When should I repot my recently cut back phal?

[ErinMika]

My Phal just finished blooming, the nodes and stem were turning brown, so i cut it back about an inch and a half above the crown/base of leaves as I was advised. The roots look pretty healthy, there are a few brown ones, when should I repot to my orchid pot with holes? It is still in its smaller pot that I purchased it in.

[Sammy]

Do it now, sounds like a good time to me. Trim off any old dead mushy roots and pot away.

Just beware that you dont use any "soil" type potting medium. Use bark or coconut husk chips. Sometimes you can get a ready mixed orchid potting mix from some nurseries, especially mixed for phals.

Good luck, its quite a daunting task, but not too much of a big deal really!

I'm sure some of the experts on here will have a bit more info to add.

[RosieC]

Be careful that your new pot is not too big. It should be just big enough to fit the roots. You really want one with holes though.

If the roots are in good condition I would be slightly inclined to wait till spring but a Phal should be fine to repot at any time.

Try and make sure you use good quality medium. I favour bark or CHC but the main thing is to find the thing that works for you and buy good quality. If it's bark you don't want it to be too broken down, you want nice lumps rather than anything which is broken down to soil like stuff.

[ErinMika]

Thank you, I had no idea that a pot could be too big!

[RosieC]

Phals don't like to be overpotted. It tends to cause the medium to dry too slowly and to breakdown as a result.

[dounoharm]

phals like being potted loosely too, so dont pound the medium down around the roots....just bang the pot a few times to settle the medium down aroudn the roots....gl!

[Sammy]

Rosie,

do you use pure coconut husk chips?

i tried them and found that after a couple of days the roots were too wet and started to smell of rot, so i re-potted them with a mix of 50/50 chc and hydro leca.

How do you find them? what is your watering schedule like?