Re-potting a Phal, but I need some advice!
 

Hello again fellow Orchidians :-) My mom finally put my in charge of her beautiful Phaleanopsis. I has bloomed every year for the last five years I have been home, but never re-potted. So I decided today would be a great day to do it. However, I am not 100% sure how to proceed with this one.

As you can see from the picture, it was planted in a VERY small plastic container. I had no idea this was the case, the small plastic pot was inside a larger pot and covered with bark. The yellow roots in the middle of all the other roots in the second picture are the only ones that were inside the pot. The large tangle of others were completely outside of any potting medium. I have med and fine fir bark to use, and I was also thinking about picking up some charcoal to mix in. Is a med fir bark and charcoal mixture a safe way to go? Also, should I try to get as many of the "arial" roots inside the pot with the new medium? Or leave them out? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!

Charcoal is added to help a potting medium retain water, but the orchid roots don't want to be drowned or suffocated by our medium - so thats what the bark does - it provides space and air around the roots, and does not retain too much water. The main thing with your potting medium is to not over compact it around the root, as it needs the air.
As for the aerial roots, for sure they do not want to be buried beneath the medium, nor removed, as this is where your orchid is getting its life support! I like to think that when there are a lot of aerial roots, one can see it as a sign that your orchid does not like its potting medium. Maybe looking at your orchid with its single medium root, this may be a sure sign it did not like its previous potting medium!
You do not want to repot the orchid into a bigger pot as general advice is the medium roots like to be crowded. If you find your aerial roots unsightly, you may find placing (nesting) your smaller pot into a larger decorative pot an option. Hope this helps :goodluck:

Sounds like you are going in the right direction. You want to keep the roots crowded so watch your pot size, Roots going down go in the pot, if these are aerial roots going sideways leave them alone. Your choice of potting medium sounds good. Have at it!

Thanks for the advice! Hopefully this phal will stay as happy as it has been!

When I repot a phal I cut the bottom of the plant off to shorten it. Then I cut off any dead roots. If you need to trim some of the other roots that's OK too. They'll grow back but leave as many good roots as you can. Replant into the smallest pot that will accomidate the roots and the plant. Bark and charcoal is fine for a mix. You can leave some of the roots as aerial roots if like. Good luck.

I just looked at youtube and there are some good videos on how to repot. Type in "repot phalaenopsis"

Consider if the roots are really aerial roots or not.

True aerial roots grow up into the air. These were growing between the inner pot, probably full of decomposed media, and the outer decorative pot, not truly aerial.

I would pot them. I would try to keep them in similar aeration and humidity as they had been. My guess is that in a plastic pot and coarse bark they would probably be pretty close (because the plastic would act like the old outer pot), and the coarse bark would give more aeration than the fine.

Just an idea, because how you water will also affect the balance - Any medium (except S/H) will probably hold more water than what it's been used to.