Should I repot a new Phal thats in bloom/spike?

[lissie0113]

Hello everyone, I hope you had Happy Holidays!

While I was back home for Christmas, i stopped at a farmers market and ended up picking up a couple of new Phals (they sell very inexpensive orchids). One is in spike with about 6 buds getting ready to open, and one has one bloom, and 3 more buds that havent opened up yet. The plants look very healthy, but there is moss growing on the potting medium, and i cannot see the roots deep inside the pot to tell if they are healthy or not.

So my question is, do I leave these plants as they are, and repot them after they bloom? Or should i repot them now? I dont want to lose the best part, but i want to keep them healthy as well...... PLease help!

also, how long should i keep the new orchids away from the existing ones?



Melissa

[articuno75]

I always repot when I get new orchids. It's nature of habit now. You never know if there are critters in that there medium.

[lissie0113]

Thanks Jenny. I am soaking some new medium as we speak. Another question..... in all of the repotting posts/tutorials people say to soak the orchid in a bleach solution to disinfect it before the repot. THis sort of makes me nervous.... i just feel like bleach would kill a plant.... but i guess it doesnt if everyone else does it. anyways..... should i do this and how exactly do i mix up the solution?

[articuno75]

I never used the bleach solution. I use the Brookn's Recipe for a wash and soak to kill anything that may linger.

Bleach scares me too, but some use it and have had no ill effects. I don't know what the ratios are, but it's somewhere here on the threads.

[Brooke]

What is the bleach killing? If you want to disinfect it, (and I never do when I repot) use peroxide. Or Listerine, the brown kind, not the colored/flavored.

Brooke

[fred]

myself I do not use bleach when re-potting
the only time I use bleach is for sterilizing the cutting tools

[mayres]

Like Jenny I repot all phals immediately upon purchase/acquisition regardless of stage of spike/bud/bloom. I repotted a phal two months ago that was in full bloom - still have not lost a bloom - going strong! Several reasons for immediate repot - immediate inspection of roots & media - that way you can hold yourself responsible for any future issues instead of wondering if any decline might have been due to the previous owner. Remove any poor roots. Most of us also have our favorite media/mixes and with a repot we can now care for the plant like similar plants. If you are soaking bark, keep in mind that you potentially may need to soak/water for the first few weeks or months if the bark doesn't initially absorb much water - watch the leaves of the plant for any droop or other signs indicating the plant is not getting the water it nees if the roots are otherwise in good shape.

[lissie0113]

wow thanks guys. i am definitely not going to use the bleach solution or disinfect unless it looks like it needs it. but i will repot them both and let you know how it goes! thanks for the info.... also, how long should i keep them separate from my other orchids? and how far away is considered separate?

[myorchid]

I agree with all the others. I have repotted several Phals in bloom with no problem. I also use Brookn's recipe to rinse the roots off and leaves. I also will water with worm tea and superthrive.

I don't usually separate the orchids unless I see that they have a problem. Then I just make sure they are not touching each other.

Good luck and post pics!

[Tarad]

I repotted my phals when I got them some were in spike and they are doing well. I bleached my tools to cut the roots if needed and sprinkled cinnamon on the cuts. All are doing very well, in spike and in bud. This was months ago when I repotted most of them. Tara

[violetta]

I also repot all Phals when I buy them, and they are usually in bloom. They don't seem to mind. You just have to be very careful not to cut the spikes while repotting.

[lissie0113]

Thanks everyone! i repotted both of them today and im glad i did! the one with the spikes had the moss i mentioned but it was in pretty good shape otherwise. just a couple of old roots to trim off..... but the other one was a mess! almost all of the roots were mush and it only had 2 1/2 really good strong healthy roots. and i used the peroxide that brooke suggested due to all the rot. but it is now successfully in a new home and hopefully it will survive and grow some more roots quickly!

[lissie0113]

okay so here are some pics of my now-repotted-noids. ive never posted pics before, so i hope i do it right!

I know i should have taken some pics of the roots while they were exposed, but i didnt think of it.

[lissie0113]

sorry i didnt rotate them..... the first three are of the one that had pretty bad roots.... the last one is of the nice healthy one. I have no idea what it is, so it will be a big surprise one of these days! Thanks again for all of your help.......

[violetta]

The colour of the flower is very beautiful! I said I wouldn´t buy any more Phals, but I know that if I see one like that, I won´t be able to resist

[lissie0113]

Thanks! Thats why i couldnt resist either! and i cant wait to see what color the unknown is!

[mayres]

Good job Melissa -
I will second the gorgeous bloom comment!
Just a short comment for the future.........
I'm assuming you have a plastic pot inserted into that other larger pot? In general you don't want a pot any larger than the roots will fit comfortably in. In fact, many times when you get a good sized plant that has mostly rotten roots you end up downsizing the original pot. It appears that you have pretty good sized bark in that pot from what I can sort of see (?). If this is so, this will help "if" the pot is on the larger side for the available roots.

[lissie0113]

Thanks gor the advice mayres. Yes they are both in plastic pots inside larger pots. The one with the bloom is in a 4 in pot which was the smallest i had, and also the smallest that held the one large root it had without bending and possibly breaking it. It was originally potted in a 6 in pot, with lots of moss and soggy medium and many many yucky roots as i stated before.

The other is in a 6 in pot, the same size as it came in,I just switched it out for a clean moss-free one. It has a whole mess of roots buried down in there, Hopefully its not too big. And yes it is pretty good sized bark mixed with charcoal etc. Just the basic orchid mix from Home Depot. I hope you are right and this does well for these new guys!

Thanks again for the advice. Happy new year!

[PhalPal]

The only time I have seen bleach suggested is for soaking the pots before re-using, not the orchid. Could this be what you read?????

[lissie0113]

No..... I am pretty sure that i have heard people mention dunking their plants in bleach in the midst of a repot. Maybe I am mistaken..... who knows. But that makes me nervous and I didnt do it. I used peroxide.....hopefully it helped! I love this little guy!

[PhalPal]

Melissa I wouldn't doubt if you did see it in a book written by a so-called expert! I have read some amazing suggestions and I just couldn't believe what I was reading.

Peroxide and cinnamin are great for use on orchids. It sure does help to have some common sense as you do as well!

Good luck with your little guy; he's beautiful. You are on your way to becoming a fully certified Geek!!!

[lissie0113]

so here is another pic of that second growth on the phal in the first picture above. it is like a bud and a spike coming out of the same node..... it just looks strange to me.

[amersault]

looks like you got a bonus - congratulations on getting a subspike w/ a subspike

[risa59]

A related question--I've just had to repot two phals and one den that were leaning in their pots. I had repotted all three about 2.5 months ago and the den again about 2 weeks ago since it just didn't settle into the pot right. Is this much re potting bad for the chids? None were in spike.

[amersault]

i know Dens in general like to be potbound before repotting so if you can keep this in its place until really potbound, it would be better for the plant.

the Phal should hold up ok.

[lmartiny]

I too saw something here recently where someone would soak in water with a small amount of bleach. Not pure bleach though. Maybe FLBob in Venice? I can't remember.