repotting aftermath

[princessk]

i bought 2 phals and repotted them together, so i could put them in a pot that i really liked. the guy at the sf flower mart said not to repot in bloom, but of course i didn't listen. now that they're repotted what do i do in terms of watering? i read some websites that said to hold off on watering after repotting for a week, so that the roots grow. is this true for orchids that are in bloom? they're such beautiful phals and they have 4 buds each, so i am afraid that they won't open. would anyone recommend superthrive for this situation? i bought orchid fertilizer should i use that right away? help!

[Maba]

My vote--especially since they're in bloom--is to water them in and then hold off until they're pretty dry. I did this recently with two phals with tons of blooms and they pretended they didn't notice at all. Maybe hold off on the fertilizer for a few cycles.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

The reason to hold off on watering is to let the broken roots sort of heal over before exposing them to wet mix. However, Phals are usually pretty easy to unpot without breaking roots, or at least not many. Also, if you did not soak the mix ahead of time, it takes a while before the mix starts to really absorb the water, hence a fairly dry environment for the first week or two. I usually don't soak the mix because I don't think it is important, but that works well in light of this benifit. I always water immediately after repotting, or next day at most, but can't prove this is always harmless. I would go ahead and use the Super Thrive right away. It will help with any stress the plant suffers from the repot. Cyntiha

[Ellen]

I totally agree with Cynthia's method. I never soak the bark mix before potting because dry mix is easier to deal with when potting many plants. I soak the plants in a SuperThrive solution while they're waiting to go into pots and once they're in the pots, I water once with a SuperThrive solution. From then on, I just treat them normally, and they seem to do fine. I think Cynthia's absolutely right that the non-soaked bark mix keeps the roots aerated enough so that any broken ones heal. I believe that watering right away is especially important when growing in a warm, low-humidity environment like we have outdoors right now in the Pacific NW, or like you probably have in your house. When I first started growing orchids, I lost a few because I followed the instructions not to water the first week or two, figuring the experts must be right and my instincts were wrong. The lesson I learned was, if in doubt, go with your instincts.

[jerrymeola]

Phals are the one orchid that can be repotted any time whether in bloom or not.

Since they have thick roots they need to be handled gently so as not to crack the roots.

Since you are done, there is nothing more to do at this point. SuperThrive will never hurt and can help any orchid. I would go easy on the fertilizer. I do not like to fertilize new arrivals until they have had a chance to settle in, whether they are re-potted ot not.

[princessk]

thanks for all the advice. i add superthrive to my weekly watering and try to get them all the sun that i can get. i live in san francisco, which isn't the ideal environment considering the lack of sun. after the repotting, i only had 1 bud drop from each plant, but the rest of the buds opened sucessfully. thanks to you guys, i have a beautiful end table decoration.

is there any advice on how to care for my phals while they are in bloom? i have a total of 3 phals. these 2 in bloom were the ones repotted and one phal that i really want to grow a spike. should i care for these phals differently? can i do anything to my spikeless phal to initiate a spike? i water it w/ superthrive & fertilizer. i read in someone's reply that a 20 degree drop in temperature might help. that sounds pretty hard to do in sf, b/c it's cool during the day & night and the inside of my apartment probably doesn't change that drastically.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Phals usually set their bloom spikes in winter because of the winter temperatures and the shortened day length. So be patient, you may have better conditions for setting spikes in the dead of winter, or whatever passes for it in SF. But, be sure the plant gets natural light. Don't keep it in a room where the lights stay on till the same time each night. Move the plant to a room where the lights are usually off, so it sees only the normal solar pattern. Cynthia