I sincerely regret my repotting attempt

[lauraeli]

My aliceara is already starting to drop its older flowers so I decided I was going to pull some of the sphagnum out and repot it more loosely.

Ive never in my life experienced a ball of sphagnum packed that tightly! It is a solid mass of moss and I was pulling healthy roots off with the sphagnum no matter how careful I tried to be, so I gave up. I tucked the sphagnum back around the roots and tucked it back into its pot. Those roots arent getting out of there alive

If they werent going to rot before, Im sure they will now, since I damaged them.

I have no idea what to do with it now

[estación seca]

You can leave it in the sphagnum and water carefully. Use the skewer method to determine when to water. When you do water, don't soak the sphagnum; just wet the very top. The water will soak in and keep the sphagnum just damp.

If you want it out of the sphagnum, let it get to the just damp stage. Unpot it and put it into a big basin of water and let it soak for an hour or so. When the sphagnum is very wet it will be easier to untangle.

[lauraeli]

I tried running it under warm water while I was pulling it apart. I thought it would help more than it did.

If it doesnt sulk from what I just did to it, i will just have to be careful watering it and it might be ok. But what happens when the sphag breaks down? Can the orchid be saved if the old sphag cant be removed?

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by lauraeli

I tried running it under warm water while I was pulling it apart. I thought it would help more than it did.

If it doesnt sulk from what I just did to it, i will just have to be careful watering it and it might be ok. But what happens when the sphag breaks down? Can the orchid be saved if the old sphag cant be removed?

I'm not familiar with your particular plant but in my own experience with my own orchids the advice given by Estacion is just right. For the time being, leave the plant as is, water carefully, and let it recover. It may or may not sulk, but it'll come back with just a bit of TLC.

Eventually, of course, you'll want to repot the plant. Sphagnum has its faults in my opinion, and one of them is that orchid roots seem to grow attached to the stuff. ES's suggestion of soaking the roots is a lot more effective than just running them under water. It takes a bit of time for the roots to really saturate, at which point they loosen their apparent death grip on even moss. It might take a one-hour soak or it might take an over-night soak, but eventually the moss will loosen.

[estación seca]

It takes quite a while for the sphag to absorb all the water it can, as well. As this happens it swells up and loosens itself. This is a big reason for removing it from the pot and soaking for a while. I said about an hour; I would soak it overnight, but most people are pretty much terrified of soaking orchids.

[lauraeli]

That makes me feel a little better

[Optimist]

Yes, the roots are meant to grip on to things. And in this case they are gripping on to the moss. I think it takes quite a while for spag to break down. As much as everyone around here talks "bark", moss is perfectly acceptable, especially for thin oncidium roots.

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by Optimist

Yes, the roots are meant to grip on to things. And in this case they are gripping on to the moss. I think it takes quite a while for spag to break down. As much as everyone around here talks "bark", moss is perfectly acceptable, especially for thin oncidium roots.

As an aside to this thread, Sphagnum gets a lot of bad talk. In fact, I've said some disparaging things about the stuff myself. I believe, however, that it is the use of Sphagnum in modern shipping, combined with those nasty, thin plastic pots so many orchids come in, which should be vilified. I use it a lot as an aid when mounting orchids, but there are also some orchids which simply seem to do really well in it. I've used it for Encyclias, and I don't think I could keep a Sarchochilus alive without Sphagnum. There are, I think, two keys to using Sphagnum and not killing the orchid in it: First, use a pot that lets air flow freely through it, which is why I use plastic baskets; second, be sparing when using it, not overly wrapping the roots so that they have room to grow and expand without getting too tight in the pot.

I've been reading up on the Japanese method of building hollow cones of sphagnum to grow Neofinetias, which allows excellent internal air movement, and may try something similar with a Phal.

[bil]

My thoughts on moss.

Bark and moss are both good media, provided they are used correctly.

Pure moss is fine when it can lose water from all sides. I use a saucer shaped basket for Stans and I fill it with pure moss. It's about 4 inches deep in the centre, tapering out to the edges.In summer it wets and dries easily, so it needs heavy watering every day, and in winter once or twice a week. HOWEVER, after a year like that, the moss hasn't broken down much at all. I shall be trying a similar setup for my den nobiles. Mounts also do very well with some pure moss. Again, come summer they will all need daily watering, but that regime has one very good thing going for it. Fast drying out seems to suit orchids and moss very well.

Once you start putting moss into a pot, it will hold water for a very long time indeed.
What I do when putting something like a paph or phrag in a pot, is to strike a balance between wetness and free air movement. I use shallow pots about 25 cm in diameter and I place three balls of moss 2-3" diameter equidistant around the pot edge. The plant goes in the middle, and I fill the pot with fine bark and nothing else. Mixing moss in evenly with the bark reduces airflow and I think reduces the time before it needs repotting urgently. The three balls act as water reservoirs and keep the pot nice and damp without obstructing air flow.

As for big phals, either mount them on a sphag pad, or pot them up in wide, shallow pots using only coarse bark (about 2") that has been sieved to remove all the small stuff.
Mind you I think all bark should be sieved.

[wintergirl]

I like potting some water loving orchids in live moss