Drop-potting a Phal into a different pot type
Hi all. I have a Phal Surf Song that just finished blooming. The Phal is clearly thriving and is in active growth now - a new leaf is peeking out, and all the roots are lengthening and have long green healthy tips. The Phal was in sphag in a clay pot, which was working well for my dry climate-controlled NYC highrise (the humidity here is about 30-45% only). I typically watered it every 8-10 days thoroughly and misted the aerial roots and undersides of leaves daily. This seemed to be working well and the Phal was happy, indeed so happy that it was clearly getting too large for the pot! The roots were starting to choke on the bottom of the pot and they completely clogged the only opening...
So, to make the long story short, I drop potted my Phal today from its 5" clay pot into a 6" "oxygen duo" pot (from repotme). It's basically a net pot inside a clear plastic pot with holes on the bottom. The Phal is still in sphag. The big question is, did I make the right call? Should I have gone for another clay pot since the Phal seemed to love it so much? Will this very airy pot dry out my Phal? How do I adjust my watering now? I usually just went by the feel of the moss and watered when it was almost, but not completely, dry.
Thanks for your help, I'm still new to orchids. I'm attaching a couple of pics of the Phal in its new home (in one of them you can see the brand new leaf). I hope I did no harm.
|