Any suggestions on how to repot this Leptotes?

[camille1585]

After having failed miserably several times with mounted Leptotes bicolor, I purchased a potted plant about 2 ago. It has grown exceptionally well, and needs repotting, but I'm not too sure how to go about it! And suggestions?

As you can see in the photos, it has grown so many new roots underneath the sphagnum plug that it has been pushing the entire plant up and out of the pot. I'm hesitant to mess with it since it's doing so well, but I need to do something soon.

I was thinking of teasing out some of that old sour sphag, and dropping it into a slightly larger pot with a small amount of fresh sphag, but I'm open to other ideas! (other than mounting it)

[Fairorchids]

Your plant has done very well in that pot.

My personal experience (in greenhouse) is that they do not do particularly well in pots, but fine mounted. I have seen very well grown plants in pots though, from several hobby growers growing primarily indoors.

My suggestion would be to select a clay pot, large enough to give the plant about 15-20 mm space to the rim all the way around. Then use either all spaghnum, or a spaghnum/bark mix (3:1) to allow a little more air circulation), but only finger tight (do not tamp the mix down).

Make sure to pack some spaghnum into the void between the roots, so you don't compress the existing roots.

[Paphluvr]

From the look of the plant and its root system I'd say that your idea for repotting is spot on. I've always grown mine mounted, but that was in an environment with 65% or greater humidity and good air circulation.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

Your plant has done very well in that pot.

My personal experience (in greenhouse) is that they do not do particularly well in pots, but fine mounted. I have seen very well grown plants in pots though, from several hobby growers growing primarily indoors.

My suggestion would be to select a clay pot, large enough to give the plant about 15-20 mm space to the rim all the way around. Then use either all spaghnum, or a spaghnum/bark mix (3:1) to allow a little more air circulation), but only finger tight (do not tamp the mix down).

Make sure to pack some spaghnum into the void between the roots, so you don't compress the existing roots.

Thanks for your input! What's the advantage of clay? The extra breathability compared to plastic?

Funnily enough when I do an image search for the plant, most of the potted ones are in clay, so it would seem that its the way to go. I'll see if the couple mini clay pots I have are a suitable size, otherwise I'll have to wait for shops to open once the current lockdown is eased.

[estación seca]

I agree with the above. I would not risk damaging roots by teasing out the old sphagnum.

[Roberta]

Clay is good to help roots dry out fast (which they really need to do). Also keeps them cooler. Leptotes bicolor handles a wide range of temperature, I think, but it is very cold-tolerant (I grow it outside) so I'd have to suspect that the cooling from evaporation through the clay would be beneficial.