Repotting overgrown phal

[Helene]

This is finally gonna get repotted. Got it as a gift in 2008 from my hubby. Never been repotted😳

There is a pot somewhere inbetween there…😂






But I dont suspect I'll find very much potting media. Its kinda used its own roots as media- its a survivor😎 Feel bad for the poor thing.


But still its been flowering- from root to top of flower 120cm- its big and heavy.
And kinda happy. Wonder how beautiful this will grow when its in a new potting mix😃 (or maybe it'll get shock and die…)


Well, I have some work to do.

Gotta love those roots, though?

[bil]

Amazing roots, - and people wonder why I think phals need bigger pots.....

[Helene]

Originally Posted by bil

Amazing roots, - and people wonder why I think phals need bigger pots.....

I had trouble finding pots big enough😂

This is a thin inner pot, working on making it an air pot. Then its gonna be inside a basket pot. That'll have to do until next year when I find a better pot.

Stay tuned, I will continue spamming this thread with my repotting project😜
Have to cut some old roots, and poke a couple hundreds tiny hole in this pot. Its gonna be airy, and bark with perlite. This likes to have space, and not to moist. And of course- sideways.

[bil]

That doesn't need a pot, it needs a bucket. Kidding aside, I make my own pots for orchids because I simply can't get pots that are wide enough and shallow enough.

I melt holes in the plastic with a hot rod. Less chance of cracks.

[ccrow]

Bil, how do you make your own pots? Please elaborate

[Helene]

Yeah- I want to know as well- and I do like pictures, if you can show us, Bil😊


Done poking holes😎 I started with melting as well, but got bored of heating the nail everytime😜 Wanted to keep the inner pot, because then I can lift the plant out for inspection and for flushing.

I would like the pot to be twice as wide, and half the depth. Then I could lean it even more sideways. But it needed a repot badly, and it will give me time finding a better pot. Or maybe make one, after Bil shares how to do that😉


This is kinda like surgery😜



Getting there, its fun repotting, seeing them all happy. But I have to admit, I'm gonna miss seeing all these roots growing wild. Well, I'm sure it will continue growing roots😎



Testing to see how it will fit. You see what I mean about width vs depth?

[ThePinkCucumber]

I love repotting, but only when it's just a couple of plants - I take my time, take pictures, inspect everything... If there are too many plants to be repotted, I get tired, frustrated and end up with some sloppy potting.

[bil]

Originally Posted by ccrow

Bil, how do you make your own pots? Please elaborate

Well, what I do is, I buy a whole lot of cylindrical pots, I like them because for normal plants they hold more soil and are less prone to tipping.

For orchids tho, they get deeper, the wider they are. TBBH that's not importat for phals, as long as you use decent sized lumps of bark as the spaces stay open. However those are expensive to fill with bark, and they take double the time to water which doubles my fertiliser cost.


What I do for the orchids is I take two pots a size apart, ie for phals I take a 40cm and a 35. I cut the top off the 35 and the bottom off the 40, and weld them together.
You have to work out exactly where the cuts go, as they need to fit snugly, and the welding is done by melting holes thru the plastic with a hot rod, about 5mm diameter.

If I can get on the other pc, I'll post a couple of pics. Different pairs of pots yied differentt results. For me, it was a pain when they changed the design of the pots, but it gave me a slightly deeper phal pot, which was nice. With the hard cane dens, which need a finer bark mix, I like a shallower pot, and a 30 top with a 35 base gives just the right depth. Don't throw away 'waste ' tops and bottoms, as you will probably find a use for them later on.

I also use 30 bases with a 25 top for smaller ones, and for really small plants, the 25 base goes with a 20 or an 18 top.

As you can see from that the 40 tops and the 20 base are wasted, which is not bad. These pots would obviously cost double what a normal pot would, but since I make them in different sizes, a 40, a 35, a 30, a 25 and a 20 give me 4 pots, so it works out cheaper.

I also sit them on two saucers, not one. For example, the phal pot with the base of the 40 has a saucer to match the pot, and then I put one a bit smaller, upside down in the normal saucer, and the pot sits on that. I water with a spray, and as soon as I see water run into the base saucer, I stop. That way the water doesn't go on the floor, the plant doesn't sit in the water and the water in the base saucer gives a bit of humidiity.

---------- Post added at 10:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:35 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Helene

Testing to see how it will fit. You see what I mean about width vs depth?

I think you may find roots coming out of the gaps between the slats, which will be a pain come repotting..

[bil]

OK, since you asked here is a brief account, and some pics.
These three pics show the marked pots, the cut off top and the disc I use which is a thin one specially for plastic.

The last pic shows an orchid sitting on the double saucer settup.. it's displaced so you can see it more easily.

[bil]

This is to show the differences you can achieve. These are 25cm tops and 30 bases. The way to make these work was to cut the top quite short. However, if you put the top on the inside of the bottom instead of the outside, you end up with a deeper pot.