Rhynchostylis repotting, what media?

[Slattern]

Hello! I got a rhynchostylis gigantea recently and it's my first orchid that's been an uncommon species, so I'd like to do right by it! It came in a plastic nursery pot in sphagnum moss, but now I have no idea what to pot it in. I was thinking bark in a clay orchid pot, but I've seen some do well in semi-hydro online! I'd really appreciate some help here, as my only foray into semi-hydro didn't go terribly well. Thank you!

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Don't be in a hurry to repot this plant. Consider well how you water plants. It doesn't like repotting. It might be better to wait until it is warmer and the plant is growing more actively.

For now sphagnum is fine so long as you don't get it soaking wet. When the top of the moss is crisp dry. Just barely run water over the top of the moss. It will diffuse throughout the moss and leave it barely damp, with plenty of aeration. If you soak the moss it will obliterate all the air spaces.

[Dollythehun]

Mine is potted in large bark and grown like a cattleya. But, I tried moss, it did work, but water as ES says. There appears to be many different methods to grow this plant but after two failures, mine is now successfully blooming.

[Fairorchids]

You did not tell us what size the plant is. I generally grow young plants in a spaghnum/bark mix (in net pots), as they are less tolerant of drying out.

As ES mentioned, they HATE having their roots disturbed, so mature plants should be grown in something that lasts a long time.

I have experimented with Aliflor (expanded clay nuggets), which will never break down. To prevent the Aliflor from falling out of the basket, I use coconut fibers as a liner.

Out of 8 plants tried, 6 are doing very well, and 2 died. The two that died were weaker plants, so they might not have made it no matter what I did.

Here is a photo of one of the plants doing very well.

[Slattern]

Wow! Thank you all for your help! I have attached pictures of the orchid. I'm not sure exactly how old it is, but I definitely am waiting until the spike dies and weather gets warmer to repot. The main reason I am considering leca is because of the fact that everyone seems to say that these plants despise being repotted, so inorganic media seems to be a good choice. I'm newish to orchids, there's so much to learn but I truly do appreciate the help!

[Fairorchids]

Aside from the plant being in bloom, it is a mature plant in terms of leaf span (some plants are sold in bloom, but with only 7-10" leaf span [probably hormone treated]).

Even though my success ratio is only 75%, I would still recommend trying LECA.