Should I repot this orchid?
 

My grandmother has this orchid that belonged to my grandfather (so the orchid itself has sentimental value), and it's highly highly overgrown. Problem is, its root structure is interwoven and 'stuck' to the pot - cement, as it were. If I were to repot this plant, might I just stick it in a larger pot since I think pulling it out of the pot is out of the question? Or should I just cut off the bunch that's growing off of it? Or should I leave well enough alone?

The plant itself recently (in the last couple months?) flowered, and there were many nice blooms, so whether the plant blooms or not is not a problem. The root mass seems healthy enough, as does the plant.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...%20Stuff/1.png

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...%20Stuff/2.png

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...%20Stuff/3.png
^The bunch to the left is what I was talking about when I asked whether I should cut it off by itself.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...%20Stuff/4.png

Personally, I see two alternatives:

• Be brutal and divide that into several nice-sized clumps, each consisting of at least one new lead with several older growths.
• Put the whole thing into a large basket - not a pot - so that is becomes a massive specimen.

Either way, you really should get rid of the pot and old medium. Yeah, there will be root damage, but with that large of a colony, it should rebound quickly, especially if you "abuse" it just as new growths are actively forming.

I haven't quite figured out how to tell the difference between new growths and older growths (unless it's painfully obvious), so I won't be doing the first option. How would I go about getting that orchid out of that pot? Hack away at the roots? Are those really the only two alternatives? I'm hesitant because I don't want to do something that will accidentally kill this sentimental plant.

Looks like it fell in love with the pot. You can probably soak it in water for a few hours and see if the roots soften were you can yank them carefullly away from the pot, cut off the dead roots and put in a larger pot if you don't want to divide it.

Good luck

Your 3rd pic shows new growth, and the 4th shows old growth if this helps.
To divide the plant, break the pot and just break the plant in half, or find at least 5 pseudo bulbs in on a rhizome and cut it off and pull the plants apart. Don't worry about losing a few roots. You want put the oldest part of your new plant to the back of your pot or basket to allow the new growth to walk to the other side of the pot and allow for a few years growth. You need to remember that a cattleya can only blooms once on each new growth.

i,d go with Ray,s advice. good luck.
nice healthy plant btw.
do you live in the tropics?

So what exactly do you men by this statement? So say I get a new growth on my cattleya, I will only ever get one bloom from that new growth in the lifetime of the pseudobulb? Or am I totally misunderstanding?
Thnx-
Katie

Hello.
You have quite a specimen there!

Dividing your plant may actually be best for it. You need to remove all of the old medium. It will thrive and you'll be able to divide this memory of your grandad among other family members.

I couldn't find a video on dividing cattleyas to help you, but I did find one on dividing cymbidiums. Even though they are not the same, the dividing process is. So here is the link.
YouTube - How to divide a Cymbidium

Here is also some instructions I found:
Orchids - Repotting a Cattleya

You'll need a good bark mix which you can buy at quarteracreorchids.com (they're great).

Make sure you soak the plant really well before attempting this. It may also help to break the pot rather than try to remove it.

And to answer your question. Yes each growth only blooms once, ever. The newer growths are plumper, have newer roots growing from them, and are the growths that flowered last. The older ones are more shrivelled.

Good luck, and please keep us posted.

The idea of putting it in a basket is not a bad one.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

Snow: Yes, I live in the tropics :)

Singingirl: Thanks! I don't think I'll divide it though (seems I'm the only grandkid interested in orchids, lol).

On a related topic though: I have a mix that seems to be working well with my orchids - bark/charcoal/ceramic mix. I wonder if that may work well with this plant. I have no idea what this particular orchid is planted in - I can't see past the roots!

Ray had great suggestions, but dividing it I wouldn't either, but when I first looked at it I was thinking of a dend I saw not to long ago, it was enormous and a pot within a pot. A large wooden basket surrounding the rooting system with orchid medium....just a thought.