Slightly late in repoting Zygopatelum. Now what?

[koranke]

I'm a complete novice with orchids. Maybe 16 years ago I bought a Zygopatelum. I didn't know anything about them but loved the flowers and fragrance. I repoted it once after the first year and repoted it a second time, perhaps 10 years ago. It has always seemed happy and would send up flower spikes maybe three times a year. It has, however, started to look pretty bad as it's run out of space with all the old bulbs crowding out space. I've let it go for so long, I don't know what to do now. I broke the pot to get it out and it's all roots. Should I just put it in a slightly larger pot? Should I try to break it up or remove any of the darker looking roots or older bulbs that have no leaves? Here are some pictures. Please don't judge me too harshly.





https://1drv.ms/i/s!AugX580Vx9mLmocN...F_oPw?e=aVPKGC

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AugX580Vx9mLmocM...Oec6Q?e=NNzHNS

[Roberta]

First, Welcome!
That is one amazing plant! You have done very well over so many years!

I would be puzzled on what to do next, too! My inclination would be first to soak it for a bit, to try to loosen up the roots so that you can see what's going on in the middle. Both the roots and the leaves look very, very healthy. If you can get into the middle (perhaps from the bottom), maybe try to coax out broken-down medium and rotted stuff. I suspect that there isn't a lot of medium left. Rather than getting rough with it and trying to get it apart, you might just drop it into a larger pot, fill in with some fresh bark, and let it spread out for a year or so. Then do another repotting, at which point it may be less impacted. It has done so well, I'd be inclined to be gentle. I have used the "superficial repot now and more thorough cleanup in a couple of years" approach with Cymbidiums that look like that, with some success. After having more room for a year or two, some of the old, leafless pseudobulbs are easier to separate from the newer ones, you can find the "weak points" to get it apart without brutalizing.

The alternative is to cut through the root ball and divide when you can't disentangle the roots, but that tends to set the plant back. I'd hate to do that without giving the slow approach a chance to work first.

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

[koranke]

I guess I'll follow Roberta's advice and do the easy thing. Will take one more gentle look at the roots for anything that might need removing, but otherwise will just repot the whole thing in a larger pot without trying to divide it into smaller segments. Thanks for the feedback.