preparing a Dendrobium Spectabile

[IngieBee]

So I bought one of the huge divisions from Seattle Orchids, I knew what I was getting, and it's rather humorous. This division of a huge overgrown plant was so pot bound, there are pieces of the broken pot in the root mass I got. This root mass is so intense, it was kind of chopped into a cube.

The plant is large, hydrated and I'm sure it will grow new roots, but I'm so intimidated with the mass, yet I know I need to clean it up before I put it into semi hydro. So my question is, how careful do I need to be when cleaning out the old medium? It's looking intimidating! Heck I kind of wish I could just cut the dang thing to the ends of the rhizome! and just start over! But I feel I can't, yet this is an insane mass.

I plan on putting it in leca as I historically have tended to over water my orchids. In fact, I am restarting orchid growing again as I felt this system might be the answer to my over fussy nature, LOL. Also because they've since invented ultra sonic humidifiers, which are amazing! I live in a very dry climate and that has also been a problem for me and growing any orchids. They always died over time, and I couldn't keep up with those old fashioned humidifier fan thingies that always got dirty and didn't do a good job anyway.

So... how careful do I need to be. Most of these roots, though they might be viable, have already been cut, like with a saw, LOL. Should I consider them bad, and just get rid of the whole mass (easier) or soak n pick until I free the roots of whatever potting mix is still left in there? I'm soaking it now, overnight... maybe it'll be do-able by morning and this question is mute, but just in case I can get insights when I inevitably get frustrated tomorrow morning, I figured I'd get the question out there now :P

DS_Root_Mass by ingiebee, on Flickr

DS_Root_Mass2 by ingiebee, on Flickr

Thanks for your opinions