Should I repot this Burr. Nelly Ister "Swiss Beauty"

[james mickelso]

Somewhere I put up a thread repotting a phal. Last few weeks. Here it is again.

[james mickelso]

There is a lot more to this repotting but there is the essentials. In one of the pics you can see the dense plug of spag the seedling or clone was planted on and then after two years they are planted plug and all into another small pot of spag. It is so dense that no air gets into it. We buy it and suffer the consequences. Good luck with yours. I have an oncid I need to repot and will probably shoot another detailed set of pics. I'll let you know when.

[SHag42]

Cool thanks James. Pictures are always better. I see that you set the base above the medium. I can understand seeing it how that would help a great deal with any rotting issues.

---------- Post added at 01:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:28 AM ----------

Originally Posted by james mickelso

There is a lot more to this repotting but there is the essentials. In one of the pics you can see the dense plug of spag the seedling or clone was planted on and then after two years they are planted plug and all into another small pot of spag. It is so dense that no air gets into it. We buy it and suffer the consequences. Good luck with yours. I have an oncid I need to repot and will probably shoot another detailed set of pics. I'll let you know when.

Can't wait to see it. Please do let me know. You have been a great help.

[james mickelso]

Once you get it out of the wet spag which was starting to incubate some pretty nasty fungus and mold along with some anaerobic bacteria you set it on the road to recovery. Now the most important things are good air flow which helps to even out the moisture content and good clean water. But you must let it dry out really well (not desiccate it but just moist) before watering again. In two weeks mix up a batch of fungicide and pour it through the media. Don't worry about feeding it for a couple months. Not too bright a light level either for a couple weeks. The roots can't keep up with the demands being placed on them now so it is using the stored starches/sugars and moisture in the back bulbs. Don't fret as these start to shrivel and wrinkle. All that is important is the new growth that will poke up in about 2 months. That is what is important.

[Leafmite]

Here is a nice link that gives a bit of background information for the nelly isler. I truly love this orchid and have given it as gifts to others, including my original at Christmas. With climates being so different, I really wasn't certain what to recommend potting-wise. I grow most of my orchids in straight lava rock. My pots are all the basket pots. Orchids that like to stay wetter have some sphagnum moss somewhere in the set-up. This is a great orchid.

PICK OF THE WEEK / Swiss Beauty / Four types of orchids make one 'Swiss Beauty' - SFGate

[james mickelso]

I like the lava rock with a little spag for potting oncids and phals. It stays "moist or damp" without staying "wet". Finer media stay wet down underneath the root mass and that is what rots them. And orchids grow slowly so we don't know something is wrong until too late in the game. If you plant in spag or fine bark, don't water until the pot and plant are really light in weight. Then water.