Phal potted to high above potting medium?

[Becca]

Hi everyone. I have a question in regards to a phal I just repotted for a friend's friend. I repotted my friends orchid for her yesterday at her house and one of her other friends found out I was stopping by for this purpose and dropped off her orchid as well. It is her friends orchid I am concerned about as I didn't know I would be repotting it and didn't bring enough materials for it. Here is the background info.

It was grocery store phal in a ceramic container with no drain holes packed tightly in sphagnum moss only. It had several good roots, one looked like it was in active growth. So we tossed the old medium and trimmed the bad roots. I only had one pot size it would fit into but wasn't thrilled with it because it was still a little large depth wise for it and I didn't have any more packing peanuts available. It was a 4 inch square pot and I really had to squeeze the roots into the pot to fit the square shape since it was previously in a round container. I used repotme.com's imperial phal mix which contains sphagnum moss, Monterrey pine bark, cork chunks and perlite.

By the time I was finished the phal was sitting above the top of the pot with about a half inch to an inch of the top of the roots exposed before they were covered by potting medium. This is my concern, that a phal being ropotted at this time of the year, adapted to pure sphagnum moss has root exposure and a more open potting medium. I don't want her orchid to die and offered to take it home and fix it after my friend checks with her friend. Maybe I'm just worrying for nothing, but I thought I would check with everyone on here. I don't have any pictures since I left the orchid with my friend. All opinions and advice are wlecome! Should I try and get the orchid to repot with the roots further down or will it be ok until spring when it is best to repot?

[RosieC]

I would try and repot it lower with medium covering the roots. I've had ones before where I mis-judged how much medium and/or what pot size I needed. They were fine for the week while I sorted extra materials/soaked more bark but I don't think they would have been happy long term like that.

[kiki-do]

I'm confused or possibly I'm not reading this right. Your pot was too deep so you added as many packing peanuts as you could. Now it's not fitting into the pot right and roots are above the pot? Correct?
If that is the case, I would repot and lose some of the peanuts so it would fit down in the pot better. It takes a little while for the plant to acclimate to it's new pot anyway. I've gone from moss to bark mix many times, and the plant actually does better in a bark medium for me because I tend to overwater, which is not good when in moss. It's making sure that you adjust your new watering/care habits to keep the plant from becoming stressed. My opinion only. As far as repotting this time of year instead of spring? I'm sure spring is the more logical time to repot phals, but I repot whenever I purchase a new plant, suspect a problem with a plant's growth, or notice any signs of stress, etc. I would never wait until spring. So I think it is fine to fix the plant now and not take any chances. I wish you all the best!

[Jennyfleur]

Hmm, I agree with Rosie, especially as it's not only above the medium but above the level of the pot which doesn't bode well for future growth. Also, I can totally understand you being worried. If ever I touch anyone else's plants to repot or whatever (even if I give them away to people), I always worry aout their survival!

PS Rosie, I notice that you're nearly up to 9,500 posts! I wonder where that one will be!

[tucker85]

A phals roots do not need to be covered by medium if there's enough humidity. If grown in a dry area of the house with no humidity tray it's probably better to have the roots down in the medium. Most orchid growers place them lower in the medium just because they grow taller and fall over or lean over. I think I would repot it properly or at least offer to. I always use this picture that I found on someone's post here on O.B. to put things in perspective. These phals have no medium at all just bare concrete but good humidity.

[Becca]

Originally Posted by kiki-do

I'm confused or possibly I'm not reading this right. Your pot was too deep so you added as many packing peanuts as you could. Now it's not fitting into the pot right and roots are above the pot? Correct?
If that is the case, I would repot and lose some of the peanuts so it would fit down in the pot better. It takes a little while for the plant to acclimate to it's new pot anyway. I've gone from moss to bark mix many times, and the plant actually does better in a bark medium for me because I tend to overwater, which is not good when in moss. It's making sure that you adjust your new watering/care habits to keep the plant from becoming stressed. My opinion only. As far as repotting this time of year instead of spring? I'm sure spring is the more logical time to repot phals, but I repot whenever I purchase a new plant, suspect a problem with a plant's growth, or notice any signs of stress, etc. I would never wait until spring. So I think it is fine to fix the plant now and not take any chances. I wish you all the best!

I am good at confusing people! The root system is too wide to fit into a square pot because it was in a round pot. But at the same time, the pot was too deep and didn't have any packing peanuts to use. So I am thinking thinking that a 3 inch round pot would be the solution. I just wasn't sure if it would be ok the way it is until spring or if I should try and convince my friends friend to let me fix it.

[camille1585]

I'm really having a hard time wrapping my head around this. I can understand that you have trouble stuffing round pot adapted roots into a square pot. But what I don't understand is why so much root is exposed yet the pot is too deep??? Can't you just push it further down into the pot?

[Becca]

Originally Posted by tucker85

A phals roots do not need to be covered by medium if there's enough humidity. If grown in a dry area of the house with no humidity tray it's probably better to have the roots down in the medium. Most orchid growers place them lower in the medium just because they grow taller and fall over or lean over. I think I would repot it properly or at least offer to. I always use this picture that I found on someone's post here on O.B. to put things in perspective. These phals have no medium at all just bare concrete but good humidity.

That picture is really cool! Thank you! The phal is being grown inside and our humidity is next to nothing, I think generally around 20%. I did offer to repot, I even called my friend after I left and made the offer. I don't know her other friend that well and I wouldn't think she would have a problem with me fixing it since she dropped the orchid off for repotting in the first place. I'll bug her about it again. My friend is actually my husband's friend's wife if that makes sense, so we do not have the relationship for me to say "I'm taking it and fixing it" like I could with my close friends. Hopefully they will decide to let me fix it.

Thank you for your help everyone! My thoughts were the same as all the advice that has been given, that is why I feel so uneasy about the situation.

[Becca]

Originally Posted by camille1585

I'm really having a hard time wrapping my head around this. I can understand that you have trouble stuffing round pot adapted roots into a square pot. But what I don't understand is why so much root is exposed yet the pot is too deep??? Can't you just push it further down into the pot?

Because the roots are so akward that I can't make them squeeze any further down into the pot without breaking it's few good roots and the roots are on the shorter side leaving alot of space at the bottom of the pot. Trust me, I tried...lol. I even presoaked the roots so they would be somewhat pliable.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by tucker85

A phals roots do not need to be covered by medium if there's enough humidity. If grown in a dry area of the house with no humidity tray it's probably better to have the roots down in the medium. Most orchid growers place them lower in the medium just because they grow taller and fall over or lean over. I think I would repot it properly or at least offer to. I always use this picture that I found on someone's post here on O.B. to put things in perspective. These phals have no medium at all just bare concrete but good humidity.

Now that is just an insane picture! I've never seen a phal growing on a concrete wall like that! And what happens if you have to move? Take the wall with you? lol