On Sun, 16 Feb 2014 18:24:36 +0000, Spider wrote:

I've spent a large part of the day splitting and repotting a huge
Cymbidium, then repotting a number of phaelenopsis. I'm keeping my
fingers crossed that the Cymbidium with settle down and grow away. I'm
not expecting flowers this year, but would like them to survive.

Because the compost I had was rather too chunky with mostly bark and
other woody chippings, I decided to improve it by adding some bulb
compost. Not too much, of course! I didn't want to use multipurpose
compost as there's usually too much feed in it. It seemed to me that
bulb compost was generally well-drained, little or no nutrient, plus
some charcoal to keep it 'sweet'. So, for better or worse, I put the
well-drained chunky stuff in the base for drainage, then mixed both
composts to suit each orchid. I shall keep a close eye on them in case
it is too moist, but I am hopeful.

What do others use when tinkering with orchid mixes?

I have mentioned this here before.
I had a huge cymbidium which was bursting its pot and decided to
divide and repot, though it had not flowered for over 15 years.
I eventually divided (cut) it into 5, one bigger than the other 4.
I repotted the big piece for myself and crammed the other 4 into
smaller pots and gave to 4 different friends. All of the 4 are now in
their second flowering, wheeas mine has not flowered at all since. I
can only think that mine I potted into the original pot, with plenty
of room for growth and the others have much less root space.
My daughter leads a busy life and I thought it might die. No, it has a
lovely spike of flowers, and the others I gave away are flowering well
too.
I keep hoping mine will flower. It's very healthy, only gets orchid
food or tomato feed when I think of it, an goes out in the shade in
summer as my friends have done with theirs. I had advice from Simon
Pugh-Jones who runs the highly successful Writhlington School Orchid
Project so I must be doing something right!!!
Oh well, there's always next year!!!

Pam in Bristol