Thanks for repotting tips!

[qbie]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Phals. can survive for very long periods of time (years) if watered insufficiently

Thank you Orchid Board for all your tips on how to properly repot orchids and also stressing the importance of watering frequently enough after repotting. My first Phal is about 20 years old, but has been struggling ever since I repotted it 12 years ago and made pretty much every mistake possible: injuring roots that had adhered to the sides of the pot because I didn’t know to soak it beforehand, overpotting, not watering frequently enough afterwards, and probably too little light. Not knowing what the issues were, and hearing it may just need to be repotted again, it was eventually reduced to 2 very sad-looking leaves and 3 roots, and has pretty much been in that condition for the last 10 years.

After a decade of "not dead yet," I stumbled on this forum last summer and did one more repot, finally into an appropriately sized container, gave it more light, followed Roberta’s tip of weighing it to know when to water again, and continued to fertilize. There has been significant root growth the past 14 months, and finally today, the tip of a new leaf--hooray! 😊

There was some advice I followed from a video that I believe also greatly aided in the recovery of my orchid and wish to share that here in case it may help someone else. My apologies if it's been mentioned already and I just missed it. It appears for fleshy-leafed orchids like Phals, the small bits of sheaths that remain around the base of the stem after they shed their leaves becomes very brittle and tough when they dry up. But this area is also where new roots emerge. So it is good to try to remove those old sheaths to clear the path for any new roots. After I removed them on my plant, I saw small “stubs” where it had tried to send out new roots, but because it was too weak, it couldn’t push through. After those tough dried sheaths were removed, those roots finally grew out.

Wishing you successful repotting of your orchids too!