If no spikes, can I re-pot a phal now???

[PhalPal]

I am in the process of setting up an orchid room in my house. I have purchased T5 lights, drainage trays, and lots of plastic pots. I currently have healthy phals growing roots and leaves (altho they have slowed down in the past month) and I do not believe I will be getting any spikes. They simply are not getting adequate light where they are.

My question is this: Assuming that I will not be getting flowers this year, is it okay to re-pot all of my phals into plastic pots now, even tho it is 'blooming season??' I'm pretty sure it will be okay, but wanted to make sure I didn't disrupt their natural growth cycle by disturbing them now. Is there any other process going on this time of year I should be concerned about???

Thanks in advance everyone!!!

[sandra]

Connie, it's spiking season now and you really ought not to assume that yours won't be growing spikes. I would wait on this because spiking can very well happen any time through winter.

[dionysus]

i would wait until spring. that's when you should clean up your orchids, atleast phals. a few of mine are in spike, so i am leaving them totally alone except for the essentials and i might clean them up after flowers disappear. just make sure you snip rotting roots, and keep healthy ones. i think for phals that root snipping encourages blooms somewhat. Mods help me out here, not too certain.

[mayres]

Call me crazy if you want - my experience with phals is that there is no bad season to repot - spiking, blooming, growing, etc. They seem to continue on hardly even noticing. Usually the main reason to repot phals might be excessive roots growing out of the pots, a couple of years of old leaves dying off leaving a lanky looking plant near the soil level, media breaking down - for any of these reasons for sure I'd do it any time. With the media you use the roots should clean up and go right back into fresh media without even missing a "heartbeat".

[pikevi]

I think I will agree with mayres with a bit of reservation about re-potting with blooms. I am no expert on Phals. but just general plant physiology would suggest some impact on the blooms, perhaps, as innocuous as the life-span of the flowers.

I have done it with spikes since I always re-pot the orchids when I bring them home and I have a vague feeling that the flowers had dropped off prematurely.

Other than that no adverse effect can be seen whenever they are re-potted; and I have done it with more than 30.

sandra may be right if one is inclined to be too cautious ( I am sorry for contradicting ,sandra). If not, you should follow mayres's advice before they begin to spike.

Good luck.

[sandra]

I too have repotted while in spike and in bloom and no setbacks were apparent whatsoever. The only time I've seen some stalling is when I repotted while a leaf was growing; it tended to stop until it acclimated itself. Being that Connie wants spikes (and we want them for her too!!!!), I would be inclined to think that to eliminate all doubt and give it it's best chance to spike would mean, leaving it alone, just logical, no?

[PhalPal]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I did have a few spikes before this time last year. We are having a pretty cold winter by our standards and the room they are in is difficult to keep warm for them. This is also the first complete growing cycle they have been in ceramic pots. Hmmmmm....? I'm thinking the plastic will get them more light and I, for once, can see what is going on in their little pots!

I always, ALWAYS re-pot when I get an orchid home. I have had too many fade away because of packed sprag or a duel media, and/or rotten roots from the grower. One of the best things about growing in coir is that I do not have to traumatize roots to get the plant out of the pot. I just wasn't certain if there was something cyclic that happens this time of year (winter), spikes or not.

AND....if the truth be told....I can get more orchids under these lights in progress if they are in plastic versus ceramic. Maybe I will just do some and not others; now that's an idea!

[Christina]

I just repotted my phal about 3 hours ago. My phal is in bloom also and I too had many questions as to whether or not i should repot so soon. But I did a lot of research and a lot of my resources said that it is preferred to repot a phal once it goes out of bloom, however, phals are very forgiving and repotting before it is time often does no harm. What prompted me to repot so soon was that I could see some rotted roots at the bottom of my container and wanted to get to them sooner rather than later.

Most sources say that deteriorating media, visible root damage, or fungal infections is always a good indicator to repot. Even though it might be too soon, you're probably helping them out more than you think!

Ill keep you updated on how my phal is doing since I repotted early.
---Goodluck. I hope I helped you out some!

[mehitabel]

Several phal specialists (Robert Beddard Nursery and Bedford Orchids) suggest that repotting will often give a phal a several-months burst of new growth and/or incline it to spiking. The Canadian Orchid Congress culture notes also discuss repotting as something that is good for phals. Apparently old medium accumulates salts that start to harm the roots, and fresh medium disposes of that problem.

The burst of new growth after a repot definitely happens, and is very gratifying.

How about spike-setting? This experience isn't definitive, but here goes: I got some good new sphag in April and repotted every single phal in it at the beginning of April. By May I was starting to see lots of new spikes starting-- third spikes on some already blooming, and new spikes on others. More new spikes in June, for a total of some 20-30 new spikes set in the two months after repotting. Nearly every phal mature enough to spike set at least one.

Yes, I know, it's perfectly confounded with increasing light as the spring came on. But still very suggestive.

Ordinarily, I repot when I get a new plant, or whenever I think they need it. Using sphag in clay, they slip right out of the pot with no damage, and a loose sphag wrap is easy to get off without damaging the plant.

I do sometimes lose a couple of the older flowers off a spike after a repot. Other times there's no loss of flowers.