Should I repot or wait?
 

Hi Everyone! I have two phal hybrids that are currently in spike. The buds are just barely starting to develop. They are currently in 3 inch pots and they live at work with me under a lamp. It is soooo dry here that even with misting the aerial roots they have shriveled up since I got them back in November. I am having to water every 2 to 3 days and they are potted in a bark/sphag mixture. My question is....should I wait until they are finished spiking/flowering to repot, or should I be fine to repot since they haven't actually formed the buds yet? This will be my first time blooming phals so I am just unsure of what is ok and not ok. Thanks!

i would wait till they are done blooming. as far as the conditions go if they have been where you have them now for awhile they should do good. post some pics when they bloom

Wait till they are done blooming (which might be a while). Anyway you an get a humidity tray underneath them? That along with the spraying might do the trick.

Now here is a totally different approach. I would repot while they are in spike if I thought something didn't look quite right. :hmm As a matter of fact, I did exactly that yesterday and I found some root rot going on and glad I did. But that is just me. The only time I do not repot is when they are in bloom. :bad: All the books say it's better to wait until everything is done blooming and growing, but that could take a few months. If you think something is wrong in it's growing, I say go for it. :goodluck:
Only my :twocents: I could be wrong. Well, I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken. :lol: kiki

I agree with kiki-do. Unlike Cats and some other plants, phals can be repotted at any time. I would soak the plants real well and gently tip them out of the pot, trying not to disturb the root system and then move them to a 4 or 5 inch pot, depending on the leaf span. A visual inspection will tell you which size is better. The plant will never know anything has changed. Give us a follow up in a couple of weeks on how you are doing with the plants.

I'd go ahead and do it too. . .no point in waiting if there is something wrong.

Also, you're going to have to get a humidifer or something for work. I highly recommend the frog humidifer that you can get at Home Depot.

Unless you did suspect some root rot, I would leave it alone. Repotting now will likely shorten the spike, you'll end up with few blossoms - I learn that one :roll:

I'm unclear why you want to repot :scratchhead:

Hi Everyone! Thanks for the feedback. I don't suspect any root rot, I want to repot it because the small pots dry out so qucikly, and they are pretty much crawling out of their pots. I would get a fogger, but I don't think my boss would like that so well...I am lucky enough to have my orchids under a light...lol. I guess I'll wait and see what happens...I am just worried that they will get to dehydrated because they dry out so quickly.

Hi Paul, thanks for the suggestion. That is the problem....they are potted in a mixture of sphag and bark, mostly sphag and I still have a problem with them drying out quickly. So unfortunately I don't think it would do any good to add more sphag on the top. I have to water them Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on average. Sometimes I can get away with a Tuesday/Friday watering. I was just hoping to keep them a little more moist and not so much on the dry side.

Consider trying this until your plant has finished blooming. Set the 3 in. potted plant into a 5 or 6 in. pot tuck and firm sphagnum moss in the space between the two pots. When you water, take the plants to the sink and soak them for five or ten minutes. If you do this, I think you will find that once a week might meet your watering needs. I grew a Slc Wendy's Valentine 'June' this way to keep the roots cool here in Florida during the summer and it worked beautifully.

Great idea! I will give this a try and when finished blooming I will repot!

This could be a solution for your problem until your plants finish blooming. Insert the three in pot into a five or six inch pot and firmly place sphagnum moss between the two pots. When watering, take them to the sink and soak them for about ten minutes. If you do this you will probably get by with watering about once per week. I had a Slc Wendy's Valentine 'June' that I grew this way in Florida during the summer to keep the roots cool and it worked quite well.

Something else that may help, as it has with mine, is to buy a cheap clear fish bowl (I got mine in the fish area of Walmart for $2.00) and put water in it half way. Stick your phal pot into the bowl so the lip stops it from going all the way down and doesn't touch the water. It gets air, plus added moisture. I have a Mtssa. in one. I will attach a picture that I have of some of my orchids, but check out the one in the bowl. Hopefully that will explain this better. :) If you need another clearer picture, let me know and I will take a better shot. kiki

now that's an interesting idea! It wouldn't help much for the areal roots, but it would help so things wouldn't dry-out so quckly.

You know, I've tried this with four or five plants that need moisture and are not getting enough. They have all done an about-face and started to thrive! That Mtssa was coming up crinkled with the new growths, but now it's got huge blossoms and another spike coming right behind. I swear this is what did the trick. I even have a Laelia in a smaller vase like that and it has two new sprouts since I did it. I'm always in the craft stores or Walmarts looking for sizes that will hold each size of my pots. I've even grabbed the empty plant pots for sale and taken them to the craft section to try them out.
I've also taken my rule with me. Whatever works, right??
kiki

Kiki, I wanna come sit on your porch. It looks so nice and colorful out there! :) That Mtssa. is fabulous BTW. It's such a gorgeous color!

Terri, that's why I moved from KFalls to Michigan. Have been here ever since (not by choice - at least not completely by my choice).

Ross it just seems odd to me that you guys are futher north and have stuff blooming like crazy and I'm south so should theoretically have more light and my plants are just starting to bloom. In about another month I'll have 3 standard phals in bloom, 2 dens, and a paph. Of course LauraN is probably right. The more plants you have the better your odds are of having something in bloom. I only have 31 right now.

Terri, let me phrase it this way: Lights! That's my solution.

Dude! I've got LIGHTS!!