How to get air roots out of the slits in pots

[greenpassion]

I have a large phalaenopsis that needs a repot. A lot of the roots are growing through the slits in the clear plastic pot it is in. Any ideas on how to get these safely out? It looks like I'm going to end up having to cut those roots. Is that going to hurt it? It is still very much in a growing phase, but there's so many routes on the outside of the pot and so many in side I felt I should do it now rather than wait till spring. Anyway, please chime in about how to safely get these roots out of those tiny slits.

[estación seca]

Shake the old medium out of the pot. Replace with new medium.

[jkofferdahl]

ES's suggestion is an excellent one, unless you need to upsize the pot. In that case, what I've always done is either break the pot (carefully) if it's terra cotta, or, if the pot is plastic, I simply cut it open.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Shake the old medium out of the pot. Replace with new medium.

Perfect idea. I would only add that if you want to get out any remaining fines, rinse out with a little force, such as with a garden hose, before adding new medium. "Little" force is important, you don't need a fire hose.

[greenpassion]

What I ended up doing, since I did need to upgrade the size of the pot, is clipping the three roots off. I made a guess that since it was so packed with roots and had so many air roots, the clipping three of them off would not damage the plant. I had to upgrade it to a 7-inch pot. When I got it out of the first one, it was pretty solid with roots. This phalaenopsis I bought only six months ago, it's a Sogo Yukidan V3. It was sent to me in Moss, very healthy, and had previously put up double spikes. The second I got it out of the Moss, and put it in a mix of bark and Moss, it took off like crazy. It packed the 5-inch pot with roots. So I needed to upgrade the size of the pot. I can only hope the clipping those three roots off didn't hurt it. I have to say here that talking into the phone to post is a pain in the ass excuse my French. It takes me longer to edit what I'm saying that I can believe. My phone is my computer by the way.

[fishmom]

I tend to use a small pruning shear to enlarge the slit when I see roots heading through the openings, so that they have room to grow and so I can get them out later. Of course, I don't get them all, so I end up cutting holes or even destroying the plastic pot. But remember, you can still use a plastic pot even with some extra holes in it!

[greenpassion]

Fish mom, that would have been a great idea. It's funny that you mentioned it now, as I had just last week purchased a soldering iron, and have made six or seven various-sized pots with lots of holes and slits in them. Unfortunately this phalaenopsis that I repotted today, I ended up clipping off the three roots so I could get it out of the pot. And I'm wondering now with the new pot that I made with all the big holes and slits in them what I will do when their Roots fill out those. That's a problem in the future though I guess. Not a bad one because that means they're happy!

---------- Post added at 07:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:06 PM ----------

So I have not heard from anyone that I have damaged the plant by clipping off the ends of the three roots that were poking out of the pot.

[JScott]

No, clipping those roots won't harm the plant, if it has plenty of other roots, which it sounds like it does. It would have been wise to treat the cut root ends with fungicide to prevent infection, but a healthy plant probably won't have any problem. You might let it dry for a couple days or so to give the cut ends time to scab over.

I remember in some of the older orchid literature I read back in the 90s when I started growing that they would recommend trimming the roots as standard practice during repotting. I don't hear anybody talk about doing that much anymore, so maybe that has fallen out of practice, but clipping the roots won't do any harm.

[Leafmite]

I always cut the pot and spare the roots.

[fishmom]

If the holes are bigger than the diameter of a healthy root, you won't have a problem, the roots will just slip out.

Regarding trimming the roots, there is a grower here in California who advocates this (Debra Atwood of Napa Valley Orchids). She grows really nice plants, so obviously it doesn't destroy the plants. I doubt that your plant will even notice the missing roots, greenpassion.