Miniature & Dwarf Orchids

[Sharyn]

Do the same potting rules apply to miniature and dwarf varieties? Just received 2 dwarf Phaps., 1 compact nobile den, 1 oncidium type and 2 mini catts. One is in a 3" pot, the rest are in 2.5" pots. They're planted in small bark, peat and perlite. These were all purchased from a reputable orchid grower and the medium looks very good.

How long can they remain in these little pots? If I'm to allow for 2 years growth in a pot and must wait until the appropriate time to repot, is it feasible that these miniatures could remain in these pots for at least another year?

[janet_a]

i repot mine when they outgrow their pots, or when the media goes bad, whichever comes first. (or after about 10 months for plants in sphag, regardless.) do this for all the types in decomposable media, regardless of size. some of these plants go right back into their old (but disinfected) pots, as they haven't grown enough roots to warrant a bigger one.

so i guess the short answer is--it depends on each individual plant.

[Ellen]

Janet's right - as long as the medium is good and the plant hasn't outgrown its pot, there's no reason to repot. Minis are like any other orchid in terms of potting. Use the smallest pot that will hold the roots, especially for the dendrobium. I grow a lot of minis mounted, so they never need to be repotted. Just my preference.

[fred]

Janet and Ellen I also agree with you.
As all my orchids are small growers. ( aprox 100 )
when my orchids outgrow the post I use the next size up pot.
I also find that spaghnum moss will go sour if used for to long.
congrats with the new plants

[Sharyn]

Thank you all so much for your replies. I only tried a miniature once and because of my enthusiasm, I had "murderous hands" in handling these very small orchids. I'm delighted to find that they don't need to be repotted and require pretty much the same care as my regular size plants. So, at least they're safe for now.

Ellen, I'd love to try a mounted mini, but I think my environment is too cold and dry or the other extreme of too warm and windy. See, I'm actually learning to consider my conditions! I'm pretty sure that these little guys will remain indoors, on the windowsill.

Thanks again.

[kmarch]

Rebecca Tyson Northen has written a book on miniature orchids and how to grow them. It was published a few years ago but is still by far the best book I have ever seen on miniature orchids. Check it out on amazon.com or maybe half.com

-Kevin

[jerrymeola]

Until recently I had avoided miniature orchids for purely commercial reasons. I damaged too many with rough handling.

My wife, Sharon, and our friend, Wanda, fell in love with Lc Loveknot. They sold everyone I could get. It is only 2-3 inches high fully grown with large 3 1/2 blue flowers that are very fragrant. (a result of hybridizing with C. walkeriana)



So learning to care for them was this months project (I bought 100 this month). The roots are very short so if you bump the plant the roots can be exposed and dry out too much. I knew the cause but not the solution.

First we handle them more gently and re-pot if the plant roots get exposed (they can be pulled out of the pot from watering). This means checking them regular.

Second we treat all of them with Worm Tea. I will be posting a full article on the test results in this forum, hopefully this weekend.

I move all mine from the 2 inch pots to 3 inch pots. I do this with all 2 inch pots (larger cats can go to 4 inch pots), but I am not certain that it is necessary for mini cats

Your other plants (and check about the ones sold to you as minis) may not be small plants at all. If they are only young they can be potted in larger pots. The word mini was intended to mean very small orchids (especially Cattleya) that stayed around 3 inches or shorter. It is used often now for what I call semi-miniatures (up to 8-10 inches high). It is important to know the exact height that is expected for every plant.

All minis and full size plants can grow into quite large pots. Stay with the general rule that you should up size a pot 1 inch in each re-potting if necessary.

[fred]

thanks for shareing that.
I found the info interesting.
also its good to know for growing ( mini orchids )

[Sharyn]

Jerry: Thank you. I took your advice from a few months ago and purchased the Lc Lovenot as you suggested. It's been doing nicely, no new growth yet, but I expect some soon. It's probably just gotten acclimated to my home.

You're right about the little guys falling out of the pots. They seen to require a little more TLC in handling. My only concern right now is the watering. I have a skewer in each of the small pots, however, I keep reading that these tiny pots need water more frequently. I watered mine last Sunday (6 days ago) and each day I check to find there's still moisture, so I wait another day. Hope I'm not letting them get too dry.

Many of us are awaiting the results on the worm tea. I'm going to try to find it locally, as I've been too cheap to spend $8.00 shipping on a $6.95 bottle through an online order. I would imagine that this worm tea should work pretty well as it's totally organic. My sister did organic gardening for many years and she was fortunate to have a peat based soil that contained TONS of worms - so everything she grew was fabulous!

P.S. The other plants were sold as dwarf or mini, suitable to grow on windowsills.
Thanks again for your help.