Repot or divide

[birdbrain]

Hello, it’s been awhile since I’ve been to orchidboard. My orchids are doing great. My 2nd zygo bloomed still in bloom. My first zygo that bloomed earlier has another flower stalk. That’s not why I’m here. I have a zygo that desperately needs to be repotted. When I repot can I divide too? I’ll try to upload a pic. Thank you I appreciate any advice.

[Ray]

Hard to say from that photo how many growth you have, but it looks to be only a few. A couple of old, still-green growths, plus a new one is my absolute minimum, but I usually try for much larger divisions.

In general, sympodial plants do much better if left together, rather than sparsely divided. A "colony" shares its resources, so is far more robust and resilient.

[Paphluvr]

I only see two growths in the photo. Why do you want to divide it? A large, multi-growth plant will give you more abundant flowers sooner than single growth plants (if thy bloom at all). Just repot.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by birdbrain

I have a zygo that desperately needs to be repotted.

I can understand your point of view. But 'desperately needs to be repotted' could be open to interpretation.

In a plant's view ----- in the wild ..... there generally won't be anybody to repot the plant. So - in the wild, the plant in its suitable growing conditions could just keep growing in all sorts of directions - without requiring repots.

In your case ------ you could just put the plant in a bigger pot and just leave the air roots as they are, and let them do their thing.

[Fairorchids]

A mature plant with many pseudobulbs (say 12), will always produce more growths, spikes & flowers/spike, than the sum of it's divisions (say 3 plants of 4 bulbs each).

[SouthPark]

Great point --- more bulbs, usually more activity. If it's a treasured plant, and there's only 1 of it ----- then spread the eggs out in at least a few baskets whenever possible (eg. divide a little), to increase chance of survival if something unexpected happens, like disease/virus etc.

Defiinitely - the bigger/more bulbs on 1 plant .. the better for growth activity.

[birdbrain]

Thank y’all that replied. I appreciate the time y’all took to answer my concerns. No I don’t want to divide never divided an orchid. I just want to do what best for my beauty. So when the blooms are past there prime I’ll repot in a larger pot. It leans more and more daily I’m somewhat worried that it will become top heavy and fall over damaging my orchid. My other zygo is blooming again. That orchid too needs repotting. So looks like repot is in store for me. Any advice please send my way! Thank y’all ❤️

[birdbrain]

Thank y’all that replied. I appreciate the time y’all took to answer my concerns. No I don’t want to divide never divided an orchid. I just want to do what best for my beauty. So when the blooms are past there prime I’ll repot in a larger pot. It leans more and more daily I’m somewhat worried that it will become top heavy and fall over damaging my orchid. My other zygo is blooming again. That orchid too needs repotting. So looks like repot is in store for me. Any advice please send my way! Thank y’all ❤️

---------- Post added at 11:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:18 PM ----------

I want y’all to see # 1 zygo 2nd flower spike this season