Repot cattleya? Roots growing through sides of slotted pot

[greyblackfish]

Hi all,

I've got this young cattleya that started growing lots of roots. I wasn't expecting the roots to come out of the sides. I wasn't going to repot this one until next year because the media is still fresh. So I think I missed the window for repotting this one with the colder days coming soon.

But maybe it'll be better to repot now? What would you all do? Thank you!

[Shadeflower]

can easily go half a year longer.

Roots will grow out the slits, can't really be helped, they won't all necessarily snap off when you repot it, they can be guided through the slits.

[greyblackfish]

Thanks Shadeflower, maybe the roots will actively grow a little sooner than August next year. Well I guess it should be fine either way. This is my first year with cattleyas so I'm not used to their habits yet.

[Roberta]

If it was doing this in August, maybe do your reptotting next July... get just ahead of it. (Ideally you want to do it just as the new roots appear). If you have to cut the slits a bit to help tease the roots out, pots are cheap but roots are priceless. Favor the roots.

Fred Clarke of Sunset Valley Orchids suggests that when you repot, put a date on the tag of about a month BEFORE the date when you repotted, not the repotting date. That will remind you of the upcoming rooting, help you anticipate the rooting event..

[greyblackfish]

Thank you Roberta! That's definitely very helpful information. I repotted this one when I got it in June. I didn't know that orchids from nurseries usually do fine in the pot they arrived in. I will choose to sacrifice the pot for the roots.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by greyblackfish

Thank you Roberta! That's definitely very helpful information. I repotted this one when I got it in June. I didn't know that orchids from nurseries usually do fine in the pot they arrived in. I will choose to sacrifice the pot for the roots.

It depends on the nursery... Sunset Valley Orchids uses top-quality bark, those I don't repot until they outgrow the pot. (And when I do, don't worry about removing old medium) Other places, sometimes the mix isn't in such good shape. So to repot or not depends on the mix. But unless things are in really bad shape, best time to repot is still when the plant is starting a new batch of roots. Some are fussier than others about the timing.

[greyblackfish]

Originally Posted by Roberta

It depends on the nursery... Sunset Valley Orchids uses top-quality bark, those I don't repot until they outgrow the pot. (And when I do, don't worry about removing old medium) Other places, sometimes the mix isn't in such good shape. So to repot or not depends on the mix. But unless things are in really bad shape, best time to repot is still when the plant is starting a new batch of roots. Some are fussier than others about the timing.

Yes I ordered something a nursery that has instructions not to repot at least for the first year and yet the one I got came with some questionable media But this one had pretty good stuff.

I've seen on this board before that the best time to repot is when the roots are just starting but new root tips especially for cattleya are so delicate. Seems even the slightest bump hurts it. The ones for this one seems hardier but my walkeriana has some fickle roots.

[Roberta]

Now that you know when this plant roots (because you saw it) you can note the date when you want to repot - which can be a month or so BEFORE the rooting, and you'll nail it. The problem comes when a plant has to sit there for 6 or 8 months with a damaged root system before it gets new roots.(Notorious for that are some like C. dowiana that put out new growth, but the roots follow much later... it's roots not the growth you need to look for) Anticipating it by just a few weeks is perfect. If you're just a bit later - when the first new roots are just emerging, you're still OK - if one or two get dinged in the repotting process, there will be more on the way, they emerge over a bit of time.

[estación seca]

With most Catts it's fine just to drop the entire old pot into a new pot and backfill with medium. Older Catt roots don't function much; the new ones are the ones that matter.

[Roberta]

True... if the old medium is less than wonderful shake off what comes off easily, ignore the rest and fill in with fresh medium.