Phal and Cymb Advice- repotting

[Ukolele]

Hello-

I'm a newbie in that I've been looking after Orchids for three and a half years but have more or less just been muddling along and have survived sue to experiementation and good luck!

Wondering if anyone could offer advice about the plants whose pictures I've attached. The pictures are not brilliant but hopefully they won't be too unclear. I can take more if that would help.

One Phal that has suffered I think from too much watering (and perhaps too much fertiliser if the salt residue is anything to go by) whose roots are beginning to rot; is the rotting bad enough to need repotting or should I just continue to monitor and lay off watering?

The other picture is of my cymbidium- it's a new breed to me and I bought this one reduced in a garden center as I think all it needed was some love. Does it need repotted? I've read that they only need repotted when they fill the one they're in or are trying to climb out of it- is this what this one is trying to do?!

Grateful for any general advice as well,

Uko


Cym 1.JPG

Phal 1.jpg

[mayres]

I think you have done a great job of self diagnosing - repot them both up as soon as you can. With the phal, completely clean off the old media, cut/remove all dried or rotten roots and keep only the nice fat plump ones like the aerial one sticking up. The ones inside the media that are good will likely appear more of a tan color instead of gray. If you have much root loss you will probably want to keep it in the same sized pot as currently - you want to be careful not to overpot a phal - just a little larger than the root mass. Lots of choices and thoughts about what kind of media to use - most newbies go with some sort of commercially available bark mix. I and many others have migrated to other choices over time. The cymbidium also needs a slightly larger pot and repot. Also lots of media choices there. Many people in my area actually mix potting soil and bark 50/50 for them - since they are terrestrial. Others use strictly bark or maybe add a little coir. Good luck!

[Ukolele]

Thanks. Glad I got it right. I have orchid medium for the phal that I obtained from a British orchid breeder, David Stead- not quite sure what he puts in, but its definitely bark based. I'll stick with that until I learn better!

If a lot of the phals roots need removing is there any way I might need to put it in a smaller pot? The leaves are so mature that I thought that this might cause problems.

Uko

[PhalPal]

If you truly only have a couple of viable roots remaining I would go down a pot size. Overpotting makes it very easy to overwater because there is too much media to retain water in the pot, and too few roots to absorb it.

A little tip for removing old media from a root ball: soak the entire root ball in luke warm water for a while and then run a little stream of water over the area you are working on at the time. this helps to keep the roots pliable and rinses away loose materail.

[mayres]

Yep - just like PhalPal said - potentially you may need to move down. You might post a pic of what you have left after pruning and get some additional comments on what size other members might use. It is hard to tell, but looks like a fairly small pot already?

[Ukolele]

'Tis the one it came in from the nursery... approx 11 cm. I have a selection of smaller pots I picked up at an orchid festival in case of situations like these- hopefully one of those will do.

[Ukolele]

Oh and is it alright to repot the cymb in a clear pot or should I got out and get an opaque one?

[PhalPal]

Your Cym will love the clear pot! In fact, some orchids photosynthesize (sp?) through their roots and a clear pot gives them access to more light. I have recently re-potted all of my orchids into clear pots and I really love being able to see some roots. I don't feel like it's such a mystery "what is going on?" under that dirt. It gives me satisfaction just seeing a new, green root tip emerging.

A point to make while you are new and learning to use this forum to your best advantage: the BEST orchid, equipment, pots, medium, fertilizer, water, fans etc. is whatever works for YOU in YOUR environment. Listen to all of the advice and keep in mind this is a very international forum. Some of us live on farms, some of us live in high rises. What works perfectly for one will not work for all. Experiment and learn what will grow for you in your corner of the world and you will be a happy orchid parent.

And ask lots of questions!! This forum is wonderful for growers of all experience levels!!

[Ukolele]

Thanks- I'm good at questions!

I think the unknown and experimental part of orchid gorwing is one of the things that makes it so exciting!

Thanks again

Uko

[Ukolele]

Hello-

Both plants now repotted. Phal worse than I thought! Now in tiny pot. Can anyone advise as to the growth I discovered next one of the roots- sort of bulbous and brown and black. I went ahead and finished repotting the poor plant, but have never seen anything like it before.

I have also attached photos of the newly repotted cym. Boy was that hard work- I am slightly concerned that the pot is still too small- any comments on the photos- it's fresh from being 'watered in' as one of my books advised to do- I don't keep my orchids that wet all the time!

That's coming from the girls who's just had to repot an adult phal into the smaller pot imaginable!

Uko

orchid bulbous.jpg

cymb repot 2.jpg

repot cymb.jpg

[PhalPal]

Yeah, I would have gone up a size or two on the pot. Cyms don't like to be repotted and I like to give them two years of room. Is that a coir mix you have it in?? cyms want lots of water but want a very well draining media.

[Ukolele]

It's a compost I picked up at an orchid festival- not sure what's in it, but it seems to be draining. Having never repotted one before I wasn't sure what to expect and therefore only realised the next size up would be a bit on the close side when I had it out of its other pot- I thought putting it back in a pot would be better than leaving it.

Would you advise I leave it where it is now or risk repotting again when I've got a bigger pot?

[PhalPal]

I would move it to a bigger pot when you get it. It's better to get all the stress over with and then leave it alone for a few years.

[Ukolele]

Great stuff- thanks. One other thing- the cym root ball is really tight- as it should be- should I be trying to get the old compost out of the root ball, or do I just leave it as it when I repot?

Uko

[PhalPal]

Get all of the old compost out. If you don't, it will continue to decompose at a different rate than what you can see and possibly rot some roots. Soak the root ball for 20-30 minutes before you plan on this surgery; it will make it easier to remove old medium and make the roots less likely to break.

Hint: tweezers work well!

[Ukolele]

Ta. It's looking much happier in a bigger pot now. Thanks for the advice.

[mehitabel]

The black bump on your phals stem near the other roots is a root nub that started off and then succumbed. When you repot a phal with rotten roots, it pays to spray the root area with a dilute solution of physan 20. That often stops any further rot.

Without the physan, the rot can move into new root nubs (or has already done so) killing them off before they have a chance to develop and/or into the stem, where it continues to reinfect the roots til the plant dies.

With a bad case of root rot, the challenge is getting the new roots to come in clean of rot.

For so few roots, I would use sphag n bag to revive the phal roots, rather than a bark mix. Some rooting hormone if you can get it wouldn't hurt, either.