Got a bit of a mess on my hands.

[Johndeaux22]

I recently just received a Bc. Rustic Spots, it is potted in a net basket with sphagnum moss inside of a 2” pot. Roots are quite prolific outside the basket, and most are poking through the holes. The current medium is not in great shape, so I need to repot as soon as it’s done flowering. Any ideas for extracting it from the net pot, and keeping something intact? I like to pot in 25/75 leca/Orchiata bark, so some initial root loss is expected in the change over, but I’d like to not set it back too far if possible. I’m thinking I’d like to, as gently as possible, cut the net pot away and repot as normal. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

As an aside, the entire shipment I received today was less than impressive. Everything potted in rotten sphagnum moss, one plant had a slug. I can’t post a negative review about the seller, as I don’t have enough posts, however I can say that they’re a prominent SoCal nursery with a large Phal. selection and a GREAT domain name….that was recently negatively reviewed on here by another member. I wish I had seen the review before placing an order.

[Roberta]

For your Bc Rustic spots, I'd wash out/pick out what I could of the old medium but don't try to get it out of the net pot, just leave it. Then repot into your medium of choice (I'd suggest small, high-quality bark like Orchiata or Kiwi) in a slightly larger pot. Don't worry about what may still be stuck on - you want to preserve roots. Rinsing under running water will remove "crud", whatever is left won't be harmful.

As for the rest, clean out the rotten sphag, repot into good medium. In this case, I would not even wait for root growth, with that icky medium the odds of losing roots due to bad environment are higher than the possible setback due to potting out of season. Then give everybody a good bath with Kelpak, to hopefully jump start some new root growth. As far as the vendor goes... I think we all recognize them from the description. There are plenty of negative reviews, so no need for another. They are pretty infamous.

[Johndeaux22]

Thank you for the info Roberta. I’ll get everything repotted this week, and hopefully get things moving in the right direction.

[Ray]

I'd be carefully snipping away at the plastic pot, taking it apart piece by piece without damaging the roots, then remove the moss and repot.

[WaterWitchin]

When I get something in a net pot like that I use a Fiskars micro-tip clipper (pointy and very sharp) and cut just the top wide band off and leave the rest. Cut carefully and slowly. Pick out what moss I can easily remove. Then I give it a good spraying with my kitchen sink sprayer and move forward.

Same method I used for the hundreds and hundreds of water plant starters transplanted back in the days of retail water gardening. Probably have at least six of those micro-tip clippers strewn around the house and outside.

[realoldbeachbum]

Hello Johnd - I am fairly new to orchids and purchase all via internet vendors. I would like to know the name of that SoCal nursery. Thanks, ROBB

[Johndeaux22]

If you go to the vendor feedback forum, the date of the last post was 7/30/23…

[realoldbeachbum]

Got it. Thanks! ROBB

[Clawhammer]

Norman Fang is a crook and a bad person.

[katsucats]

Ask him about orchid care and stuff. Just don't talk to him about business related matters. He treats every business inquiry like a competitor spy, and every customer like a crook trying to scam him. He's unscrupulous, but he is knowledgeable about orchids.