Re-potting question

[Rocinante]

Hey people, I have a question. I am re-potting this brassidium, and it is currently potted in volcanic rock. As you can see from the attached pics, the roots are tightly wrapped around the old medium. I wanted to re-pot in Aliflor. There is no way I can extract the old medium from the root ball without incurring substantial damage to the roots. My only option seems to be to pot the root ball as-is into the aliflor. Is there anything wrong with that? Do you have any suggestions to safely extract the lava rock? My new pot is only an inch bigger on each side and on bottom.

[jerrymeola]

You have a couple of choices.

You can soak the plant for a couple of hours in which case the roots may loosen. always loosen the medium from the bottom and the middle of the bottom. Trying to loosen around the sides does not work well.

You can put the root ball in the new pot with styro on the bottom and Alifor around the sides.

It is really not very big yet and does not need a bigger pot. It can be left as is for a couple of years yet.

What we do commercially for a plant like this is to let it be and grow bigger in the same pot and then as it overgrows the sides we cut that portion off either that or cut the plant apart. I do not think you want to do either.

Brassia tend to grow up and the older growths die off. Everything you have in the pot now will probably be dead in two to three years as it is replace by new growth. Do not be afraid of damaging the roots. I would actually cut the roots down each side and remove most of them. This will allow space for new roots to grow. Again it is not a choice most hobbyist would want to make.

Soaking seems to be the answer you want to hear. Just be careful to remove the medium from the bottom even if you have to cut the bottom roots.

[jay]

One good thing is that you don't have to worry about the lava rock decomposing. Good luck with that.

[rodbender]

I wouldnt repot as yet. It still has a lot of growing to do as Jerry has said. But if ya realy want to repot what I do is soak for a while, and every so often while soaking I roll the plant around between my palms it seems to loosen the media out from the root ball.
Good luck

[Celcat]

Originally Posted by rodbender

I roll the plant around between my palms it seems to loosen the media out from the root ball.
Good luck

That sounds like a very good idea! I have spent 1 hour just to take the old media last saturday for one chid!! I will definitively try this technic

[Rocinante]

If you say it doesn't need repotting yet, I'll take your word for it. The reason I thought it needed a bigger pot was that the roots were growing wildly out of the bottom of the pot. I would rather leave it alone, myself...

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

My only option seems to be to pot the root ball as-is into the aliflor. Is there anything wrong with that?

I dont' think so. The rock is an inorganic so there's less to worry about decomposing medium on your roots. I suspect if you potted it up (as opposed to repotting) or left it as is, it would be ok either way.

[Rocinante]

Just to follow up, I decided to leave it potted as-is for a couple more years.

[articuno75]

I think it's a good choice.