Repotting Help ✨✨✨

[pancakelover01]

Hello,

I just repotted my phal the other day. It was in a smaller pot from the supermarket and I was wondering if I over potted my phal with this new bigger pot I purchased for it. It’s repotted in a 6 in plastic pot with slits on the sides and bottoms. I’m also wondering if I packed the medium too tightly into the pot. The medium I used I was Repotme Monterey dark imperial orchid mix. I am also wondering if my phal is suffering from a bit of stem or crown rot (third picture). The pictures shown below are my phal after being repotted. I’ve only had her for a few months. Please help!

[Shadeflower]

hi pancake,
What you describe sounds absolutely fine to me. If you pick a slotted pot it can be a bit bigger, the aim is to pick what keeps the orchid moist enough. You want to pick a substrate + pot that dries sufficiently between watering. If it stays too wet then picking a smaller pot will ensure it dries faster but if it works then that is the most important thing. We still have to make it work. There is no magic rule on what size pot you should be using. It will be depending on your climate, how much you like to water, how much your orchid is growing and so on.

I can see some broken roots on the picture but it looks like they were already broken when you got the orchid and have since dried up, the healthy roots should in theory still be ok buried underneath the substrate.

Do the roots still turn green when you spray water on them? They are starting to look a bit brown which does happen over time but if it happens too fast it could be an indication that they are getting too much accumulation of fertilizer.

So have you been feeding this one by any chance? The roots look like they have fertilizer salt buildup but the picture is too small to see for sure.

I would not worry about the pot or the substrate as much as your watering and fertilizing. The orchid needs to dry but it should not remain dry too long between watering, again there is not set schedule to watering, if the orchid has dried enough and the roots look thirsty then it is time to water again even if it is a few days sooner than the last watering, The weather influences how much an orchid drinks so don't always stick to a set schedule, water it when it needs it.

[pancakelover01]

Originally Posted by Shadeflower

hi pancake,
What you describe sounds absolutely fine to me. If you pick a slotted pot it can be a bit bigger, the aim is to pick what keeps the orchid moist enough. You want to pick a substrate + pot that dries sufficiently between watering. If it stays too wet then picking a smaller pot will ensure it dries faster but if it works then that is the most important thing. We still have to make it work. There is no magic rule on what size pot you should be using. It will be depending on your climate, how much you like to water, how much your orchid is growing and so on.

I can see some broken roots on the picture but it looks like they were already broken when you got the orchid and have since dried up, the healthy roots should in theory still be ok buried underneath the substrate.

Do the roots still turn green when you spray water on them? They are starting to look a bit brown which does happen over time but if it happens too fast it could be an indication that they are getting too much accumulation of fertilizer.

So have you been feeding this one by any chance? The roots look like they have fertilizer salt buildup but the picture is too small to see for sure.

I would not worry about the pot or the substrate as much as your watering and fertilizing. The orchid needs to dry but it should not remain dry too long between watering, again there is not set schedule to watering, if the orchid has dried enough and the roots look thirsty then it is time to water again even if it is a few days sooner than the last watering, The weather influences how much an orchid drinks so don't always stick to a set schedule, water it when it needs it.

Hi! I only fertilize my phal once a month. I just watered her a few days ago, after repotting. The roots you see were white/yellow because they were buried before I repotted her. With this new medium I repotted her in, the roots kinda got covered in the dust from the mixture. I’m not sure. I’m still wondering if the black part of the stem is stem rot or if I shouldn’t worry about it. It looks to have dead matter on it, but the roots attached to it seem to green up just fine.

[Shadeflower]

I can't see any stem rot.
You can still burn roots even if you just feed once a month. I mention this because the only black is see is on root tips if I am seeing it correct. The manufacturers recommendations on how much to feed are usually way too strong. You should be feeding 1/4 of what is says on the label to start with maximum. See how the plants respond and adjust if necessary but never start full dose.