Safe to repot when in spike?

[Kaity]

I have a miltassia that has a 3" spike growing and LOTS of fresh roots. I wanted to switch it to S/H but would I be risking the spike? It seems like it is far from flowering as the first spike went up more than 2 feet.

I'm so impatient...

[Zoi2]

If the plant is putting out new roots now is a good time to transplant to S/H however, you may lose your spike.
Joann

[Bud]

I have repotted my Miltonidium Esoteric Martian from small bark pot to S/H while in bloom...I was just very careful with the roots and the blooms...very gently I eased it to S/H...and it stayed blooming for me for 5 more weeks

[camille1585]

New roots is the perfect time to transfer to S/H, and it's also the perfect time of year for it. If the spike was in bud then you might lose some buds, but a 3 inch spike will probably be absolutely fine.

[Kaity]

Great! I think I will chance it and repot! This is the first time I will repot anything and I've read about cutting old roots off. Should I do that in this case since I'm trying to be gentle and not ruin the spike?

[DelawareJim]

You will most likely have old dead roots you need to remove anyway. I usually leave the living roots as you will at least need to leave some roots to anchor the plant in the LECA. If you have a lot of living roots and think you might have too many for the pot, try removing the longest 1/3 of the roots or the oldest 1/3 and remove the entire root (not 1/3 of each root).

I did successfully convert a 'Sharry Baby' after removing all the roots. But I had to put a lot of stakes in the pot to try and hold it and ended up rubber banding the plant onto the pot to hold it in place. It was a real PITA and now leave roots to anchor my plants.

Cheers.
Jim