Traumatic Twinkle repotting (for both of us)

[hollyoswald]

Just repotted an oncidium Twinkle that was crawling out of the pot. There were some good roots around the outside of the pot but the core was a hard plug of thin dried roots,packed spagham bits and old bark. I suspect the moss was packed around a previous potting of bark. I kept holding it under running tepid water trying to feather out the packed moss and bark until I realized I'd been doing this for over 90 minutes. There was still a 2 cm hard mat under the top of the plant but I realized that new pseudobulbs were falling off. So I potted it in coir, coco chip and charcoal over an upside down tiny net pot for air circulation. I forgot the cinnamon...So my questions are (1) should I dust the poor beat up crown with cinnamon? (2) If I run into this again, is cutting out a core like that better than waterboarding the poor thing so long? (3) Any advice on aftercare?

[tangers40]

i don't have many suggestions for you, but THIS is why repotting oncs gives me nightmares lol! hopefully somebody with more onc experience will chime in here.

[pedidiva]

you know, I was watching one of the web videos from the American Orchid Society on you tube, I believe. The guy had one orchid that would not come out of the pot w/o root damage & he said to just break the pot & use that piece with the planting materias. I don't know if that is helpful.
Pedi

[koshki]

I recently repotted an Onc. Tsiku Marguerite that was growing neatly in a 2 inch pot. I was surprised that it wouldn't come out of the pot...I eventually had to cut it off. The pot was literally stuffed with roots.

It took a good couple hours of soaking, teasing, soaking, teasing, to get the rotting bark out, but it was worth it, and I had relatively little root loss. Funny, calling it waterboarding! I think my plant loved it, probably the first thorough soak it had had in a while. I wouldn't worry about soaking a plant like that for a long time (several hours).

It is now happily ensconced in a larger pot in s/h. Twinkles are one of the few plants that have been successful for me in s/h.

[philthy]

Almost every Oncidium I have repotted goes through some suffering in the beginning. Shriveled bulbs and maybe even losing some leaves. Their roots are so brittle and really stick to old medium. I bought a twinkle and when I got it home I realized that it was in pretty bad shape. Roots were mostly rotted and very crowded in the pot. I decided to split the plant into two and experiment. I put one in a pot that has many holes in a mixture of bark,perlite, and charcoal. I put the other in a pot with fewer holes and I included Sphag moss in the mix. Both had very little roots but I see new ones coming on both and they appear to be doing well. I have new growths in both pots. I have lost some new growths by not being careful when watering. I now am very careful watering around new lead growths. Oh yeah, I forget to use cinnamon sometimes and it hasn't caught up with me yet. As for aftercare, I prefer to give them a good soaking and then let dry maybe a little more than normal so that roots will go seeking moisture. Then I go to watering as normal.

[katrina]

Right or wrong...if the core/center of it is all bad...I cut away w/out batting an eye. If I'm unsure, I soak and work at it until I can see what I have.

With that said...if it's too tightly bound...I'll do a series of soaks and working loose what I can but I don't get all crazy about it. If I have to leave some...I do. I've never had a problem doing this.

As for your "waterboarding" it...not to worry...I've let plants soak for 24hrs (including catts) in prep of a repot and they've never minded in the slightest. 90 minutes is nothing and most likely an oncid (water hogs that they are) loved it.

Oncids are tough. I once had to divide a monster of an overgrown Oncid...it laughed at my largest knife so I grabbed my husband's hacksaw and just sawed away. It responded by going nuts w/growth. They ARE tough.

[hollyoswald]

Thank you all so much! This kind of feedback is so helpful and I would never find it in a book!