potting a root bound Dend.

[sandra]

I'm not quite sure what to do here. I just received my Dendrobium Lorrie Mortimer today and can't figure out the best way to pot this. There's no way I can remove the plastic pot without breaking most of the roots. They are forever stuck and as well, growing out of the bottom holes. I can't cut the pot because there's not enough room between the pot and roots to cut. I tried soaking it but not enough loosening to make any difference and again, the bottom holes are filled with growth that would make pulling the plant up and out, impossible.

The only alternative I can think of is to pot the entire plant in the original pot, into a larger pot but I'm fearful that this wouldn't be beneficial, overall for the plant? Can anyone advise me on how I should proceed with this?

[kmarch]

I've seen exactly what you described, one pot planted pot and all in to a larger pot, on a number of occasions. But I've usually seen it doen with clay pots. I'm not sure how it would go with the inner pot being plastic. You might consider soaking the whole thing so the outer roots are pliable then cut the plastic pot away. I did this successfully wiht an over grown Cattleya once..

[mayres]

My approach would be to soak all day if necessary to loosen it from the pot. And then if I still had trouble untangling go with Kevin's suggestion - use a good pair of wire cutters and start chipping the pot off piece by piece if I couldn't slide it off.

[sandra]

I've got about 2/3 of the plastic off so far, with a long vertical cut down the roots on one side I'm going to soak it again tomorrow and whatever I can't remove from the bottom, I'll just assume won't do any harm in the new media. I'm sure it'll suffer some setback but won't suffer indefinitely....I think....I hope...I'll find out.

What are people supposed to do when they receive plants so root bound like this one? There was no room for new growth to occur within the pot, it would have grown beyond the rim and as it was, it was unstable and needed additional support just to sit in a pot, erect. Should I have left it alone and just put it in a larger pot to hold it up without disturbing it?....not that I would have but I'm interested to know if anyone would have left it alone.

[mayres]

They are not nearly as fragile as a lot of people would think. This may be a bold statement, but I'm guessing that if you provide it with the culture that it requires, that you could even remove a significant percentage (1/3-1/2?) of the roots completely and it would/will only hiccup and soon be growing new roots below and foliage above - rewarding you for your care. Look forward to seeing the plant in the future - IN BLOOM!

[Tobi]

Sandra,
I have helped one of the vendors in my area repot several Dens and other
types with similar root conditions in plastic pots. The prolonged soaking will
help loosen most, but where the roots are really stuck, we just clipped them
until the plant was free. As Mike stated, they are fairly resilent and they all
came back nicely with proper care for him.

[digitalgate]

most of the roots will wilt in the process. Dont give up. As U are in Florida , I suggest that put the roots on top of the new media. Let the roots grow
downward. As time progress, you can cut the wilt root away . You can
remove the plastic pot after that. Most of the time i can't control which direction it want to grow. The pseudobulb look a bit dry.

[sandra]

Thanks guys for your advice. It's been soaking now for about an hour. I'm going to pot it in a much larger pot than what it was in, filled with lots of peanuts, primarily for the stability a larger pot will provide. Will be kept nice and dry.

Hey Mike, speaking of blooms (I wish), I've been doing a lot of reading on another forum about the spiral household lightbulbs and one member says that they're equivalent to T5's. Though it may not be enough, I'm going to get a few spotlights for each section where I have my Catts and use those. What do you think? I've been lucky with all my Dends in getting them to bloom so I'm wondering if the light isn't as low as I'm fearing, not that I'm willing to chance it.

Digitalgate, the psbulbs are quite healthy, thankfully. I'll post a pic after it's been repotted.

[sandra]

After hours of soaking and trying to carefully cut away the plastic, I ended up potting it with 1 side of the original pot and most of the bottom remaining. The roots were so bound and never became pliable enough nor loose enough to remove the original media so that all went into the new pot as well. I wasn't able to get the oldest growth flushed with the rim of the new pot but there's enough room for new growth for the next 18 months, at least.

Is it advised to keep it dry now for the next couple of weeks before watering? This poor plant must be in total shock.

Lorrie Mortimer Dendrobium

[sandra]

Anybody know what the correct action or no action? to take now that it's repotted?

Originally Posted by sandra

Is it advised to keep it dry now for the next couple of weeks before watering? This poor plant must be in total shock.

Lorrie Mortimer Dendrobium

[Tobi]

Sandra,
Looks like you did a stellar job on the repotting considering what you had to
work with. Glad it's in a clear plastic pot so you can monitor the root system
better. Give it relatively good light and keep the air circulation around it good.
Water only when it's almost dry and it should do well for you.

[sandra]

Thanks Tobi. Will do! Actually, I knew when to quit with this and probably the smartest decision I made here. Even with 75% removal of the pot, the plant would not budge and all the soaking provided no benefit either. It's basically in the same pot and into a larger one, snugly fit with all the old media that I couldn't remove. My major concern is the watering. I usually back off and water the Dends every other week in winter, even here in Florida where the change isn't that drastic but while they're going through rest periods with little growth activity, I think (not sure), I should hold off on the amount of water it gets.

I know Jerry Meola mentioned something about this but couldn't find anything in my search here.

[joan gero]

Sandra, I think you did just right. Dendrobiums don't really like to be repotted, someone told me recently at the local orchid show, so your solution looks like a fine compromise.

[jerrymeola]

Lori Mortimer is one of my favorite dens.

You did not have to worry so much. I would just have pulled it out of the pot with 1/2 or more of the roots ripping and they will just grow back.

It is an easy to grow den and extremely pretty.



The flowers can last up to 3 months each and it can flower for about 5 months.

[robb]

is this one of the "antelope" type of dendrobium, due to the flower shape?