wet or dry potting mixes and when to water post potting

[Bethy]

Hello, I have a few questions about potting and potting mixes.

First, do you think potting with a wet or dry potting mix is a simple matter of preference, or does it impact your orchids?

Second, do you water your orchids immediately after potting or let them rest and heal from the potting trauma?

Third, do your answers matter based on whether your orchid has p-bulbs or not?

[Louis_W]

You are just talking about whether or not the mix is dry when you repot? And if you water immediately after potting?

I water immediately after I pot something. The healing process is weeks and months long so waiting until the plant has recovered is far too long.

As far as wet/dry upon potting I think it makes very little difference. Whichever makes the job easier

[Bethy]

Your response makes a lot of sense. I appreciate your time.

[Keysguy]

I agree with Louis.
I am a dry potter and water immediately after UNLESS.... I had to do a cut into some tissue and treat a wound with cinnamon. If I did, I wait a couple of days before I water those just to give the cinnamon a chance to do its thing and not wash it right off.

[Roberta]

I'm in there with both Louis_W and Keysguy - pot dry, water after. At least with bark mix.

When working with sphagnum, it definitely needs to be damp, so you aren't breathing its dust or spores. (and it is also soft and flexible) Some people are allergic to sphag, so just something to keep in mind. It doesn't need to be sopping wet, but when damp dust is under control, and it's flexible. Even with Catasetinae (that are still dormant), a little moisture from damp sphag won't harm them, it'll dry in a few days.

Also if you're making up a batch of bark-perlite mix, a little water on the perlite helps keep the dust down. The stuff is silica, which you don't want to breathe. Once mixed up, not really a problem. But when you're adding it, stand upwind - and having it damp is additional precaution.

[Dimples]

I grow primarily phals. but I also have a zygo. and an intergenetic oncidium hybrid.

I pot dry (excluding moss which I almost never use) because I find it significantly easier to get the bark to settle how I want it to and because I like to get a dry weight of the finished pot so I know generally what it’ll weigh when the bark is “dry-dry” in the future. I don’t want the plant to get that dry, but it’s nice to have a minimum weight too.

Because I use dry bark, I soak newly repotted orchids immediately, and for an extended period. I’m gentle and can so far expect there will either be: no damage worth worrying about or total root collapse (the occasional rescue-phal. and the two non phals., but I expected it).

I also like to record a wet weight for the pots, so I want to get the bark as saturated as possible. New (quality) bark doesn’t hold much water so it’s nearly impossible to overwater in the first few months in my conditions.

[Leafmite]

For me, it depends on the type of orchid. I live in Ohio, grow in my home, in various windows. I use mostly 1/4 inch lava rock but I also have some in 1 inch lava rock and others mounted.

Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, Angraecums, Zygos, Phals, Psychopsis: I soak the orchid well for a few hours before taking it from the pot and removing the medium. I pot up in dry medium and keep the roots dry for a few days. By doing this, the orchid roots are pliable when removing the medium and, by keeping the roots dry after being potted, they have a chance to heal. The roots will usually survive the process and continue to support the plant.

Pleurothallidinae, Oncidiums: I water right away with these. The first needs to be kept moist and the second never seems to have issues, at least not for me.

Cycnodes/Cyncnoches: I wait until close to spring and put the bulb in the fine lava rock and then wait until the roots have grown to water.

The other orchids I grow are mounted so none of this applies....

[rbarata]

I always pot with a dry mix as it's easiear for it to fill the voids that might occurr inside. Depending on the potting, if there's no major damage to the plant I water right after. If not, I wait two or three days to allow any minor wound to heal.

[Ray]

Wow! I didn't expect the be the only contrarian here!

I always pretreat/presoak potting media before hand.

When using bark, it helps the structure "open up" so it can absorb more and renders it a bit softer so that it can be pressed more into a permanent mass in the pot, securing the plant. If I use dry bark, a single, even heavy, watering afterward doesn't get it nearly as wet and sometimes, as it expands, it loosens up.

When using LECA, the dry pellets can "grab onto" dry roots and be a bit of an abrasive, so I prefer wetting it first.

I always start with wet, no matter the condition of the roots, but if I have had to break or cut something, I'll let the wound dry overnight before potting it up.

My pretreating also includes Kelpak to give the plant a boost and get new roots growing, and that's in the solution used to water it in, too.

(By the way, Bethy - thanks for asking intelligent questions. I've apparently been spending too much time with Facebook beginners.)

[Bethy]

Thanks, everyone! I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts and why you do things the way you do. It just goes to show there are a lot of different ways to go about caring for orchids. There are many roads to orchid to success!