so i repotted - how did i do?

[stuckonorchids]

so some of you may remember me from my last post

please take a quick look at it before moving on, you wish.

So i went to Canadian tire and brought two 15cm pots with bottom tray/plate

I also brought this orchid mix. This orchid mix is a mix of Western Fir bark, charcoal and perlite.

I then did a photos diary of what I did.

Take a look at my pics and tell me if I have taken the right steps in saving my orchids.

I know I have two, but I didn't see the need to take photos of me doing the same to the other. with the second orchid i did exactly the same as this one.


Thanks

Richard

[stuckonorchids]

here is how the 2nd one turned out

[RandomGemini]

Did you cut the white roots? White roots are healthy roots, they just didn't get enough light to turn green, they're usually found in the center of the root mass.

I would actually like to see them sitting a little bit higher in the pot, not much, just a touch so that the leaves aren't quite touching the medium.

Pro-tip to remember for your next potting. When you switch to bark, new bark doesn't hold moisture well when you first start using it, so the night before I repot, I put a bunch of bark into a bowl and set it in the sink, then put my tea kettle on to boil and pour the boiling water straight onto the bark and let it sit overnight. It seems to hold the moisture a bit better that way.

There's nothing wrong with not soaking the bark, it will just mean you have to water more frequently. Not a big thing, I just prefer to have to water my phals once every 7-10 days. I like a low maintenance phal.

[stuckonorchids]

hey, thanks for your advice and tips

I was a little scared to cut any of the roots so i left them all

[RandomGemini]

LOL! I was too when I repotted my first orchid!

You did the right thing in this case though. I was going to say that in the first pic, the roots looked to be in great shape, but I wasn't sure that I should have, in case you'd cut the roots, I didn't want you to feel like you'd done anything wrong. I didn't see any evidence of rot or anything bad going on in there.

[Optimist]

I was thinking it should be higher in the pot as well. Low like that you risk water getting in the crown causing crown rot.

[vjo]

I think you did a really good job of repotting and documenting the whole thing BUT I think the new pot may be too big. If that is the old pot sitting beside the new in pic 10 it is WAY too big.

[silken]

I agree it looks quite over-potted. Usually you use a pot that just fits the roots with a little room to spare. You may be OK because it is clay and you have mostly medium bark rather than moss. But many people rot the roots due to over-potting. Try putting a bamboo kebab skewer deep near the centre of the pot and leave it there. Pull it out and see how wet it is before watering. Always wait until it is very near dry before you water.

[LadySoren]

Glad you didn't chop all the roots off like I did my first few times. I didn't realize that a lot of them were actually healthy., just not green.