New 12" Plastic Orchid Pot
 

Hi everyone.

I purchased a HUGE phal from Baldan's several weeks ago. It's currently potten in a 6-6.5 inch ceramic pot, but I would say that the majority of the roots are growing outside of the pot, and the ones that are inside the pot are really jammed up in there. I can tell that the medium is pretty much done with.

My question is: how big the pot? I have seen some 12" pots online,but I'm not sure whether these would be too big. My secondary concern is the amount of medium I would have to use. I mean, the phal really is huge. Should I add some cork/CHC to whatever mix I use so that it dries out faster?

Also, has anyone seen/used these? are they sturdy and do they provide good aeration?

I don't want to kill it, which is why I've hesitated to repot it.

Thanks everyone.

A 12" pot seems like it would be too big. I have three or four 8" pots that I bought thinking they'd be good for the "big" plants but they are all still sitting in my supply closet. Seems to me that only on occasion will a chid need anything more than a 6" pot at most.

If I were you, I'd only go "up" one size in the pot and I wouldn't try to get all those aerial roots into the pot. They are where they want to be :)

Have to tried considering using a bulb pan instead of a pot? The former is shallower and in my case, lesser chance for your medium to remain wet for long periods. I find it useful for varities who love short wet-dry cycles.

Just my 2 cents...

-Harvey

There are also some 8" clear plastic pots. This might be a good compromise - you can put it in a larger pot without it being too large. Just a thought.

I have a few orchids in really big pots, but they're really big plants. I put about 2" of styrofoam peanuts in the bottom. For taller, top-heavy orchids put a half brick in the bottom and fill the rest of the space with the peanuts. Then pot on top of this.

another trick with really large pots is to place a small plastic web pot inverted in the bottom. They come as small as 1 1/2 inches. This will be neutral space and allow aeration of the center of the mass.You should be able to drape the roots around it.
Nick

Thanks everyone for their suggestions. I will keep this in mind for future purchases.

After much consideration, I decided to re-pot the phal in a 10" Vanda Basket. I was just too afraid of potting it in something so big and have the roots rot.

I'm kind of glad I decided to do this. When I took the plant out of the pot (it was a clay pot, btw) I expected a lot of loooooooong roots. What I found was interesting. There was basically little if no moss left on the root ball. What was left had degraded to just basically clumps of brown stuff. However, the roots were exactly the same size as the pot. Very short and stumpy but very dense. I had expected that the roots were going to be stuck on there, but I just ran the water and basically pulled it out without much drama. The phal has an enormous aerial root system though.

So, I just placed some coconut fiber inside the slats of the vanda basket and put the plant on there. I actually wish I had bought a bigger basket because the plant almost doesn't fit. It's very tall and the leaves are huge.

I put it under my mango tree and it's doing well thus far.

Thanks everyone for their advice.

Just a general comment about phals and pot size.

Based strictly upon my own interpretation of observation, I think phals do exceptionally well in what would otherwise be considered to be oversized pots. When I have moved them on thusly, I find that the aerial roots decide to stop being aerial, and sink themselves into the medium.

My theory is that aerial roots are simply looking for a broader base upon which to secure a foothold. If you look at the structure of a phal, it's a lot of heavy vegetation anchored on a very small base. By sending out roots to grab hold farther away, it's like "guy wires" on an antenna tower, giving more stability so it won't flop about and break.

I'll grant you, I have only done this with plants in semi-hydroponics, so the medium conditions are pretty uniform, fairly independent of the pot size, but I have observed no negatives in doing so.

I agree. We underpot Dendrobiums, why not overpot Phals?

Not knowing any better, I put my 1/st orchid,(noid Phal), in a 12" flower pot w/ bark. Now knowing better, I went to repot it to a smaller pot, and found the (healthy) roots had filled up the entire pot. I had to repot it in the same pot. This plant was purchased from a street vendor, and has bloomed from January through July since owning it.