When to repot Miltassia Shelob 'Tolkien' ?

[Leafmite]

Why not? Orchids are just gorgeous when they are large and full of blooms! At orchid shows, they take the spotlight (and often the prizes!).

[RandomGemini]

It's a space thing. If I let this plant grow much beyond that six inch pot size, it will take up a fair chunk of my growing space that I was hoping to have for a couple more cattleyas. LOL!

I did promise my hubby I would keep the orchids down to one shelving unit full of plants... in exchange for his help with wiring the thing up with T5s and plumbing my terrarium.

[Leafmite]

Well, then, there is that. I understand the space problem as I grow in the home. My daughter wanted to grow figs. They will need to come in for the winter. In preparation, this spring, I had to get rid of two large plumeria, a huge hibiscus I have had for twenty-five years (I took a cutting), and a couple of other large plants so I can fit them inside this autumn. To make room for all the new orchids, I have been getting rid of quite a few of the large Cattleyas and a few other large orchids. Not fun.
Too bad they don't have a mini version of yours.
Wow, just one shelf. You should look into the miniature orchids. There are some really great, fragrant ones that are just beautiful. I know as I have been buying them like crazy this spring.

[RandomGemini]

Well, one shelving unit. So two shelves, possibly three if I want to make room for some plants of similar size to my dendrobium microchip... you know, if I could find a bunch of orchids that size, with similar growth habits and care needs... I think I would be set.

The problem with minis, is that as far as care goes, I need low maintenance and a lot of mini orchids, are not low maintenance. If they need daily watering/misting that's too much to ask of me. I will forget about my orchids from time to time, especially when life gets stressful, so I need plants that can be a little forgiving of me forgetting about them for a couple of weeks.

The terrarium will be a good fit for me I think, because I plan to automate as much I can. All I will need to do is make sure the reservoir for the misting system is filled and fertilize every now and then... though I am considering adding an african dart frog or two, to take care of my fertilization needs... I'm just not sure I want to culture fruit flies to feed them... LOL!

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[RandomGemini]

Holy root bound plants, Batman!!

Looks to be potted in Promix... What there is of it anyway. A five inch pot was too small to allow for new pbulbs to grow, so I am just going to set this guy in a six inch pot with some bark surrounding the rootball until it's done blooming, then I will depot again and clean up this mess.

Wow!

[lotis146]

Holy wow!!! Gosh I recently repotted a Zygo/Ptpm that look sorta kinda crazy like that but maybe not SO crazy. Kind of exciting though that you can repot one day and have enough to divide!!! I recently got this plant for my bday just not as big!

Good luck with it!

[RandomGemini]

The saga of this plant goes on. Still in bloom, putting up ANOTHER spike and two of the pbulbs began to turn yellow on me, so I repotted it, figuring it was a combination of it being root bound and not having enough light. I may lose the flowers, but since I have another spike forming, I figured that now was as good a time as any and with the yellowing, I didn't want to risk waiting any longer.

Surprisingly, the roots were in really great shape. There was very little rot, considering what a mess things were.

When I got finished loosening the root ball and removing the old media, the plant no longer fit in a 6 inch pot.

So... this is the largest orchid pot I own... and it is the largest orchid pot I have ever found, if it needs a bigger pot, I'm gonna have to mail order it. I've also moved the plant back to the quarantine room, it seemed happier when it was there.

These are my Labradorks posing with the plant, after potting, for scale.

[tarev]

I would divide that into two sets later..after all it might not send another spike on a previously bloomed pb. So it will need a little more space for new pbs to grow nicely where new spikes will form in the future, and you would not need to get bigger containers too.

[RandomGemini]

My daughter already has her eye on the half she wants. When I was repotting it, she was standing over my shoulder and going, "You know, if you make a mistake, you could just accidentally cut off these three pseudobulbs right here and I'll take them off your hands, because I'm cool like that." LOL!

I think I will divide it next time, yes. I love the size of this plant now, but I think it will be healthier if I divide it.

[LovePhals]

Aw, what cute puppies!