Should i repot my mini Phal??

[peetree89]

Hi, i am fairly new to orchids and this forum, i have had my mini phal for about 2 months now, and have been browsing this site for a similar amount of time. I now feel the time has come for me to post
My phal has been doing spectacularly since i got it reduced at the supermarket where i work, it is potted in sphag moss and has no dead, dry or rotten roots. I water it using the skewer method (have done ever since i got it thanks to this site) and fertilise weekly weakly, with a break regularly to stop salt buildup. It also has about 3 large leaves and 3 small ones, and a flower spike that branches into two with lots of flowers like the one in my pic. Anyway onto my question... When i water, the roots seem to stretch the pot (it is in a flexible clear plastic type thing with holes in the sides and bottom) as they swell and absorb all the moisture, and this seems to have made a couple of them go flattish, although they are all still plump and greeny silver. Do i need to repot or is it fine as it is? The moss doesnt seem to have degraded, although it is yellowish coloured, not green. Is this ok?

Thanks in advance!!

[arleneg]

Hi peetree89,

First, welcome to the forum. Glad to hear someone else is here learning as we, newbies, go.

Second..your mini Phal is doing just fine. As long as the roots are plump, green and velamen(sp?) is silvery/white, no repotting needed until the potting medium degrades. Plus, if it's sphag moss, they start out yellowish in color.

[peetree89]

thanks for the quick reply arleneg, that puts my mind at rest, ill just let it do its thing ! I know to look out for a sour smell to indicate that the sphag moss needs changing, but is there anything else i should look out for?

Thankyou!

[Daniel S. Barrett]

hi Peetree89,
It sounds from your description, you're doing a great job with growing your mini Phal. It's normal for Orchid roots to swell, or to flatten themselves out to fit in all the nooks & crannies of their environment.
Sphagnum moss is green when alive, is yelowish when it's been dried for plant use, but, can look green again from alge growing on it, and sometimes it may even harbor enough spores to spawn & grow new Sphagnum if the humidity is very high.

[Aniko]

"Not over pot" doesn't means that roots have to be kept over crowded until get suffocated .
If the roots fulfilled the pot but the medium is OK, the whole root ball can be slipped out and moved in a next size pot. Of course some new medium has to be added to fill the extra space around it.

Originally Posted by Daniel S. Barrett

hi Peetree89,
Sphagnum moss is green when alive, is yelowish when it's been dried for plant use, but, can look green again from alge growing on it, and sometimes it may even harbor enough spores to spawn & grow new Sphagnum if the humidity is very high.

I have some dried green sphagnum mos
Aniko.

[jerrymeola]

it is probably the sphagnum moss that is expanding the pot not the roots.

I am a little concerned that the pot can expand, normally the moss will move up in the pot to accommodate the swelling. If it is packed so tight that it shrinks and expands a lot with watering I would take the plant and
remove the moss from around the roots and replace it with fresh moss.

Phals can be re-potted at any time without harm to the plant. I would probably replace the moss and re-pot in the same size pot. You have to look at the roots to determine if you want a pot size one inch larger.

Re-potting Phals makes the plant very loose in the pot so buy some pot clips to hold it in place as the roots reestablish. They make clips for both clay and plastic pots so get teh right type.

[peetree89]

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies. Its not that its packed so tight it cant move up if it needs to, ive come to the conclusion that the pot is just made of a really flexible plastic, as if there was less moss in there the orchid would move around unless it had just been watered. thanks!!

[OrchidLady06]

I have never heard of pot clips before--- what are they, and where would you put them?