orchid won't stay in it's pot after repotted

[earthmama]

I am a newby. I got a lovely orchid from aldi's. I didn't water it too much , just once a week like the instructions on the tag said. my house is generally dry too. But the pot didn't drain well and was too damp. It didn't dry out like it should. I started researching orchids to figure out if I needed to do something else. It was still in bloom but really needed repotted because the roots were starting to rot because the soil wouldn't dry out. So I cut the spike off and repotted it in new orchid potting mix in a different pot. I put it in a smaller plastic pot with drainage holes . more than half the roots were bad and I cut those off, they were squishy, brown and just rotted. There are several good roods though so I have hope for the plant to survive. But the problem is that the good roots are all on one side and the plants leaves are heavy. So it won't stay in the pot or rooted at all!!

I tried rooting it several times when I was potting it, using a spoon to put the dirt/medium in the right spots. I finally used a straw on one side and a piece of embroidery thread to kind of hold it in place, but even that's not really working. I put the pot in a bigger heavier pot so it wouldn't tip over. That works. but when I went to water it today, it tips right out of the pot. I dont' know what to do. should I cut some leaves? They all lean to one side. agh.

[RandomGemini]

Orchids are slow growing. I have an orchid that I rescued from a hardware store back in July. It started growing a new root in August. The root is now about an inch long and that sort of slow growth is not enough for it to really grab the potting medium very quickly.

What did you pot it in? It should not be potted in soil.

I would not cut off any leaves. If this is a phalaenopsis, there is no bulb for water and nutrient storage and you just put this plant through major surgery (which sounds like it was the right thing to do!) It will need its reserves to recover and those reserves are the leaves. What I would do, is get a bamboo skewer and a piece of ribbon string or floral wire. Place the skewer in the medium, avoiding the roots of the plant, and tie the Phal to it gently.

After you do that, don't move it around. Just leave it in it's growing spot unless you're watering it. Fertilize it at about one quarter strength once a week and it should start growing roots and will grab the media on it's own.


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[cbuchman]

I've had success putting a small stake on either side of the phal and then tieing the plant to both stakes with some string. You can also tie the plant to the pot itself if the pot has a lip or something you can catch the string on.

[Orchid Whisperer]

I have found small plastic cable ties to be very useful for anchoring orchids in pots. I start out by getting some small, flat object that is a bit larger than the bottom drainage hole of the pot (assuming a terra cotta pot). A bit of popsicle stick, or a small flat piece of plastic (snip from a yogurt carton etc) will work well; this is your 'anchor', it should not completely block your drainage hole. Punch a hole through the middle of your anchor, a cable tie goes through that hole; form a loop with the cable tie. push the loop up through the drainage hole from the bottom, the anchor keeps the cable tie loop from completely going up through the pot.

Use a second cable tie to form a loose loop around the base of the plant. Assuming this is a Phalaenopsis, the loop should be around the base (stem), below the leaves but above the roots. It should not be able to slip off the roots at the bottom, but not tight.

Take a third cable tie, linking the loop around the plant to the loop that goes through your anchor. When the loop is closed, the base of your plant should sit at the right height so that you can place medium around the roots without burying the stem.

If you are using a plastic pot with multiple holes in the bottom, you can modify this idea to make use of those holes instead of making an anchor. If you have a sympodial plant, you can modify this approach using cable ties to anchor the horizontal rhizome. There are probably hundreds of ways of modifying this idea. The main point is the cable ties can often be really useful for anchoring plants in pots.

BTW, your plant's pot may not sit completely flat after you do this. Once your plant has several roots attached to the pot, the cable tie attached to the anchor can be cut and the anchor removed; it should sit flat after that.

[Bud]

Orchid Whisperer is right, you need to anchor the plant to the bottom holes with the use of rubber coated wires....then put some heavy rocks on the bottom instead of peanut Styrofoam and then fill it with orchid mix....invest on a bigger heavy cache pot to put the plastic pot inside and make it even stable. The leaves want to be lopsided to let the crown dry faster instead of rotting with stagnant water trapped on the crown....follow the plant's wishes and just help it ....
pictures would be a great help for us to guide you better....

[RandomGemini]

If you need to stabilize a smaller plastic pot, inside of a ceramic pot, I do that by taking a stem clip and attaching it both to the plastic pot, and the lip of the ceramic pot. It helps if there's a bit of a beveled edge to the pot for the clip to grab.

Mine looks like this:



This isn't going to prevent it from falling over in an earthquake, but it does protect the plant from tipping over should my dogs decide to bark at it again.

[Laserbeak]

I would also recommend using clay terra cotta pots specially made for orchids instead of plastic pots. They have extra holes around the sides (sometime slits, sometimes holes) and water can also seep through the clay itself. Plus they weigh more, so it's less likely they'll get knocked over accidentally.