Repotting a limpit bulbo dearei

[Rowangreen]

Recently got my first bulbo, a dearei. It think it's in moss, though digging a bit it might be bark that's broken down to soil with live moss growing on top... lets just say it's 'very well established', and really needs some attention! It's also climbing out of the pot. The problem is, it has lots of roots which seem to be welded to the (plastic) pot. At the moment I'm trying to soak it, tease out some of the old mess, and cut away some of the old pot. But I'm thinking yanking it out probably wouldn't be a good idea? I was thinking I'd try and get as much as the old medium out as possible, and add something draining where I could, then put the whole mess including bits of old pot in a new pot?

Thoughts?

[WhiteRabbit]

[Orchidreamer]

If the roots are stuck fast to the pot, and no matter how gentle I am with prying them away, I find that I will always inevitably end up damaging some of the roots. See if you can turn the plant upside down and pull it out. Or you can twist and turn the plant gently to dislodge the roots. If the roots are truly stuck to the pot, then many of them may be damaged if you try to pull them away. Perhaps you can tease out as much of the old medium as possible, and then rest the old pot inside a larger pot.

[Rowangreen]

Yep, that's the plan. Glad you agree.

I haven't done it all yet. Very busy so teasing a bit more moss out here and there! Seems to be mostly moss, but I think there might be just a few bits of totally mushed old bark. I'm guessing they are from the last time it got repotted!

I'll have to post a picture later: as I'm going down you can see more and more roots welded to the plastic pot! There's large areas are totally covered.

[gnathaniel]

Soak the whole pot for an hour or so, compress the pot back and forth a few times to flex it and loosen roots, then gently pull out the plant. Some minor root damage won't set back a mature Bulbo for long. Once it's out of the pot, give it a few gentle shakes and knocks to dislodge loose, old medium, then repot however you plan to. Don't bother cleaning too thoroughly, a bit of old medium coming along is fine and the more you fiddle with the fine roots the more likely they'll be damaged.

I used to keep a big clump of dearei in a wooden basket of sphag over styrofoam peanuts, I traded or gave it away to someone but it seemed like a nice and easygoing species while I grew it.