Advice for Rootbound Cattleya --> Basket Repot

[madalyneb]

Hello all,
I've lurked for a while here but don't think I've posted before. I'd like some advice on a recent C. intermedia repot from a 6"(ish) plastic pot to an 8" hanging wooden basket.

When I took it out of the pot, it was a lot more rootbound than I anticipated - basically a solid brick of roots. I had planned to tease them apart a bit, remove some old media and nestle the roots down into the 8" wooden basket, but it was so potbound that I can't tease anything apart without quite a lot of damage. Much of the old media is inorganic (large pumice, LECA, charcoal), with just a few pieces of chunky bark, so I'm not terribly concerned with not being able to get that out.

My main concern is the fact that 2"-3" of the root 'brick' are sticking up above the rim of the basket. I backfilled the basket with LECA and a couple of broken up cork chunks (mainly to fill the big gaps and keep the LECA in), but I'm not sure what to do with the root brick that is still exposed. Will leaving it exposed like this damage the roots/plant at all? Do I need to re-think the basket idea and either get something much larger/deeper or just pot it up into a larger pot? Or is it fine as it is?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/advice!

*edit* - I don't know why the attached photo is sideways, and I'm not sure how to fix it - sorry!