Should I repot or not?
 

:hello everyone!

I am ashamed to admit that I've been silent lately but I never stopped reading the forum. Hope everyone is doing great!

I bought another phalaenopsis recently that still had the dreaded sponge. I was waiting for besgrow europe to take delivery of orchiata bark so didn't remove it earlier. I finally got my hands on fresh bark but I now have a problem. The plant that needs repotting just produced 2 spikes. They are too small to even bother photographing yet, like 1mm in length or less. I am certain they're spikes though. I guess it's a nice problem to have! :lol: Should I commit to the repot or will I do more harm than good? I had to flush it's pot the other day because of small salt deposits and the "force" of water brought up sort of an unpleasant smell. It's also producing a new root out of an already established one and a new leaf which I find strange since the weather has cooled down a bit but it's still above 21 indoords. Maybe the higher humidity compared to summer helped.

Looking forward to your responce.

PS. It's another mini mark as I couldn't resist the sweet deal I was offered!

Phals are not particularly fussy about timing for repotting, even in spike. Just be gentle... disturb roots as much as possible (though get rid of that sponge if you can, but anything that is stuck to good roots, leave) So remove as much of the old medium as comes off easily, wash under running water, don't worry about what might be left behind. The fresh medium will give the air i the root zone that it needs, even if there is old stuff still around.

If you really think you need to repot Phals. and don't have medium at hand, it's fine to leave them completely bare-root for long periods of time. Many people set the roots in empty vases, watering by filling the vase and letting the plant sit for several hours to overnight.

I regularly repot my phals in spike or bloom with no issues, except when I end up breaking something on accident. If you’re careful they don’t even notice.

Thanks lasses and lads! I'll do the repot then :)