Shallow or deep pot for Phal?

[ewhite]

Hello,
I am new here. Forgive me if this has already been addressed but I couldn't find an answer.

I received a beautiful Phalaenopsis for my birthday (my first orchid). I have a few concerns for it. First, it seems to me that the plastic pot it is in doesn't have enough drainage. You can see from the photos what the drainage situation is like. So, I thought that perhaps I should repot it into something with more drainage.

I have read here on the forums that Phals like to be a little tight in their pots but it also looks to me like maybe it's time to repot just to give the roots a little more space. The plastic pot is 3.5 high x 4" deep, so I was thinking of just giving it maybe a half to one inch more in both height and width.

I have read that Phals like to spread their roots deep so a taller pot is good, but others seem to feel that a pot that is no deeper than it's width is good. So I'm confused about this.

Also, you can see from one of the photos that there seems to be a small leaf that is planted below the surface of the bark and pressing against the side of the pot. What should I do about that?

Also, from reading this forum I've realized that I think I have been overwatering... see the yellowish root at the bottom of the plastic pot? Oops.


Thanks for any advice!

[zxyqu]

I'd leave it alone. Plant looks just fine and the pot provides sufficient drainage. I wouldn't worry too much about a yellowing root.

[james mickelso]

I'll second that. This plant looks good just as it is. It is potted in coconut coir and that is ok for now. But it tends to break down quickly. It looks very healthy. Once the flowers wilt, you might repot it into something like firbark or a mix of bark, charcol, and spongerock. Medium grades. The pot will last a repotting twice just fine. In nature phals grow on tree trunks and tree branches with no soil. They like to be watered and then dry. In too deep a pot, they tend to rot at the roots if watered too much. Their tendency is not to root deeply but to grow long fat roots that may or may not grow downward but everywhere. If the roots start growing along the surface of the media that is ok. They will grow where they want to. I grow them in pots shallow, deep, and everything in between. I grow them in moss, lava rock, bark, and mounted. If you want the roots to grow down into the pot you can stake the root tip (about half an inch back from the tip and try to force it to grow down. But it's not necessary. Just let them grow where they want and water them. Having wet media is not necessary. Just make sure the roots get adequate moisture. A little secret here. I pot my phals in a larger more course media and water more frequently. If you have a greenhouse like commercial growers with warm moist conditions and lots of filtered light you could keep them in a finer media. But if you want to water them a lot, pot them in a coarse media and water to your hearts content.

[WhiteRabbit]

Lovely Phal!

The pot looks fine to me as well I generally use shallow pots for most orchids - azalea or orchid pots. If using deeper, I put styrofoam in the bottom. Some orchids, like Cymbidiums, are best in deep pots.

[ewhite]

Ok, great. Thanks everyone for your replies, they really helped! Now I'm wondering how much more humidity I can get with a humidity tray. It's been about 20% lately and I got a cool humidifier going but that only brings it up to about 30%.

[zxyqu]

Humidity trays wont really add much at all in the grand scheme of things. Maybe a % or two.

[gardengirl13]

We use evaporative humidifiers in our house. For people health in winter they say to keep it above 40%. For orchids, they like above 50% if possible. In iwnter our house will get very low without the humidifiers. For two years when we couldn't find any good ones we would soak hand towels in water and hang them to dry on those dowel clothes racks that helped raise it up over 35-40% with the humidifiers on high we get above 45% normally on really cold days, warmer days and it's 55% or so. We add rocks to deep cookie sheets and keep water in them and mist the plants a lot too. Also keep regular plants near the orchid, they keep humidity up a little too. All of this combined keeps it around 55% near the orchids.

[tucker85]

Even though higher humidity would be nice, the plastic pot ensures that there's adequate humidity in the root zone and that's what's most important. I wouldn't worry about the room humidity too much unless there's a convenient way to raise it. Humidity trays don't do much although they can't hurt.