Repotting right away?

[Sitka]

Hi,

I have three mini Phals I bought last year at a grocery store. They're doing really well. I have recently bought more orchids of many different varieties and species. Many of them I bought before they had bloomed because they were significantly less cost at the nursery. (And I like surprises ) I have been re-potting all of them right away because I want to make sure the roots were okay. I have been lining the new pots in sphagnum moss, and gently placing the orchid with all of its growing medium from the old pot in the new pots and putting more moss around for support & putting a support stick and clips to keep it from tilting. They don't seem to mind it at all. However the lady at the nursery today told me that was a major no no? I don't understand. I just bought another one today and I am more than happy I re-potted it right away because the moss they packed it in was SOAKED and CAKED on the poor thing. I cleaned him off and put him in nice dry new moss in a new pot. Does anyone know if this will affect them long term? Or if this is just being overly cautious? I make sure the pots are warm and the plants are warm. I don't water them for a few days. I leave them be to acclimate.

[Lana]

Hi Sitka! The lady at the nursery is right; you can't leave any old media on the roots when re-potting. First, one of the reasons to re-pot is because the media decomposes after a while, so you want fresh bark or moss to touch the roots. If you leave any old decomposing media, it will start to rot inside the new pot, killing your plants' roots. Also, it sounds to me like you repot your orchids in the pots that are too large. The pot should only be large enough to accomodate the existing roots. If you have enough space to line the pot with the sphag AROUND the old media and the root bulb, the pot is too large and wont' dry fast enough.

[Lana]

And welcome to the board, of course! You'll find that there are many very friendly and knowledgeable people to help you here

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

It's fine to repot right away. Checking to see if the roots are in good order from the get-go is the best way to head off any kind of root rot before it begins.

Although, my opinion is not to use moss as a potting medium for Phals, if you've had long term success (long term for Phals is about 2 yrs and over, anything under 2 yrs is still too early, imo), then I guess it's fine.

Phals will naturally want to lean over one side of the pot eventually, as they don't naturally grow upright. Rather, they grow horizontally off the side of the trees they grow on, like so:

http://www.ibanorum.netfirms.com/Lundu-orchid190207.jpg

[RosieC]

I would agree with what Lana has said about the old medium.

Unlike other house plants where this is what you usually do, for orchids the point of repotting is not to go up a pot size, but rather to remove/replace the old medium. You might leave it in the same pot, increase the pot size, or even reduce the pot size in the process (based on how many roots there are), but the primary reason is for changing the medium.

I also agree with Philip that it's fine to repot straight away, as this means you know how the roots are from the beginning.

Some folks like moss, but I don't get on with it for Phals either.

[pedidiva]

if you're going to use the spaghum for the plant, you need to soak it first. The orchid guy at the local conservatorium uses spaghum moss for the phals & packs tightly. He has been doing orchids for years & it's what works for him.

I, personally, like the fir bark mix. I don't mind watering more frequently--twice a week in the warmer parts of the year, once a week in the colder parts. I use the skewer technique, too.