite and charcoal mix for my phals but recently I've fallen in love with potting plants in semi hydroponics (s/h). They plants are potted into pre-soaked fired clay pellets that wick water up to the plant from a reservoir at the bottom of the pot. I find that it takes the guess work out of watering . If you're interested, check out the semi hydro section of Orichid Board.

Good luck whatever mix you use !

Ryan