Stubby is swimming with the fishes

[JMNYC]

Originally Posted by lauraeli

Is there any way to not be 'overpotted' with a phal that has 3 1-inch roots?

Well, kinda. But, I think, being as acute as you seem, you should not worry. High end NZ Sphagnum, when fresh, has some good properties bark, etc does not have, i.e., anti fungal, anti bacterial. If it's in a tiny pot and secure in the mix, I think you will be just fine!

Some air movement would be fab too. He or she is clearly reclaiming health, or he or she would not be making those gorgeous, verdant new roots!!!!
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Addendum: K...I just revisited yr pics (good pics!)....and I kinda think he or she might be put in a much smaller pot; it appears to me as if there is too much moss under him or her and the pot is too big altogether. I would choose a much smaller clay pot, put a coupla stones at the bottom, then a small layer of moss, then, hold him or her in the middle and cover those gorgeous new roots with the moss up to the crown. You may need a short stake or two to hold him or her in place, no need to secure those to the plant itself,. perhaps one at each side, driven to the bottom of the pot. They do like being stabilized until the roots grow sufficiently to do that naturally.

At least, were I you, that is what I would do; always good to pot in response to the root system of a given plant, never the leaves or bulbs.

[lauraeli]

Originally Posted by JMNYC

Well, kinda. But, I think, being as acute as you seem, you should not worry. High end NZ Sphagnum, when fresh, has some good properties bark, etc does not have, i.e., anti fungal, anti bacterial. If it's in a tiny pot and secure in the mix, I think you will be just fine!

Some air movement would be fab too. He or she is clearly reclaiming health, or he or she would not be making those gorgeous, verdant new roots!!!!
_______________________________________
Addendum: K...I just revisited yr pics (good pics!)....and I kinda think he or she might be put in a much smaller pot; it appears to me as if there is too much moss under him or her. I would choose a much smaller clay pot, put a coupla stones at the bottom, then a small layer of moss, then put him or her in the middle and cover those gorgeous new roots with the moss up to the crown.

At least, were I you, that is what I would do; always good to pot in response to the root system of a given plant.

There is no moss under the phal at all. The bottom of the crown is sitting on packing peanuts. I just tucked the moss around it and then on the outside of the packing peanuts in some places.

The entire bottom half and center of the pot is packing peanuts. The moss doesnt get any deeper/thicker than an inch.

I chose not to bury the roots because they grew without any medium. That makes them aerial roots. I would rather let them grow in on their own.

[JMNYC]

Originally Posted by lauraeli

There is no moss under the phal at all. The bottom of the crown is sitting on packing peanuts. I just tucked the moss around it and then on the outside of the packing peanuts in some places.

The entire bottom half and center of the pot is packing peanuts. The moss doesnt get any deeper/thicker than an inch.

I chose not to bury the roots because they grew without any medium. That makes them aerial roots. I would rather let them grow in on their own.

Ahah! Way important info!!! Now, there is vitrually no difference between aerial roots and other roots. important to know that. Given this important additional info you offer, were I you, I would still choose a much smaller in diameter clay pot if U have one, and do what i delineated.

Then, while you will have to water more often as the moss will dry faster, you will no longer have to worry about overwatering him or her...you will just observe and fall into the rhythm dictated by the mix and the plant. But, covering these emerging roots is GOOD.

As in so many things in life, it's all about focusing, getting all that's there and responding accordingly. This comprises communication with the plants...as opposed to abiding by disconnected formal tenets....tho learning those initially is always good.

[lauraeli]

Originally Posted by JMNYC

Ahah! Way important info!!! Now, there is vitrually no difference between aerial roots and other roots. important to know that. Given this important additional info you offer, were I you, I would still choose a much smaller in diameter clay pot if U have one, and do what i delineated.

Then, while you will have to water more often as the moss will dry faster, you will no longer have to worry about overwatering him or her...you will just observe and fall into the rhythm dictated by the mix and the plant. But, covering these emerging roots is GOOD.

As in so many things in life, it's all about focusing, getting all that's there and responding accordingly. This comprises communication with the plants...as opposed to abiding by disconnected formal tenets....tho learning those initially is always good.

True, there is technically no difference between aerial roots and roots in the medium. But both are adapted to grow in the environment they are in, and a drastic change can kill them.

I did initially try to put it in a smaller pot, but it wouldnt fit, due to the old flower stalks at the base. I could cut them off, but they are helping to secure it in the pot. The inner plastic pot is directly attached to them.

[JMNYC]

Originally Posted by lauraeli

True, there is technically no difference between aerial roots and roots in the medium. But both are adapted to grow in the environment they are in, and a drastic change can kill them.

I did initially try to put it in a smaller pot, but it wouldnt fit, due to the old flower stalks at the base. I could cut them off, but they are helping to secure it in the pot. The inner plastic pot is directly attached to them.

K....first, I am unclear now re inner plastic pot. Can you please elaborate?

In my experience, burying emerging roots has no downside, as long as you use the right sized pot and you have already chosen, I think, the best medium for the reality of stubby as of now.

When I repot a large Phal whose base and roots are healthy, and which is also producing new roots between the lower leaves, I even sometimes remove the lowest leaves to facilitate potting it lower in the new pot and covering those roots.

Again, nobody is some arbiter of inviolate truth....sad anyone needs to come across as that; I am simply sharing what I have evolved over time for you to ponder and assess. But, by all accounts, I come to nothing capriciously, and, I think neither do you!

I love your acuity and that you are factoring in/exploring as much as you are and always learning! I think that is meant to be our joyful default mode every minute!

[lauraeli]

Originally Posted by JMNYC

K....first, I am unclear now re inner plastic pot. Can you please elaborate?

In my experience, burying emerging roots has no downside, as long as you use the right sized pot and you have already chosen, I think, the best medium for the reality of stubby as of now.

When I repot a large Phal whose base and roots are healthy, and which is also producing new roots between the lower leaves, I even sometimes remove the lowest leaves to facilitate potting it lower in the new pot and covering those roots.

Again, nobody is some arbiter of inviolate truth....sad anyone needs to come across as that; I am simply sharing what I have evolved over time for you to ponder and assess. But, by all accounts, I come to nothing capriciously, and, I think neither do you!

I love your acuity and that you are factoring in/exploring as much as you are and always learning! I think that is meant to be our joyful default mode every minute!

You can see the plastic pot it is in in a couple of the pics.

Sometimes I consider I think too much. I like advice, but I feel like a jerk somehow that I have already thought through and looked at things from as many angles as I could come up with. It is almost more polite to skip the thinking, and go right to the advice-taking.

My aim is always this- to find other perspectives, arguments more valid than my own, and flaws in my own logic.

What disappoints me is, I more often find people who would take up arms against me.

[JMNYC]

Originally Posted by lauraeli

You can see the plastic pot it is in in a couple of the pics.

Sometimes I consider I think too much. I like advice, but I feel like a jerk somehow that I have already thought through and looked at things from as many angles as I could come up with. It is almost more polite to skip the thinking, and go right to the advice-taking.

My aim is always this- to find other perspectives, arguments more valid than my own, and flaws in my own logic.

What disappoints me is, I more often find people who would take up arms against me.

Noooooooo!!!! No self abrogation!!! And pls get nobody is on this planet to be blindly obedient to any other being! Forget to demand blind obedience...the pathological politics of unwhole humans.

You are working nobly to chase data, first within, earn clarity ongoing.....only healthy humans do that!!! Nothing to diss, quite the opposite!

But I would get rid of the plastic pot....unless right now, it creeps you out to consider doing that!

No more self abrogation! You do not deserve that!!!!
You are making the infinite journey (and it is wondrously infinite).....be proud of that; celebrate that health!!!

[lauraeli]

Originally Posted by JMNYC

Noooooooo!!!! No self abrogation!!! And pls get nobody is on this planet to be blindly obedient to any other being! Forget to demand blind obedience...the stuff of cowards.

You are working nobly to get clear, chase data.....only healthy humans do that!!! Nothing to diss, quite the opposite!

But I would get rid of the plastic pot....unless right now, it creeps you out to consider doing that!

No more self abrogation! You do not deserve that!!!!
You are making the infinite journey (and it is wondrously infinite).....be proud of that; celebrate that health!!!

<3 I could kiss you. well, maybe not

I have considered getting rid of the plastic pot :-) I LOVE to grow in terracotta. But, noob that I am, I have to see the roots...or I will lie awake at night, wondering what color they are.

[JMNYC]

Originally Posted by lauraeli

<3 I could kiss you. well, maybe not

I have considered getting rid of the plastic pot :-) I LOVE to grow in terracotta. But, noob that I am, I have to see the roots...or I will lie awake at night, wondering what color they are.

O! I happily accept & am thrilled by all kisses and hugs from all ingenuous beings of all species! I ain no bigot.

Once a cheerleader....always a cheerleader. Would everyone celebrate that joyful propensity!

Listen, right now I am obsessing bigtime over my buds hurrying up and opening in one pot of an old NOID Paph JUST so I can finally make pics to put up to elicit feedback here! Amazing the poor thing just didn't blast altogether in the face of this, OK?

And.....the roots of ephipytic orchids in nature exposed to light engage in photosynthesis....which is why they are green. But, in cultivation, when precluded from that by the pots and media we employ, they can also be really healthy, if also, not green.

[lauraeli]

Originally Posted by JMNYC

O! I happily accept & am thrilled by all kisses and hugs from all ingenuous beings of all species! I ain no bigot.

Once a cheerleader....always a cheerleader. Would everyone celebrate that joyful propensity!

Listen, right now I am obsessing bigtime over my buds hurrying up and opening in one pot of an old NOID Paph JUST so I can finally make pics to put up to elicit feedback here! Amazing the poor thing just didn't blast altogether in the face of this, OK?

And.....the roots of ephipytic orchids in nature exposed to light engage in photosynthesis....which is why they are green. But, in cultivation, when precluded from that by the pots and media we employ, they can also be really healthy, if also, not green.

I like to keep mine in clear plastic for the sake of photosynthesis, but also so I can see the color change and know when to water.

I am employing the skewer method with my phal schilleriana, as it is in a green pot, in bark. So, my species phal has to be the experiment. If I kill it, I will be very, very sad.

My phal equestris is also in a green pot in bark. But it has been in it so long, the roots are holding all the bark together. And it is attached to the pot, as well. I have no way to know when it is thirsty. At all. I have been comforting myself by watering (spraying) its many aerial roots. And I lift it every day to check the weight. BUT since Ive had it all of 2 or 3 weeks, Ive no idea how much it weighs when it is dry. All I can do is get it on the same schedule as my schilleriana, and hope it is sufficient.