My first division

[Deimos]

So, what is better than one Brassia? Why two Brassia of course.

Here is how my first division went. Bear in mind, I've never divided before, and this is my first experience with potting a Brassia. (holy root mass batman!)

Before doing anything:


After soaking the whole pot for about an hour so that the roots are easier to work with:


I tried to gently wiggle the plant out of its home, but it wouldn't budge. So after a few minutes staring at it thinking, I decided to cut away the plastic container. I quickly found out why I couldn't get it out of the container, so many roots jammed in there it wasn't pretty. Thankfully, most of the roots were healthy. As far as I can tell anyway, I found out that Brassia's roots are a bit different than the Phal's I have.


Then I set about removing the old media, small bark and some perlite.


After getting most of the media out, (except the stuff wedged into the top as you can see in this photo) I pulled the plant apart a bit and selected where I wanted to cut the rhizome. The spot seemed logical as the plant naturally grew different sections here. Dividing on this point gave me two plants, one section with 3 PBs, the other with 6 PBs. In hind sight, I probably could have divided it once more based on what I have read (3 to 4 PBs per division), but as this was my first divide, I decided to just do one.



Then came the scary part. Actually cutting the rhizome. I cut it rather easily with a single use razor blade and promptly sprinkled cinnamon on the cut.


After the dreaded cutting of the rhizome, which in hindsight wasn't so awful, I had to untangle the roots. This proved to be a very lengthy process as the roots were all sorts of tangled and I was being very cautious to not break any. Sadly I did break a few, but a little cinnamon sprinkle, and I moved on, removing the rest of the old media to produce this division.


Then I set about selecting which pot to use for each division. I purposley chose slightly larger pots even though I assume my plants will focus on root growth instead of blossoming next year. I can wait, I'd rather have healthy plants first and pretty things to look at later.


After selecting the pot I wanted to use, I put some charcoal on the bottom. Hopefully this will allow easy drainage.


Then after I placed about an inch of the new medium in the bottom, I started to place the plant and the medium in at the same time. I tried to put the roots on one side of the pot as I read that you should do this to encourage the plant to spread in one direction, instead of all over the place.


Then, after all that work, I have this to show for it:


Both repotted and hopefully happy in their new home. I put some moss on top for a nice look and hopefully to trap some water that will evaporate creating some humidity. The mix I used was about 50% coir, 20% small bark, 20% perlite, and 10% charcoal. The last thing I did was to put in some bamboo skewers to help with watering.

I think for my first try, I did pretty good. Though I must confess I am a little nervous that I might have screwed something up, so if any one else with more experience has some tips, please let me know. If I did something very wrong and my plants are going to die, please tell me so I can hopefully fix it.

Total time to Soak, remove, divide, untangle, repot.......about 3 hours. Time well spent in my book.

-D

[LouisW]

Looks good to me! Thanks for the series of pics, they are very helpful.

[delphiguy]

wow good work you did there, thanks for sharing.

[trinigirl]

Quite a project for the first time!

That plant was quite big. Looks like you did a great job, I am sure the plant will take right off.

[DonnaH]

This is something I face soon, and as a newbie, the picture story is invaluable.

Thanks so much.

[solay]

You did a great job with the tangled roots. Nice work and the divisions are looking good.

[Deimos]

Thanks for boosting my confidence!

I'll update this post as I discover more growths.

[lmartiny]

Good luck with that. Keep us posted.

[janet_a]

is this a sticky? i think this should be a sticky.

[fred]

it is now janet a
I agree with all of the geeks who have posted before me

[Plucky Purcell]

Looks great! I really think you made the division at the right spot, it looks like it just wanted to get split there.

A suggestion: In my experience a little heat at the root zone helps stimulate root growth. I have all my recent divisions and repots on a heating pad and they really seem to like it. I try to leave them there for 2-4 weeks then put them in their more permanent spot.

[Deimos]

Originally Posted by Plucky Purcell

Looks great! I really think you made the division at the right spot, it looks like it just wanted to get split there.

A suggestion: In my experience a little heat at the root zone helps stimulate root growth. I have all my recent divisions and repots on a heating pad and they really seem to like it. I try to leave them there for 2-4 weeks then put them in their more permanent spot.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will look into that.

[hulaorchid]

Great job! Looking forward to an update on the new growth!!

[Gene.Staley]

good job on the split. I had actually been reading about it in a book, it made little sense from the book. but I had never heard about sprinkiling the cuts with cinnamon is that sort of like putting septic on a cut?

[fred]

I am not saying that you have done a bad thing with dividing far from it

but could you please tell us why you decided to divide the orchid ?

with the size of the plant and with all the roots would it been more feasible to just to repot onto a larger pot

I know you have said what is better than one is having 2 but would it have been better to have a specimen plant with more flower spikes and blooms instead of dividing ?

just questions I would like to ask as I have said I am not saying what you did was wrong

[solay]

Gene, sprinkling cinnamon on a fresh cut helps dry up the wound and prevent infections.

[Gene.Staley]

oh ok thanks.

[Deimos]

Originally Posted by fred

I am not saying that you have done a bad thing with dividing far from it

but could you please tell us why you decided to divide the orchid ?

with the size of the plant and with all the roots would it been more feasible to just to repot onto a larger pot

I know you have said what is better than one is having 2 but would it have been better to have a specimen plant with more flower spikes and blooms instead of dividing ?

just questions I would like to ask as I have said I am not saying what you did was wrong

For one I did it for the sheer thrill and experience of doing a division. Being that it was the only orchid I had at the time that was viable for the split. Have to cut your teeth somehow.

And for two, having two brassias now gives many benefits, such as if one decides to die, I still have the other one. Also, should I decide to give one away, I still have one left.

In my eyes, two is always better than one. But that is just me.

[lovely09]

I would like try dividing my orchid as well but i'm afraid that they will not grow successfully.I'm sorry of getting negative but i really don't want to see my orchids not grown.

[solay]

I always divide my Cyms. I know many prefer them to grow into large specimen sizes but I find I like them in 1 gallon size pots. Easy to move around, still flowers nicely, and more to give a way. That's just me.

Although I plan to let my intermediate orchids grow into large size plants. I guess it's all a matter of what you like.

[greenboy]

This was very educational to me, even when my mother was an orchid geek when I was growing up. but I am need to revive my memory taking care of orchids, so far I have a Catteya and a phalaenopsis this one is Blooming!!! thanks for the pictures I loved them