How tight should the medium be packed?

[Im Just Saying]

I re-potted my newly acquired blooming phalaenopsis almost a week ago after spotting some root rot. I did end up trimming away 25-30% of the roots as they were mushy and blackened, or completely dried out husks. Unfortunately it did send the plant into shock as half of my blooms started wilting in the days after and I think these will drop soon. However the other half are not wilting at all and I have not seen anymore start to droop in the last couple of days so I'm hoping its a sign that the plant is recovering.

I bought a bark mix medium for orchids from my local nursery. I noticed immediately that the mixture is more fine than the bark mix the phal was in previously. Not being completely sure of myself I re-potted best I could trying to get the mix in between the roots as I went. Now a week later as the medium is drying out I notice that the medium in the pot seems loose. The plant is stable in there however if I was to lift it up I'm fairly certain that the pot may fall off. In some of the videos I watched it said that the bigger bark mediums needed to be packed in tighter than the smaller. At this point how can I tell if I need to add more medium? Or should I leave my poor phal alone? Thanks for your help.

[camille1585]

A good way to make sure the bark settles well is to tap the pot on the table after each handful of medium you add in. Tapping the pot will help get the medium down between the roots.

Did you soak the bark mix overnight before using it? Bark doesn't hold water well in the beginning so soaking it beforehand helps. Also, if it really has a lot of fine particles, giving it a somewhat soil like consistency, then that's not very good for the roots in the long run....

[Bud]

posting pictures would be nice...we can help you better

[Im Just Saying]

Sorry wasn't sure if pictures would be helpful or not. Here's the requested photos sorry I couldn't get the camera to focus better. The orchid mix is a mixture of "softened" fir bark, lava rock, redwood compost, and sand. It was what I could easily get on short notice that wasn't moss.

In my growing list of rookie mistakes I did not soak the mixture overnight prior to re-potting which I thought of half-way through the process. However the mix was moist in the bag so I added a small bit of water mixed it up and potted the plant. I haven't watered it yet to give the roots time to heal, but while taking photos I noticed when I moved to a cooler room the pot started to condensate so I'm sure that there is still moisture in the medium. Thanks for your help as I feel like I'm not doing so great as an orchid caretaker already....

[camille1585]

I think you did an overall good job of potting it up! As long as the roots are green and there is condensation, don't water. But that mix looks really soil-like..... I don't see anything that remotely looks like a piece of bark. 'Softened' bark is IMO akin to bad/rotten bark. I use pure bark mixed with some other things, and me me quishy bark means it's time to repot, because it holds too much water!

[The Mutant]

Originally Posted by Im Just Saying

In my growing list of rookie mistakes I did not soak the mixture overnight prior to re-potting which I thought of half-way through the process. [...]Thanks for your help as I feel like I'm not doing so great as an orchid caretaker already....

You are not alone when it comes to this. I've re-potted almost 20 Phals by now and I haven't let the bark soak overnight in any of them... Oops...

I think this is the reason my P. schilleriana was not doing that great and I re-potted it yesterday since it had not rooted itself in the new medium at all, instead it was busy trying to fall out of the pot... It feels much more "secured" now in the new medium (instead of plain bark as I had it in before I put it in my own pine bark, sphagnum and perlite mix) even though I didn't let it soak during night...

Sorry for hi-jacking your thread.

[camille1585]

It's not that you absolutely NEED to soak it beforehand. It's just that it will more readily absorb water if you do. And if you don't, you may find that the medium dries out really quickly. In that case instead of unpotting, just give the plants a good long soak when watering,to get the bark fully wet.

[The Mutant]

Which is the case with my P. schilleriana. Even if the new medium dries out quickly I won't re-pot it anymore (no more stress for my schill!), it was more that I apparently hadn't potted it well to start with which made me decide to re-pot it. Dry medium or not, a Phal is not supposed to feel like it is about to fall out of the pot I think. It feels much more stable now and not as if it's in a hurry to make acquaintances with the floor.

[Merlyn]

It's VERY important for the plant to be stable in the pot !! If there aren't enough roots to hold it securely a rhizome clip should be used. They make them for clay and plastic pots. The ones for plastic pots kind of bend up the side of the pot so I just melt holes with a hot ice pick and insert wire where I need it to anchor the plant.
.

[silken]

The only thing, is with Phals. it's a little hard for a rhizome clip to work since there is only one stem with leaves that could get damaged. I have never found that I could pick a plant up immediately after potting by the plant itself and have the pot stay with it! Once the roots establish then it will be snug.

Your potting looks fine although I agree, that is more like soil than orchid media. But, rather than disturb the plant again, just be very careful with watering. Use a bamboo skewer placed in the pot and when you think it's time to water, pull it out and see if it's dry or just barely damp. Only water if it is. Put it back in the same place till next time. You could slide a stake down the side and tie your plant to it if it is really unstable, but otherwise it will grow some more roots and get established in time.
Now buy some bark or something chunky to have on hand for the next time you need to re-pot so you don't have to make do with what's available locally! You never know when the orchid bug will bite again