Repotted Cattleyas: plant moves in pot

[jasonmom]

When I took my plants to sink to water, I noticed that they move around in their pots. The potting medium is miracle grow orchid (bark). Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?

[silken]

I am not familiar with how course or fine Miracle Grow bark is. I use medium bark for my Cattleyas. When you are potting them, try and stuff media in all the open gaps between roots and firm it down fairly well. This way they will be secure. If the plant doesn't have many good roots, there will be nothing to anchor it into the pot. That's when you can use rhizome clips, either the bought kind or home made. They clip on the edge of the pot securely and are long enough to go across the rhizome of a cattleya and hold it securely in place. I quite often use strips of masking tape that are twisted in the middle so the sticky side is gone and stretch several strips in different directions across the pot and tape them down to the outsides of the pot. This keeps everything in place until they grow lots of roots. An orchid that is moving around in the pot has trouble establishing roots and will languish.

[orion141]

If it doesn't have a lot of roots then it will move around no matter how well you pack in the media. I have used miracle grow potting mix and as long as you pack it in properly (not to hard though) it should hold the plant stable as long as there are an adequate amount of roots.

I would agree with what silken says and recommend either rhizome clips or a ring stake to help keep the plant stable. Also there are some good videos on how to repot cattleys (I think AOS has one) that will show you how much to pack in the media and how to stabilize the plant.

[dounoharm]

cattleyas must be 'hard potted', that is PACKED into their media...I find the miracle grow media is too fine and soft for most orchids....not enough air spaces and holds too much moisture....cattleyas particularly like a very large chunky HARD MEDIA, no soft stuff....buy good bark online if you only can get that stuff at lowes and home depot....cattleyas must be packed tight into their pot....ideally, when done right, you can pick up the plant by the psuedobulbs and it wont come out of the pot...you know its done right when you can do that....order some pot rhysome clips of varying sizes to hold small plants upright....good luck!

[tucker85]

I agree with Silken that rhizome clips are your best bet. Small ring stakes work well also. The advantage of rhizome clips is that you can make them yourself out of a ridge piece of wire, like a strong coat hanger. It's not good to have a plant moving in the pot because it will damage new roots. Good luck.

[Optimist]

I've been potting in red lava chunks, a bit of expanded clat pellets I got at a reptile store, and if anything is wobbly, I tap in some fish tank gravel. The smaller rocks keep the packing tight.

[james mickelso]

I think that packing media around the plant is deleterious to the plant. I wouldn't suggest it. A plant or rizome clip is by far the better choice. Packing a small, loose media usually won't hold anyway just due to the physical nature of the media. Secure the plant into the pot and then add the media which can be poured into the pot, tapping the bottom of the pot firmly on the potting bench, pour in some more, and tap the pot firmly on the bench again until the media is somewhat stabilized around the plant. But take care not to plant the orchid too deeply into the media as this can cause problems too.

[RNCollins]

Jason's Mom,

Kelley's Korner has rhizome clips for both plastic and clay pots. They have helped keep my top heavy cattleya in place.

The clips for plastic pots comes in lengths of 3, 4, 5, or 6 inches ( in packages of 5). The clips for clay pots come in lengths of 2 to 6 inches.

Hangers & Supports : Kelley's Korner Orchid Supplies, We offer everything to grow great Orchids!

[Lorraine]

I use the clips all the time when repotting. Using a larger piece of wire across the top and pressing down into the medium works too and removal is easy. The fastest way to kill that newly potted orchid is to have it move around...same goes for mounting. The roots need to get attached to something and stay there. mounting I use either wire, fishing line, plastic zip ties or for live trees panty hose legs. because they stretch and even if you have that plant tight on the tree it will give some more as the tree grows.

[DavidCampen]

Originally Posted by dounoharm

cattleyas must be 'hard potted', that is PACKED into their media

I do just the opposite when repotting my, mostly cattleya, plants. I try to place the new media very gently.

If it is a plant that I have just received and either it is bareroot (no root) or the potting material is badly decomposed so that there aren't many good roots then I will have to pack the new media some to hold the plant so I add large perlite to the mix or use an inverted mesh pot in the bottom of the pot to provide some springiness and then I use a rhizome clip.

I pot into clay pots.

If the plant being repotted has been in my collection for a while then I should have a good root system on the plant so I try to remove it from the old pot, place it in the new pot and add media as gently as possible so as to not damage the existing roots.

To get the plants out of clay pots without damaging the roots I break the pot using a type of hammer that geologists use that is called a "rock pick". If the roots have grown out of the pot and are attached to the outside of the pot I may even repot while some pieces of clay pot still attached to the roots.

For mature cattleyas and many other plants I will a large size bark like 'Orchiata Super' (18 - 25mm chip size).
Orchiata - New Zealand Orchid Bark as a Potting Mix for Orchids and Cymbidium Growing Media | Orchid Substrate from Besgrow Orchiata Specialists