Phal with huge roots - too tall! How do I manage them?

[twinkie]

I seem to have planted myself on the forum today with all kinds of questions so have another here about repotting a phal with a huge root system. It's been repotted twice and the second pot was really not big enough at roughly 7x7". It's got these ginormous roots like darn banana roots hanging down in a huge long massive clump that I can't even snug the plant down to the appropriate potting level. Is it ever appropriate to do some judicious sterile trimming or should I just try and find the highest orchid pot with holes I can get? This guy could easily go 10" high but I thought phals were supposed to 'self regulate', they drop leaves etc., and the thought of cutting healthy roots to fit a pot makes me cringe. None of my other phals have roots the size of this one, they are larger than the size of a pencil and frankly kind of freak me out. It's like an octopus. Should I just keep going to bigger pots or what?

[Orchid Whisperer]

Photographs please?

[twinkie]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

Photographs please?

Photos? Why, of course!
This is starting to get reminiscent of my post stating I have two different color blooms on two spikes on the same plant lol. No one believed me, INSISTING I somehow had two different phals in the same pot (and was too stupid to know that) until I posted photos of the whole pot with blooms (the flower pics I'd posted separately were 'suspicious' to *some* I guess) and then someone posted a link to the 'Magic Art' orchid....which has - ta da! - two completely different colors & designs of orchid blooms (dead ringer to mine) on the same hybrid plant ...sigh... obviously I'm not going to pull the damn plant out of the pot but you should be able to get a good indication from the photo. I had to jam the whole root system down hard to cram it in and need to figure out what to do - either learn that it's ok to cut healthy roots by inches and how to do that or just keep going up up up in size. Those roots there are just the tip of the iceberg.

[Orchid Whisperer]

I can only see a small area of the roots in the photo, but they seem fine, I wouldn't change anything.

[camille1585]

Or an extremely well developed root system, the plant usually won't miss a few roots so I generally cut off what appears a bit old and less functional, even if they are otherwise mostly healthy. I've also had a Phal with massive roots where every single root was in pristine condition, so didn't cut anything. With some good soaking and skillful arranging of the root ball before potting up, I get it into a pot only slightly bigger. For the large pots I always place an inverted net pot in the bottom in order to get even drying of the medium.

As to people not believing you, it has nothing to do with you or being suspicious, so no need to get defensive about a simple request. People don't know your level of experience, and for such ususual/unheard of things like your plant with 2 colors, it's often happened for other situations that it was a newbie grower who couldn't explain very well. I remember that thread, and was among the doubtful people, only because it sounded so strange and unheard of!

As to the photo request this time, it is reasonable, people like to see in order to give good advice. Saying that a Phal has huge roots is subjective, and everyone can interpret that differently. Once you've participated in the forum long enough, you'll see that requests for photos are very frequent, because as the saying goes, a photo is worth a thousand words.

[aliceinwl]

I’ve ordered some pretty big clear plastic pots from repotme. The largest haven’t had holes in the sides so I used a soldering iron to melt some in. I’ve also done the presoak and managed to get roots back into the original pot following a repot, I’ve found long forceps very helpful in arranging the roots in these cases. If you end up going big, an inverted net pot, like Camille suggested, is a good idea if there’s a lot of space in the center.

---------- Post added at 10:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:01 AM ----------

If the substrate isn’t broken down, I wouldn’t be in a rush to repot. I think a lot of Phals would rather grow horizontally than upright and I have a number of them that are pretty much pushing themselves out of their pots. Their media is still good and there is still room for root growth in their pots so I just let them do their thing.

[twinkie]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

I can only see a small area of the roots in the photo, but they seem fine, I wouldn't change anything.

Well it's not so much what's showing above, but the beast below. I know it's crammed in there too tight. The roots were literally arched up from pushing against the bottom of the whole pot, and even with a long soak they do not relax where I feel I can push them down and arrange safely.

---------- Post added at 02:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:59 PM ----------

Originally Posted by camille1585

Or an extremely well developed root system, the plant usually won't miss a few roots so I generally cut off what appears a bit old and less functional, even if they are otherwise mostly healthy. I've also had a Phal with massive roots where every single root was in pristine condition, so didn't cut anything. With some good soaking and skillful arranging of the root ball before potting up, I get it into a pot only slightly bigger. For the large pots I always place an inverted net pot in the bottom in order to get even drying of the medium.

As to people not believing you, it has nothing to do with you or being suspicious, so no need to get defensive about a simple request. People don't know your level of experience, and for such ususual/unheard of things like your plant with 2 colors, it's often happened for other situations that it was a newbie grower who couldn't explain very well. I remember that thread, and was among the doubtful people, only because it sounded so strange and unheard of!

As to the photo request this time, it is reasonable, people like to see in order to give good advice. Saying that a Phal has huge roots is subjective, and everyone can interpret that differently. Once you've participated in the forum long enough, you'll see that requests for photos are very frequent, because as the saying goes, a photo is worth a thousand words.

So how did you cut the roots? Back to the top of the plant or somewhere halfway up? Not trying to be difficult here, it's just a huge root mass that I know is not happy right now though the plant is blooming. All of the roots are 'too long' so cutting only a select few isn't going to give me more leg room.

Everything I've read on phals never mentioned what to do with a Godzilla, and it seems the standard is once it gets to a 6" or 7" pot there's no more mention of having to keep repotting a tubby gangly phal, I'm getting maxed out on space and already going vertical in my ̶j̶u̶n̶g̶l̶e̶ er home. I can get a wider pot but they don't seem to make them also getting taller beyond 8" (with holes). Maybe someone knows a good supplier? I've looked at Green Barn but their tallest have a narrowing waist am not crazy about.

Yes, I'm not an expert and don't have the vocabulary, just a simple grower trying to figure a few things out, who says what they mean and mean what they say lol.

---------- Post added at 02:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:17 PM ----------

Originally Posted by aliceinwl

I’ve ordered some pretty big clear plastic pots from repotme. The largest haven’t had holes in the sides so I used a soldering iron to melt some in. I’ve also done the presoak and managed to get roots back into the original pot following a repot, I’ve found long forceps very helpful in arranging the roots in these cases. If you end up going big, an inverted net pot, like Camille suggested, is a good idea if there’s a lot of space in the center.

---------- Post added at 10:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:01 AM ----------

If the substrate isn’t broken down, I wouldn’t be in a rush to repot. I think a lot of Phals would rather grow horizontally than upright and I have a number of them that are pretty much pushing themselves out of their pots. Their media is still good and there is still room for root growth in their pots so I just let them do their thing.

Yup, this one is a pusher. I didn't have a larger pot on hand when I prepotted is the problem, and the one it's in has no holes save for a single, which I don't like. I know it needs a better bigger pot but know nothing about cutting lots of roots to make a plant fit a pot. It's totally packed out, huge mass of healthy roots under it, I felt bad putting it into the current but there it is. I think I'll just expand along with the roots until hopefully it will stop at some point. My orchid real estate is limited and everyone has to share space on each rack stand. It's already got a stand to itself so might as well go as big as possible there.

[Dollythehun]

You can find clay "rose pots," sometimes called "long Tom's,"which are taller and more slender. I have a long rooted phal or three in them. I don't trim roots.

[Roberta]

Totally agree with Dollythehun... don't cut healthy roots. (Look up the myth of Procrustes...) If the roots are so robust that they won't fit in the pot, maybe don't even try... there is enough root mass that even in a basket with little or no media, a good soak a couple of times a week will keep the plant hydrated. Phals need air... a small one likely needs a pot to keep it moist enough (with large bark) but with enough roots, medium is somewhat redundant, the plant can do what it does naturally. This is a high-class problem!

[Dollythehun]

Or a deep vase? Use the vase method?