Repotting a Dendrobium kingianum

[Anton]

What is the correct way to repot this plant ?

As it has no tubers, I am not sure how to do this without damaging the plant.

I took it out of the pot to see what the root system was like, and having seen the vast conglomeration of roots, decided the best idea was to put it back and get onto the forum for expert advice.

[jerrymeola]

This is an easy orchid to grow. Your root system sounds fine. It should be mass of small thin roots.

Most orchids like to be pot bound and dendrobiums even more so.

Why were you repotting? If you thought the medium was getting old - gently wash of the old medium and when most is gone (it is not necessary to remove every little bit on a healthy plant) add new medium working some into the root bal and adding more around the outside. You probably can re-pot it in the same pot.

It the plant was getting so large you felt that it needed a larger pot- you can either lift the root ball out and, if the medium is good, place it in a pot about a half inch larger and add some more medium. Usually you would remove old medium at the same time and pot in a pot about 1/2 inch large than the root ball.

[Anton]

Well, it looks like I dun did good.

I have done exactly as you mentioned, gently washed the rootball of old potting mix, added new mix, placed within the ball, and placed back in the pot.

When I saw the large rootball, I thought that it may need separating, but obviously this is normal.

The pot still has room for more expansion, I was just thinking of spreading the present plant by repotting segments (may not be the correct term) in the same pot to fill up a bit of the space.

It finsihed flowering a month ago, and we are just coming into Spring here in Oz, so I thought that now may the time to do something about it.