Ancient Dendrobium speciosum in slat basket

[Stray59]

Hello everyone!
I am volunteering at our local museum greenhouse, helping to revamp and re-build their orchid collection. As I understand the history, about 40 years ago an area grower bequeathed an orchid collection to the museum greenhouse and they formed a nice "orchid house" just for the collection. Over the years a variety of managers, greenhouse workers and volunteers have been in control of the care. Needless to say, not all of them were orchid-educated, and the collection has suffered. Plus, as it is open to the public, there is always the additional problem of people handling, breaking off pieces, and most likely contaminating the plants with viruses/bacteria/fungus. So, recently a descendant of the original donor has provided funds to rebuild the collection. With that spirit, many of the older orchids are either being weeded out (very likely to be viral) or, if at all healthy, repotted and properly fertilized, etc.
Several years back, when the greenhouse staff was less involved with the collection, someone just sat a Dendrobium speciosum down in a basket, not even bothering to break the root ball or to put additional potting media around the roots. The whole thing is quite large and NEEDS dividing and repotted.
My question? How would you do this? Break the slat basket and then divide, or try and pry the plant out? I was thinking I would divide the plant so I was not that worried so much about the root system as it is really very robust. But, I was wondering if I should just repot it into a large pot and not divide it as it is really a nice size specimen. The plant bloomed this year with three spikes and was quite impressive. I have not had this species myself and am not sure if they want to be divided or just left in large clumps. If I am going to divide it, I want to dig into doing so before it starts into growth.
Input?

[MrHappyRotter]

Wait to hear from the experts, for what it's worth I'm not a dendrobium grower, but what I can say is ....

It's not an uncommon, nor unreasonable potting method to just place the plant, current basket and all into a bigger basket or container. If the plant has grown roots into or attached to the current basket, this my in fact be the best solution. It's more often that you see vandas treated this way, but I imagine in suitable conditions with good humidity and air flow, this would be acceptable for many other epiphytic genera.

My vote would be to not divide the plant and simply let it grow into a larger specimen, unless you have specific needs/reasons to divide. For instance, if the plant is too big and heavy for the staff to handle, then it would be necessary to divide. Or if there were plans to auction off pieces of it to raise funds.

[Stray59]

I have seen a lot of orchids treated similarly and I personally love the intricate patterns of the roots, but the push at the museum is to enhance the overall display and the staff, as proud as they are of this plant, do not care for the looks of it as the basket is really old and starting to degrade. Over the years, many baskets, decorative planters and such have made their way into the collection and the staff is trying for more consistency in appearance, so at the least I think this is bound for a large clay pot.
Personally, I think the plant could use the media for moisture as the collection has tended to run on the drier side at times.
Thanks for the input and taking the time - I appreciate it!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I'd just let the orchid keep growing. Eventually there might be opportunities to easily make divisions when the older pseudobulbs die and you have to remove those pseudobulbs for sanitary and aesthetic purposes. In other words, the plant will naturally make divisions for you.

[Stray59]

That's an idea - if it were fertilized correctly (they have just started weekly, weakly, feeding) it would definitely look better and to be sure, it is impressive. If you could see it closer, you will see that inside the root ball is the original 8" plastic pot, which is all but covered in roots.
Thanks King_of_Orchid_growing - something to think about. BTW - that is a 14" slat basket, which gives you an idea of the size.

[AJW]

Hi you are dealing with an Australian species here.
1. I have never seen them growing in slat baskets before. (Not to sat that's not good)
2. Re potting is a good idea even if its only to give the plant some fresh bark and get rid of any historic salt build up in the medium.
I also tend to give mine a weak dose of Epsom salts at the start of Autumn/winter. I find this boosts the growth and flowering cycles.

Having said all of that be prepared for flowering delays these plants can sulk and have a tenancy if growing right to throw new growth one year and flowers the next. growth is usually pretty good I find once the plant is happy it tends to double in size every three to four years.

[Stray59]

Thanks AJW! All good info. As far as repotting it in order to replace the old media, well that ship sailed. There is no media around it at all. It was very root bound when it was sat down in the slat basket and no one bothered to put any media around it - just sat the root ball in the basket and it adhered there.
I have just about decided to remove the top few levels of the basket, set the remaining lower section of the basket, with the root ball intact, into a large clay pot and fill in around it with bark chunks. Again, in the summer the greenhouse gets very warm and if the employees are tied up with customers, the orchids don't get watered as they maybe should. So I think the addition of some media around the roots would help hold in a little moisture for times like that.
As I have said - it is really impressive and I know it has bloomed for the last few years successively. I just think it could look better and perform better if there were a little media around the roots. I know Vandas and some others don't mind being bare-root in the baskets, but I have never seen this grown that way, although my contact with this species is limited.
Thanks again, all good things to ponder and think over!