phal re potting?

[Bud]

go to youtube and search 'Phalaenopsis repot' you will find several videos about this. Choose whichever you think will be good for you. You can also look at the different kinds of mix you can use for your grow zone.
its best to reuse your existing pot unless the roots have all rotted and you need a smaller pot.
Orchids like to be pot bound; a bigger loose pot can rot your roots more

[shaelyn]

in my experience (for what it's worth - I've only repotted 3 orchids in bloom that didn't have bud blast), it seems like whether or not it drops its blooms is dependent upon how much you mess with the roots. if you don't run water over the roots first, they're more likely to crack...I made that mistake with my first two, and one of them cracked...and the blooms fell on that one. the other two were fine, though I didn't have much rotted root to trim away.

[Abbie9]

Pics of the roots would be helpful to determine if it's an emergency, but overall the plant looks healthy, so it probably doesn't need repotting ASAP. I'd wait until it's done blooming unless you think the plant is in a really bad circumstance. Also, as others said, the Miracle Grow Orchid Mix is horrible for Phals because it's almost exactly like potting soil. It might be ok for something like a Cymbidium or even some Dends or Oncids, but not for an orchid that needs a lot of air movement around the roots like Phals do. I would go for a mixture with mostly or all bark.

[thegamejr]

Do you find those mixtures online or do shops or stores have them?

[Kiliki85]

I have seen bark mixes available at both Lowe's and Home Depot as well as online. If you can find it local or order online and pick it up in store it will save you shipping costs (which we all know can sometimes cost as much as the product we ordered).
I'm still new to orchid growing but I use the Phalenopsis mix by Better Gro- it's a mixture of fir bark, coarse peat, perlite and charcoal. It seems to be working out well but requires more watering then the moss my orchids came in. If you switch to bark be sure to soak it in water overnight prior to repotting.

I have yet to find clear pots at the stores by me. After ordering some online only to figure out later that the ones I ordered were too big I've just improvised pots out of clear bottles ( I.e. quart size drink/ milk bottle, half gallon of milk carton, water bottle). I've used kitchen scissors, a pocket knife and a screw driver to make drainage holes and slots on the sides. I'll post some pictures for you.

[thegamejr]

I will have to see if our lowes has that . And thank you for the info

[shaelyn]

I get my mixes from the repotme website...they have both a phalaenopsis-specific mix (which is mostly moss, if I remember correctly), and also a couple of fir bark mixes...and I hear a lot of people also growing in CHC, they have that as well. I've been using their less expensive fir bark mix for all my phals (not the imperial stuff), and I'll add just a bit of loose moss to it that I picked up at Lowe's...it's worked pretty well, though it's a bit chunky for the minis.

[Abbie9]

I've found coconut bark and sphagnum moss separately at a local greenhouse/nursery, but generally I prefer to buy my potting mix online simply because I have a lot more control over what I'm buying due to a larger selection. Regarding shipping, I just usually try to find a bunch of other stuff I also need so that the cost is more worth it.

-Abbie