Repotting large phal

[NatalieS]

I just spent the last hour trying to wrestle my very large phal golden treasure NOID into a new pot. I'm exhausted! It's growing about six new roots and already looked like it was trying to walk out of its pot, so I thought it was time for a repot. Good thing too because the media had started to break down.

I'm curious about how others repot when the plant gets really big? Any tricks? From the tips of the leaves on the far left to the tips of the leaves on the far right it's about 55cm (a little over 21 inch).

[orchidsarefun]

my tip would be to get a friend to help........also don't try and stuff the exterior roots into the new pot.
Congrats on a great looking plant !

[NatalieS]

Cheers! I didn't even think of asking anyone, but that would've made it much easier! Unfortunately I had to bury some of the external roots - they were getting insanely long and it was looking like a wild thing.

I know a lot of people are of the opinion that you should never bury the external roots because they aren't used to the medium and might rot, but when you pot up a keiki, which has all its roots hanging out there in the air, you soak the roots and then pot it up and I don't see the difference with doing this with any external roots. Similarly, I've read some threads here on the board where people frequently unmount their orchids because their growing conditions don't suit mounts and the plants are fine after being potted. This is just the conclusion that I've come to and is just my own opinion. Others might have different experiences and I'm not saying that anyone is wrong. Perhaps some plants are more sensitive than others when it comes to having their external roots buried.

[orchidsarefun]

of course there is nothing wrong with burying roots but in my experience the plant will just grow a whole lot more aerial roots. I have one now, Baldan's Kaleidoscope, that has about 15-20 healthy aerial roots - and these roots grew in the past year as last year I repotted it and stuffed ALL the aerial roots at the time into the pot. I probably wont repot it this year, just to see the impact.
But growing orchids is a personal thing and you come to your own conclusions about what's best in the long run.

[NatalieS]

Agreed! Mine had already started working on six new aerials before the repot so it's well on its way to replacing the ones I buried. I guess some phals just always have a proliferation of aerial roots!

[OhioBob]

My first phal is about 10 years old and I have always buried the roots when repotting and they always seem to be fine the following year when it comes to repotting. I worried about it one year when the main stalk in the pot was too large to put back into the pot so I cut off about 2 inches of stalk and what looked like 75% of the roots. The plant recovered a little slower than normal but not enough to prevent flowering the next cycle.

[NatalieS]

I'm repotting this guy again. The clay makes the medium dry out out too quickly and I don't water often enough to keep him happy. I wish I had someone to hold it up for me so I could take a proper picture (my husband is out gadding about town ). The perspective in these shots doesn't really give a proper sense of the size. The longest roots look like they're around 50-60cm long, if not more. I wish I had a basket to put this one in - it looks like a vanda with all those roots.

[tucker85]

Very healthy orchid with lots of good roots. It doesn't hurt to trim the roots back a little. I use a bamboo skewer to push media down around the roots.

[NYCorchidman]

When there are so many roots, I always struggle with filling the gap between roots with enough potting mix. At least phals have rather thick root, but for fine roots, it is such a nightmare as I really try not to damage roots as well.

Phals and their crazy ariel roots....I just let them grow out long, and then when they are long and flexible enough, I gently wrap them around the plant or tangle them up on against one another all on top of the potting mix so they are not spreading all over in the air anymore. lol
When the next repotting time comes, I bury them as much as I can. It doesn't hurt the plants at all and the plants just continue to make more and more.

Also, I lay my phals on a layer of packing bubble sheet with towel on top. This way I avoid leaf or root damage.

[lostonthebeach]

WOW! What a beautiful set of healthy roots.
Great photos.