17-11-2003, 08:12 PM
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Surprised owner of an orchid
(Sue Mack) writes:
in the living room. It grows a new pair of big green leathery leaves
each year, and the leaves have brown seed-like bumps on the bottom, and
a few brown bumps on the top of the leaves (and I wonder if those are
seeds). It summers on the morning side of my screened porch. When I
Sounds strange to me. Flowers are usually where you will find
seeds. That is more or less what they are for.
The orchid is in the same pot it arrived here in. Should I repot it,
and if so, what season, and what type of pot?
You should repot just when it starts growing. You will break roots off
when you repot, and the plant will cope with the repotting easier if
you do it when it is already growing.
You should pot it in the same stuff it was in before since both you
and the plant is happy with it. The stuff it is in now will have
decomposed a bit, so go for a slightly coarser mixture. It will go
more compact after a while.
You should use the same kind of pot you have now. Why change something
that works? I prefer clay pots because I tend to overwater my
orchids. Yours has been happy for five years. You have obviously found
something that works for you.
You should repot when the plant is too large to fit in its current pot
(or slightly before, or you will have a nasty time of it trying to get
the old media out from between the roots. You should also repot if the
media (the bark and stuff in the pot with the plant) is rotten.
Start by soaking the plant in a bucket of water for at least 15
minutes to make the roots more pliable. Then crack or cut the pot away
- don't try to save it unless it comes right off. Then get rid of the
old media you can get rid of, cut off any roots that are mushy and
rotten, put some potshards in the bottom of a new pot for drainage
(for clay pots), pop the plant in and gently fill the rest of the
space with new media. Don't push the stuff down hard - you will only
hurt the roots. You may want to refill with more media afterwards,
though. Watering tends to help the media find new spaces to live.
I am sure others will fill in any blanks I have left open.
(2) What do you call
those long, velvety, mint-green .... stems .... tendrils ..... branches
... stamens ... feelers? ... that grow long in the spring. They reach
up and out and tap everyone nearby on the shoulder in the most
socialized way.
They are called "roots" if I am not mistaken. 
The "velvet" is probably called velamen, and is there to retain
moisture. It is more or less a one-way valve. If it goes transparent
when you water or mist it, they are roots.
apparently are satisfactory to this orchid ----- or would it be twice or
thrice larger than it is now if it lived in a really warm house? The
Not all orchids enjoy heat, something I am very pleased about.
Geir
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