Phal roots and repot?

[chrisk]

After Brookn's suggestion in this post about a second plant I removed the medium the plant was in and it revealed that the plant really was in a plastic pot submerged in this medium!
You can see here how it looked like on the outside :



And here is what it looks like in the plastic pot :









The medium was really wet although it had been several days after watering and I am sure that the plant could not breathe in there and the roots were constantly wet! So I believe that it is better now out of that!
My questions are about the roots...
Like you can see in the photos some areas on the top roots appear black and some other white. Are they in bad shape? Should I do something?
Also like you can see in the bottom of the pot the roots are quite cramped in there. I guess I should repot it, right?
Any kind of answer or advice is highly appreciated!
Thanks,
Chris

[PhalPal]

You have many very nice, healthy roots but I would repot only because the mix it is in seems too wet. The black areas are not what you want but certainly not enough to kill your orchid. Phals like to have their roots tight, but I would go up just one pot size and use fresh medium. Damp potting mix is probably what is causing some of your top roots to turn black and you want to be sure the same isn't happening to roots you cannot see.

[CulpableCaptive]

I have often found in a case like yours, once you remove the Phal from its pot and remove any dead or petrified roots and leave the healthy green and white roots – the plant can go back into the same size pot or one smaller.
In my case, once I reach a certain pot size – say 6 or 8 inches – I always plant my Phals back into the same size pot even if it means trimming the healthy roots which I rarely need to do.
Even on a plant which has all healthy roots – trimming the ‘trunk’ one quarter to one half an inch will remove some roots and make it possible to plant back into the maximum size pot one might want to use. Soaking the roots prior to re-potting will make them more pliable. I still dust any cut or bruised areas with powdered cinnamon before replanting.

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“It is pleasant at times to play the madman.” – Seneca (5 BC – 65 AD)

[PhalPal]

Originally Posted by CulpableCaptive

I have often found in a case like yours, once you remove the Phal from its pot and remove any dead or petrified roots and leave the healthy green and white roots – the plant can go back into the same size pot or one smaller.

Good point Captive- I find this to be true at least half of the time I repot.

[chrisk]

I don't plan to go to a much larger size pot. If I have to remove some roots and that makes more room available I will use the same pot, if not I will go from 12cm to 15cm pot, so just about 1 inch increase, this is ok I guess...?
Should I remove roots (some like the ones that you can see in the photo) that have some black parts or spots on them but otherwise are firm and strong?

[Brooke]

Anything firm, regardless of color should stay.

Brooke