SHALL I REPOT THESE ORCHID PLANTS

[TANSAL]

, I've just joined this forum and have been reading to learn about caring and repotting orchids.

Have been wondering how my Cattleya and Phals are doing and whether it is time to repot them. I am a beginner. Appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance.

[Bill U.]

Tansal, what are each of these potted in? It looks like some sort of moss that has basically broken down into mush?

I see a flower spike on the phal and I think I saw a new growth or two on some of the cattleyas, can you verify that? For the phal- I would say that you should be able to go ahead and repot it. Some may say not to when it is in spike/bloom (you're only in spike stage), but if you do it gently and then give it some recovery time- I have done it with blooms and not lost a single one yet.

For the Catts, the best time is to repot when there is new growth/roots being produced. It is somewhat hard to tell the amount of space that these guys have in their pots, but repotting is normally done when 1) media is broken down or 2) running out of room in the pot. If you are running out of room, you can pot it up a pot size or two, or you can try to divide the rhizome to make 2 plants from your 1 original one.

Some more pictures may help...

[WhiteRabbit]

Yes.

Bill has given you good advice, but I would add that if the media is very broken down, I think it's better to repot even if it isn't the ideal time of new growth, new roots starting.

[TANSAL]

Thanks Bill and Whiterabbit. The pots are plastic materials. It looks like some algae (greenish color) growing in the moss. There are indeed some new growth in two of the Cattleya and it happened previously that the new growth turn black after some time.

Are these orchids looking healthy? Shall I trim away the old leaves when I repot? It's been more than a year without flower. This is one of the reason I am thinking maybe it's time to repot them.

As suggested here are some clearer pictures for your kind advice. Think I am going to repot them this coming weekend.

Thanks everyone in advance.

[WhiteRabbit]

Don't cut off healthy leaves. I don't know what that spotting is in the last photo. Hopefully someone else knows

[james mickelso]

Do not water these until they are repotted. I wouldn't even water them for a week or two after repotting. It won't hurt them a bit. These need to dry out. You have plenty of humidity in Singapor. If you pot them in sphagnum moss repot them into the moss loosely. In bark use a large bark. In chc use as large a grade as you can.

[archie1709]

They don't look dehydrated (based on the wrinkled pseudobulbs)? I ask because I want to know if I should worry that mine is starting look like that. I read that the pseudobulbs of cattleyas need to be plump. Thoughts?

[james mickelso]

I say don't water them until repotted because they reside in Singapore and they look to be potted in sphagnum moss which retains a lot of water and down inside the moss stays wet for a long time. And the black rot is indicative of wet conditions. These don't need water. Catts start to get wrinkled pbulbs when the new growth starts to take water and nutrients from the older pbulbs before they get new roots growing. I have a few cats that stay somewhat plump but most start to shrink once the new growth gets half mature. That's what the older pbulbs are for. Just the look of these tells me they don't need watering but need to dry out. Singapore is very humid and wet at certain times of the year.

[TANSAL]

Dear all, thank you very much for all the sharing and advice. Truly appreciate.

The catts and Phals are planted in moss but I am not sure if its sphagnum moss. It is true that the humidity level in Singapore is high. On an average we are at about 70% however there is hardly any wind and the air is very dry + extremely warm. Often my orchids appear to be dry on the surface where the roots are dry up but roots within the pots rotten. At times the dendrobium flower buds dry up before they bloom.

It has been quite a challenge growing orchids and there's a lot to do.

[silken]

Cattleyas and some Dendrobiums should almost be dry before watering again. This is thru to the bottom, not just on top. That could be why the roots are rotten and even why some buds dry up-because there are not enough healthy roots to support them. I would be tempted to move at least one or two Cattleays into some bark mix and see if that works better for you. If it does, then you can move more later. I agree with others that the media looks wet and maybe broken down. Cattleya bulbs often get wrinkly with age. Often only the newest one is plump as in picture #2 of the 2nd set, new ones look plump and old ones are wrinkled.