Just repotted two Vandas and a Christensonia - Orchid Board

crazymonkie · #1 03-24-2012, 02:18 PM

Hey everyone! The top of my thread says it pretty succinctly: I just bought a three-set of orchid baskets from a seller in Florida by way of Amazon (pretty rough-hewn baskets, to be honest) along with some special "Vanda mix" (coarse bark and big charcoal chunks) and moved them from plastic pots that seemed to make the roots unhappy. One of my V's had nothing but part of one root left and doesn't seem to be doing anything, the tricolor is putting out two very healthy roots and looks to be bouncing back from the rough winter, and the Chr is...well, I sprayed it with antifungal and Neem oil a few times... it's got some dead-looking brownish-whiteish spots that look to my eye like sun damage (but can't be because it was in a shaded area on a north-facing patio with no direct sun till yesterday), and some yellow spots that I took to be fungal damage. It's got a section of good root near the base and one aerial root that's half-dead because of lack of water (despite twice-daily heavy misting!!!!) and damage to the middle of it through contact with the (for it) sharp edge of the plastic pot it was in.

So I'm a bit worried about that one, is what I'm saying.

Now, what I've done is put the plants on the top of the mix and put the mix in to fill the baskets. Have I over-filled? Should there be BIG spaces, or should it be more like in a pot or net pot? Right now I filled the pots in so the mix doesn't fall out. Is that the right way, or have I over-filled? I'm mainly concerned about how the roots will react if they go down into the mix, which it looks like will be the case with the tricolor.