New sherry baby orchid with 4 spikes to repot or not to repot is the question

[Mrmilbourn1980]

I've been growing orchids as a hobby for about 2 years. I recently purchased a oncidium Sherry baby with four spikes off eBay. When I received it several of the leaves were wrinkled the pseudobulbs are all nice and fat. on a couple of the leaves there's a whole bunch of black dots. A couple of the pseudo bulbs have a few tiny black specks on them they're not soft or mushy. I don't have room for this orchid inside to continue the blooming process.the pot it is in is way too light and small. I grow in lava rock the plant came in this really fine peat mixture almost like soil. My other oncidium I bought this year is doing great in lava rock I transplanted it from Long grain sphagnum peat moss. Anyways I guess to get to the point do you think if I took it out of the little container it is in rinsed out as much of the old mixture as possible without disturbing The Roots too bad and put it in the lava rock I should be able to keep the bloom process going. It keeps blowing over in the container it is in now so the rocks would also give it stability I will bring it in when it's blooming good

[estación seca]

If you repot now the spikes will probably die. Set the pot in a larger pot with rocks for stability. Water plentifully. It shouldn't go dry. Repot when it begins making new growths from the base, not before.

[Dollythehun]

Follow ES' advice. FYI this plant gets huge. Mine is never out of bloom. If I waited until it stopped blooming, it would never get repotted. It's an ugly blooming machine. The leaves are spotted and wrinkled. Expect imperfection.

[SouthPark]

Yes ----- there are definitely reports that all point toward the spotting of sharry baby and fragrance fantasy ..... and maybe others ..... are inherent to the plant. They just have it - and not a disease/virus etc.

Although - maybe the amount of spotting can be reduced or minimised if the plant grows under some conditions - like gets the nice lighting, temperature, air-movement, occasional fertiliser and mag-cal treatments.

My two sharry baby's that I purchased as babies ---- but much bigger now ---- has some spotting too. But minimal spotting. Will take pics to show tomorrow - as it is dark outside right now.

[Mrmilbourn1980]

Thanks everyone for your input and help

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Mrmilbourn1980

When I received it several of the leaves were wrinkled the pseudobulbs are all nice and fat. on a couple of the leaves there's a whole bunch of black dots. A couple of the pseudo bulbs have a few tiny black specks on them they're not soft or mushy.

The spotting is reported by lots of growers, and at the moment, appears to be unavoidable - as in part of this orchid or cultivar's traits - inherited or something.

In the the attached image of one of my Sharry Baby plants - there is generally minimal spotting. A few leaves have much much less spotting than the others, but still has some spots. All ok though. Just keep applying the occasional fertiliser and mag-cal ----- and maintain good growing conditions (temperature, lighting etc), and all will be fine.

[SouthPark]

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[katsucats]

I know this is an older thread, but I've always repotted orchids out of season, etc., and don't notice any immediate effects. I don't trim any roots (unless there is a lot of rot), I just pick off the bark and plop them into my preferred LECA media. I did that with my Sharry Baby a while back mid-bloom because the bark mix was drying out too quickly, and the flowers didn't die. Did it last shorter or longer than it would have? I wouldn't know. But at least in my case, it felt like the blooms lasted longer since I was able to take care of the plant better after repotting.

But would the plant stall if, for example, I pull it out of a S/H and repot it into S/H where the conditions are the same before and after? Would it stall if the LECA shifts during watering or something, and disturbs the roots? I honestly don't know but I feel like it shouldn't.