Hello,
I have had this beauty for almost two years now. She is having a very long vegetative period and is growing gloriusly. She has a keiki with 3 leaves and a second root forming. She has grown three new leaves with a fourth one on the way. Many roots in the pot and 5 coming from her base. I was horrified today when I noticed some of the older leaves started wrinkling (the photo comparison is 1 month apart). As you can see she has a Sustee so watering is extra monitored and varies from 5-10 days depending on the light, weather and temperature. Roots look beautiful green and as I said keep growing, most of them of the base.
My theory is she is growing too large for the pot and is suffocating? Is keiki draining her? So much roots from the base seem a bit off…
Shes my favorite and I really dont want to lose her. The new leaves look nice and shiny..
with orchids, for us anyway, it seems better to be proactive on repotting rather than wait till there are obvious problems with roots or media. so if it has been a couple years, why not repot now and give it good fresh media to stim blooming!
i don't understand the reluctance to repot until there is a problem. maybe it is mostly fear, but in the end folks set their plants way back if they let things get to a point of mass root die off. avoid all that, keep it fresh down there!
Tbh, I worry Ill somehow mess it up… or she will go in some kind of shock. Also reppoting an orchid with soo much roots frightens me 😅 I know there are a lot of videos but I still cant pack them as nicely as they come in stores..
1) Only way you get better is by doing it more.
2) Go slow and careful, I'm of the opinion that you can unpack the orchid and roots pretty much any time and repack them with the orchid really not knowing anything has happened (note this may vary with how adhesive the roots are...but soaking helps a whole lot here usually). I have more problems with roots adhering to the growing surface (table/windowsill in my case, or the pots), than the media *lol*.
For some types of orchids, one needs to be careful to time the repotting to new root growth. But Phals are growing all the time, and totally don't care about timing - they can even be potted in bloom. Don't worry about removing all the old medium... anything stuck to roots, just leave. Root-preservation is the goal. Don't worry about "suffocating roots" - orchids like to be a bit root-bound, a too-large pot has a wet, airless spot in the middle. But it does look like you could go a bit larger (maybe 2-3 cm bigger than the existing pot) and if it has been 2 years in your posession (and who knows how long berforr that) the medium surely needs to be replaced with fresh, to give the air that the roots needs.. If you can't easily coax that aerial root into the new pot, don't worry about it - aerial roots are part of a Phal's "repertoire". Choose your medium for your watering practice - large bark gives lots of air space but requires more frequent watering. Sphagnum stays wet longer. Small bark is in-between.
I can't see the photo very well. The time to repot plants in bark is when the bark begins decomposing and turning soft, or when particles of bark dust fill the air spaces. As mentioned above, Phals hardly mind repotting at all. So if the bark is becoming soft, or the air spaces are being filled, go ahead and repot.
Your Phal has a lot of leaves for one growing in a typical home with lower humidity. The dropping of leaves might just be normal death of old leaves. Also, it's hard to see in the photo, but does it have wrinkles running along the leaves? If so, it might not be getting enough water.
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I can't see the photo very well. The time to repot plants in bark is when the bark begins decomposing and turning soft, or when particles of bark dust fill the air spaces. As mentioned above, Phals hardly mind repotting at all. So if the bark is becoming soft, or the air spaces are being filled, go ahead and repot.
Your Phal has a lot of leaves for one growing in a typical home with lower humidity. The dropping of leaves might just be normal death of old leaves. Also, it's hard to see in the photo, but does it have wrinkles running along the leaves? If so, it might not be getting enough water.
I have a huge SE window that has kind of a greenhouse effect + a smaller humidifier I fill everyday. They are parallel to the leaves. The leaves are not yet soft but they were rock solid a month ago and now a could bend them if I wanted to. I am adding some more picutres of growth and leaves.
I have a huge SE window that has kind of a greenhouse effect + a smaller humidifier I fill everyday. They are parallel to the leaves. The leaves are not yet soft but they were rock solid a month ago and now a could bend them if I wanted to. I am adding some more picutres of growth and leaves.
How often do you water? You may be having a "rotted roots" problem due to old medium that is causing the plant to not be able to take up water, or else are not watering often enough as it's getting warmer.
How often do you water? You may be having a "rotted roots" problem due to old medium that is causing the plant to not be able to take up water, or else are not watering often enough as it's getting warmer.
When the Sustee gets white. Anywhere from 5-10 days, I make sure that the roots are silvery and that there is little to no condensation on the pot.
When the Sustee gets white. Anywhere from 5-10 days, I make sure that the roots are silvery and that there is little to no condensation on the pot.
I think that it is being underwatered. Especially as the weather gets warmer, it will lose more water through its leaves, that just means that it needs to take in more from its roots. I live in a fairly dry climate, but I water more often and even relatively humidity-sensitive orchids like the Pleurothallids do fine.
To repot or not?
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