To re-pot or not to re-pot?
 

Hi! I have 4 phalaenopsis that are in dire need of re-potting. (I didn't know much about orchids till this board). Where I live I can't find good media at the moment, guessing because it's not spring yet? At walmart I found a bagged mix. So here is my question do I used the bagged orchid mix or do I wait till the end of march for the orchid show and buy a high quality mix?

The bagged orchid bark from my local store is what I use...
It's working just as well as the stuff I ordered online. And it's cheaper.

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Oh? That's very good to know. the one I was looking at is, Schultz orchid mix. Thanks so much.

I don't have experience with Shultz.
So maybe one of the other orchid members can chime in on that.

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I'd say pass. There appears to be fine particles in it.

Just remember, no fine particles for Phals or for any other epiphytical orchid.

I used bagged mix for phals and never had a problem. I think you will be fine. :)

I've used it on potting bromelieds and daffodils before and it was great for that, but I would not use it to pot orchids. Too much fine material in it and the bark in it is very soft. What do your phals look like as far as media right now? Are you experiencing problems with them at the moment? Have you looked at the roots lately and seen any deterioration?

The plants themselves are ok... Not dieing but could be healthier. There is a lot of roots that are dead, they are in a moss type of media

Ok. If you can it would be good to see some pics of them. It helps a lot. But I can assume that they are slowly going downhill from being in moss too long. If this is the case you could get a bag of the Shultz and screen out as much of the finer material and then temporarily repot them in that. Once you find some good medium-coarse potting media you could then repot them into that. The trick would be to let them dry for 7-10 days (fairly dry) and then they wouldn't feel the repotting nearly as much. The problem is that your phals are going downhill slowly and once they get to a certain point, it becomes difficult but not impossible, to get them going and healthy again. You could even repot them in a good quality spagnum moss as long as you prepped them properly first. Either way using either media, you need to let them dry for a week, pull them out of the pots, clean up the roots getting all the old moss/whatever they are potted in off the roots, then cut off all the dead or damaged roots. Once this is done, plant them back into the original pots. If using spagnum moss just lightly pack the moss around the roots. Don't jamb it in tightly. If using the ZShultz make sure you sift out all the fine material before using it. let us know what you are doing. Love to help.

Thank you so much for your help. They aren't dieing yet, but are in need of repotting. I am going to have to wait now anyways because they just got watered (oops) the pictures are the whole plant then a close up. The one where you can see all the roots, my mom cut some of the dead roots off today. She's been caring for them a little because I'm on crutches. Also that one bas a flower that hasnt opened... its been on there for about a month. Just wondering if you have an idea whats going on. So here they are, thank you so much!

orchid - a set on Flickr