Wilsonara Red Pacific "Deep Shadows" to repot or not to repot?

[thefish1337]

I just rescued this intergenetic hybrid and two other smaller phals from my mother who had been neglecting them in favor of her much more forgiving oncidium. One of the phals was beyond help and its likely going to die unless some miracle happens. The other phal I have cut the rot out and repotted with great benifet to the plant and new roots are growing. Going back to my main question: my mother repotted her wilsonara in a glazed orchid pot in what looks like pretty fine coco husk. This orchid was left outside to die in the summer and then she felt guilty about it and brought it back. It has one shriveled pbulb from its original mass, one small pbulb grown from that and another pbulb in the making (hasn't grown much in the past 2 weeks). I am not sure if the media and potsize of this orchid are good and the orchid is obviously stressed. I accidentally cut off a newly growing root tip when cleaning out the dead pbulbs which im sure cant be good either. I've ordered some kelpmax to aid these two rescues and I'm in the process of getting a fan for some air movement as the media the wilsonara holds a lot of water and seems to take 1.5 weeks to get to a point where I feel I wont be drowing the plant. Is it time to repot now or should i just let the orchid adjust to its new environment and repot in the spring I worry that it doesn't have enough energy storage in its pbulbs to take much more? also what is a good media for this species of orchid? i really dont want to lose this orchid it has some beautiful inflorescense. I'll post a pic later today when I'm off work to show you guys what I'm working with here.

[No-Pro-mwa]

I can't see the mix very well but it looks way over potted to me. I'm not the best with Onc so won't be much help.

If it were me I would defiantly re-pot it. I have my twinkle potted in a mix I got from Kelly's Korner, it say's for catt's and onc. I don't know if it is to large or not. Hopefully some one with more knowledge will chim in here.

[Vanda lover]

Definitely re pot it in the smallest pot that it will fit in, with just a little space around it for room to grow. Any mix will usually do for onc. I use coconut chips mixed with perlite, but a regular orchid mix would be fine. some people put them in sphagnum. Just be sure it has very good drainage. Styrofoam peanuts work well.

[magicatt]

Agree with the above. Also just want to encourage you that even though it IS shriveled, it is green and green is good. You have hope. Don't give up. When it finally blooms for you, do a victory dance and enjoy. I think it will make it.

[james mickelso]

Well???????? What'd ya do??? Small pot. Media doesn't matter at this point as long as it is kept ...J...U...S...T...damp. Let the old pbulb slowly release it's trove of nutrients to nuture the new growth. Too much water will kill this. Warm. Keep it warm. Shaded light. This will do best and grow if you don't do anything extreme. In nature this (yes I know it's a hybrid but it is still an oncid) is attached to a limb or tree trunk and gets watered every few days. Lots of mist but it doesn't stay wet. It gets wet and then dries quickly with the wind and dappled sunlight. It should go into the smallest pot possible. I wouldn't even give it room around the rim. It actually doesn't even need media. I have grown these just hanging from a thin thread of phone wire. Dappled sunlight, warm around 65*f to 80*f, and some breeze.

[thefish1337]

I started to repot it and then I realized that there is a live root system that has gone on to fill the pot size of the pot... the rootmass is very dense and I dont know if I could fit it in anything smaller. Instead of worrying about sitting water in the pot I bought a small fan for my orchids and the plant has been responding by growing a new psueudobulb. The media now dries out on a more reasonable schedule wit the increased aiflow. I dosed it with Kelpmax and will be doing that every 3 weeks or so.

[james mickelso]

Is it a "live, growing" root system? A plant that small with but one pbulb and another immature with a small new growth starting would have some live roots but a lot of dead or inactive roots intermingled by some good white growing roots. But if it is growing a good new growth then keep on with what you are doing. Next fall when that new growth has matured, repot it. Take it out of the pot, wash as much of the rootmass as you can without doing any damage to it and take lots of pics. We'll show you how to pare down the rootmass into something more manageable so you won't get root rot issues. Oncids have thin numerous roots that are only viable while that pbulb is growing then they become dormant. The next new pbulb uses what is left in the root to help it along until the new pbulb has a good set of roots. Then those roots die. But they don't look like they are dead. But careful examination will reveal the truth. It needs to be kept just damp. Not wet. Most folks get into trouble with water staying in the center of the rootmass while the top dries out. Next season when you repot it, you need to really pare down that big mass of roots so you don't have to repot it for as long as possible. That way you will get lots of spikes with lots of flowers.

[thefish1337]

So....I took your advice. The fine coir mix that this Wilsonara was potted in began to give me more and more mold problems which I attributed to breakdown of the media. Fighting mold with chemicals or cinnamon didn't seem like an attractive way to spend my time on this orchid. I made a mixture of sphagnum and orchid bark to repot this plant in. You were indeed right in that a good 90% of the rootmass was dead. I removed as much dead roots as I could without risking damage to the living roots. The two living pseudobulbs each had two singular roots that went into the media and began branching + a few weak aerial roots. I repositioned the orchid so that it will now grow across the pot (the direction of pbulb growth) and if all goes well I wont need to repot for 1.5-2 years. I will continue to supplement with Kelpmax as an insurance policy- Thanks all for your help and also to encourage me to get over my fear of repotting.

[No-Pro-mwa]

I too had a fear of re-potting. I lost many orchids to it, I am still some what scared of it but on we must go. I hope it will grow good now.