THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!!

[dounoharm]

2 years of looking the other way...and this pot is jam packed out of control. its potted in one of those pots from lowes, like 6-7"...




it had a small net pot over the bottom hole for additional drainage. I had to cut it out... butter my devil said to whack it hard! so I did...



I cut the net pot out, and thought about what to do...to take the backbulbs for another plant or use a bigger pot.






to be continued

[dounoharm]

the big clay pot, and using a 5" net pot for additional drainage, I potted on!





I had to 'trim a bit', lol, but I got that baby tucked in





its too heavy to hang, so I put in on the benches and put it on pot 'feet' just to make sure it drained well, and all done









I always put the butt end of the plant against the wall of the pot, with the new growth towards the middle...I hope to get maybe 3 years without potting!

oh, and physan all cuts and cutters!

[dounoharm]

I wanted to give the c. dupreana a new home, but as I removed it from the pot, it divided itself, so it went back into 6" pots...



I have another monster, Lucille, so I did it the same as for leo....





time will tell how these two do....both have new growths about half grown, and Lucille has two new leads forming...a 6" pot just won't do....

[Leafmite]

Ouch!
Sometimes it is just easier to start over, isn't it? With some of my other plants being finicky about roots, I have a psychological barrier to removing/harming healthy roots even if it seems like it would be soooo much easier than painstakingly picking off all the bark (I hate bark).

I use 'plastic baskets'/net pots to pot up my orchids as I can just drop them into larger ones (yeah, the lazy way). I was using red lava rock but then I got a Catt. aclandiae in a pot with no medium but for a single cork and it started a trend. I have a few Cattleyas and other orchids in the basket pots with no medium. :0 They are doing well but I will probably add some rock just to make it practical to take them to an OS meeting in the future.

Looking forward to part two!

---------- Post added at 04:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:02 PM ----------

Looks good! I am sure they will all do fine for you.

[dounoharm]

I am mostly worried about drainage, leafmite….cutting good roots is necessary sometimes...and if done cleanly, they don't miss a beat me....I need some 8" and 10" old orchid pots, I keep wishing for the pot fairy to drop some off on me! the ones I used today are 12", HUGE, but all I had....I think those monsters can handle it!

[Leafmite]

I hope you find those orchid pots that you need. Clay pots are not as common as they once were and I haven't seen any of the really large slotted ones that I once used for my large Cattleyas in the early days (sold as azalea pots).

Roots. I do know you are right. My first orchids were Phal-type Dendrobiums bought as rootless, leafless single green canes with a tag tied onto the cane. Then the first Cattleyas were all bought from a florist and all that was left of them were green back-bulbs. Next, I progressed to nearly dead single-bulb Oncidiums found at a local greenhuose, all roots dead, of course. All of them put out new growths, new roots and all but one Cattleya eventually rewarded me with blooms. Don't worry, I know you are definitely the logical one here.

I confess that I like a challenge. For a time, it has been said that roots die after potting, especially when transferred to a different medium and, well, that intrigued me. :0

Have you discovered that some other types of plants do not fare well if their roots are disturbed after they have reached a certain size? I have encountered a few that, no matter how careful, they just slowly die after a re-pot. I do know how to pot plants but...ugh.