On 05/07/18 15:01, Pollygolly wrote:
On 05/07/2018 07:47, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 04/07/18 21:36, David wrote:
On 04/07/2018 19:52, Martin Brown wrote:
On 04/07/2018 12:16, Pollygolly wrote:
Hello,

I have a phalaenopsis orchid that desperately needs re-potting. It is
almost horizontal and the pot is very unstable. It has been flowering
continuously for about 14 months, so I thought I would wait until the
flowers start to die, cut off the shoot at the base and re-pot.

BUT, in the last few weeks it has produced another flower shoot which
is growing rapidly and the aerial roots have gone mad, shooting
everywhere, both new ones and from existing ones.

So, should I just be patient and hope it does not fall off the window
sill or can I re-pot whilst it is actively growing?

They flower better when a bit pot bound so my inclination would be to
make a frame to stop the thing falling over and enjoy the flowers. You
only want to increase the pot size by a single step.

They tend to flower themselves to death eventually.

On the other hand, you could re-pot it without taking it out of its
present pot. Just find a larger pot to stand it in and use pebbles to
hold it upright, or you could pack the space between the pots with moss
or bark chips.

I wondered if the OP has, in fact, got a few keikis and it is those
which are throwing aerial roots. If so, they could be removed and potted
up, and the original plant left alone.


Many thanks to all for your responses.

Clearly, the consensus is do not physically re-pot, just support somehow

I am a bit concerned about the comment of "flowering themselves to
death". The plant has a certain amount of sentiment attached to it, so I
would like to avoid that if possible, even if it means cutting off
flower shoots.

Having looked up keikis on the internet, and further examined the plant,
no there is not any keikis, each flower shoot comes out of the main
stem, between the leaves, and there are no leaves/aerial roots on them.
I did see that the existing flower stem that I was waiting to die has ow
started another shoot out of the stem from a bud just below where the
existing flowers came from.

I guess that patience and care is called for.

Thanks again

They are a lot tougher than you think. I have several phalaenopsis, and
one, perhaps through overwatering, started to rot at the crown. On
reading about that, I assumed the plant was on its way out. Eventually
all the leaves turned black and died, just leaving the flowering stem. I
was about to throw it out, when, to my amazement, I noticed new flower
buds forming. Over the next couple of years, although no new leaves
formed at the crown, the plant has formed seven keikis on its three
stems, one of which is flowering (strangely, the youngest one). The
original flower stem is still there, with a couple of keikis, but is not
flowering. It's a long way from dead!

--

Jeff