Repotting Phalaenopsis
 

Hello all,

I'm a dedicated lurker. Some weeks ago, several of you were kind
enough to answer a question about greenhouses. Now, I'm back with another
question. I'm not an orchid grower. Well, not until last weekend, anyway.
Over the holidays I dropped in at Sander's Nursery in Camarillo,
California, just to look around. That was Friday, New Year's Eve. Sunday, I
dropped back in and bought my first orchid. It is a phalaenopsis with the
patent name Newberry Parfait "Picotee."
The plant looks very healthy. It has a flower spike with one open
flower, and several more coming.
My question is, should I repot it now or wait until it finishes
blooming? I put the pot (typical plastic thingy they are sold in, this one
is four inches) in a catch tray and poured a cup over water over the medium.
The water ran through almost immediately.
What I've read so far is that phalaenopsis is sensitive to overwatering,
so I want to be careful about that. Experience with other flowers and plants
is that repotting can be traumatic, and I don't want to stress the plant.
Your suggestions are invited.

Regards,

Casey Wilson
Freelance Writer and Photographer

Hello!

Congratulation on your first orchid! Phalaenopsis are very easy to grow!

It`s always better to wait after they finish blooming to repot them! Doing
it now will cause a shock and the plant could lose all the buds, altough I
have done that in the past without any problem but I guess I got lucky!


Claude


"Casey Wilson" N2310D @ gmail.com wrote in message
news:a9gCd.9712$1U6.3596@trnddc09...
| Hello all,
|
| I'm a dedicated lurker. Some weeks ago, several of you were kind
| enough to answer a question about greenhouses. Now, I'm back with another
| question. I'm not an orchid grower. Well, not until last weekend, anyway.
| Over the holidays I dropped in at Sander's Nursery in Camarillo,
| California, just to look around. That was Friday, New Year's Eve. Sunday,
I
| dropped back in and bought my first orchid. It is a phalaenopsis with the
| patent name Newberry Parfait "Picotee."
| The plant looks very healthy. It has a flower spike with one open
| flower, and several more coming.
| My question is, should I repot it now or wait until it finishes
| blooming? I put the pot (typical plastic thingy they are sold in, this one
| is four inches) in a catch tray and poured a cup over water over the
medium.
| The water ran through almost immediately.
| What I've read so far is that phalaenopsis is sensitive to
overwatering,
| so I want to be careful about that. Experience with other flowers and
plants
| is that repotting can be traumatic, and I don't want to stress the plant.
| Your suggestions are invited.
|
| Regards,
|
| Casey Wilson
| Freelance Writer and Photographer
|
|

Hello!

Congratulation on your first orchid! Phalaenopsis are very easy to grow!

It`s always better to wait after they finish blooming to repot them! Doing
it now will cause a shock and the plant could lose all the buds, altough I
have done that in the past without any problem but I guess I got lucky!


Claude


"Casey Wilson" N2310D @ gmail.com wrote in message
news:a9gCd.9712$1U6.3596@trnddc09...
| Hello all,
|
| I'm a dedicated lurker. Some weeks ago, several of you were kind
| enough to answer a question about greenhouses. Now, I'm back with another
| question. I'm not an orchid grower. Well, not until last weekend, anyway.
| Over the holidays I dropped in at Sander's Nursery in Camarillo,
| California, just to look around. That was Friday, New Year's Eve. Sunday,
I
| dropped back in and bought my first orchid. It is a phalaenopsis with the
| patent name Newberry Parfait "Picotee."
| The plant looks very healthy. It has a flower spike with one open
| flower, and several more coming.
| My question is, should I repot it now or wait until it finishes
| blooming? I put the pot (typical plastic thingy they are sold in, this one
| is four inches) in a catch tray and poured a cup over water over the
medium.
| The water ran through almost immediately.
| What I've read so far is that phalaenopsis is sensitive to
overwatering,
| so I want to be careful about that. Experience with other flowers and
plants
| is that repotting can be traumatic, and I don't want to stress the plant.
| Your suggestions are invited.
|
| Regards,
|
| Casey Wilson
| Freelance Writer and Photographer
|
|

In article ,
"Claude" wrote:

Hello!

Congratulation on your first orchid! Phalaenopsis are very easy to grow!

It`s always better to wait after they finish blooming to repot them! Doing
it now will cause a shock and the plant could lose all the buds, altough I
have done that in the past without any problem but I guess I got lucky!


Claude




no no! run away! run away! ;-)

seriously, unless there are things activley crawling out of the medium,
or it reeks, you can wait to repot.

--j_a

In article ,
"Claude" wrote:

Hello!

Congratulation on your first orchid! Phalaenopsis are very easy to grow!

It`s always better to wait after they finish blooming to repot them! Doing
it now will cause a shock and the plant could lose all the buds, altough I
have done that in the past without any problem but I guess I got lucky!


Claude




no no! run away! run away! ;-)

seriously, unless there are things activley crawling out of the medium,
or it reeks, you can wait to repot.

--j_a

Hi, Casey,

Glad you decided to stop lurking, and I hope we had some influence on your
decision to join the ranks of the orchid addicted! I need to ask why you
might think the plant needs repotting. Is there a problem you didn't
mention?

As far as the water running right through the medium, that is common with
orchids. The vast majority of what we grow is classified in the epiphyte
category, which means they don't generally grow in dirt. So the medium
typically drains quickly, and that is what we want.

An educated guess says that your Phal is potted in either some type of bark
or spaghnum moss. Which is it? As to the drip tray that you mentioned, you
don't want the pot to be sitting in water. Orchids, even Phals, like to dry
out a bit between waterings. On the other hand, if you have the plant
indoors and the humidity is low, then a tray of pebbles with some water
under them is a good way to add some moisture to the air around the plant.

Ask lots of questions any time you like. We all started with one (or two)
orchids!

Diana

Hi, Casey,

Glad you decided to stop lurking, and I hope we had some influence on your
decision to join the ranks of the orchid addicted! I need to ask why you
might think the plant needs repotting. Is there a problem you didn't
mention?

As far as the water running right through the medium, that is common with
orchids. The vast majority of what we grow is classified in the epiphyte
category, which means they don't generally grow in dirt. So the medium
typically drains quickly, and that is what we want.

An educated guess says that your Phal is potted in either some type of bark
or spaghnum moss. Which is it? As to the drip tray that you mentioned, you
don't want the pot to be sitting in water. Orchids, even Phals, like to dry
out a bit between waterings. On the other hand, if you have the plant
indoors and the humidity is low, then a tray of pebbles with some water
under them is a good way to add some moisture to the air around the plant.

Ask lots of questions any time you like. We all started with one (or two)
orchids!

Diana

Casey Wilson wrote:
.....................................
....... My question is, should I repot it now or wait until it finishes
blooming? I put the pot (typical plastic thingy they are sold in, this one
is four inches) in a catch tray and poured a cup over water over the medium.
The water ran through almost immediately.
What I've read so far is that phalaenopsis is sensitive to overwatering,
so I want to be careful about that. Experience with other flowers and plants
is that repotting can be traumatic, and I don't want to stress the plant.
Your suggestions are invited.

Regards,

Casey Wilson
Freelance Writer and Photographer

Hello cousin Casey,
It's been a long time since I got my first orchid (also a Phal.) but I
remember how it is. You have your first orchid and it sits there not
doing much so you want to do something for it. I looked at mine for a
few days and convinced myself that it needed repotting. It didn't need
anything but I moved it up to a bigger pot anyway. Of course I also
wanted to water it about twice as often as it wanted to be watered.
Being a Phal, it was somewhat forgiving of my foolishness and lived on.

Don't be afraid to pull out some of the potting material to look at the
roots. If you see some healty, firm roots, then don't try to repot it
until it is done blooming (if even then). Getting a look down into the
pot may also reveal more moisture than you expected to see, which may
help you to resist over watering. Over watering and rotting all the
roots is one of the fastest ways to kill an orchid. Well, freezing is
much faster but I'm not worried about that. ;-)

Steve (Wilson)

Casey Wilson wrote:
.....................................
....... My question is, should I repot it now or wait until it finishes
blooming? I put the pot (typical plastic thingy they are sold in, this one
is four inches) in a catch tray and poured a cup over water over the medium.
The water ran through almost immediately.
What I've read so far is that phalaenopsis is sensitive to overwatering,
so I want to be careful about that. Experience with other flowers and plants
is that repotting can be traumatic, and I don't want to stress the plant.
Your suggestions are invited.

Regards,

Casey Wilson
Freelance Writer and Photographer

Hello cousin Casey,
It's been a long time since I got my first orchid (also a Phal.) but I
remember how it is. You have your first orchid and it sits there not
doing much so you want to do something for it. I looked at mine for a
few days and convinced myself that it needed repotting. It didn't need
anything but I moved it up to a bigger pot anyway. Of course I also
wanted to water it about twice as often as it wanted to be watered.
Being a Phal, it was somewhat forgiving of my foolishness and lived on.

Don't be afraid to pull out some of the potting material to look at the
roots. If you see some healty, firm roots, then don't try to repot it
until it is done blooming (if even then). Getting a look down into the
pot may also reveal more moisture than you expected to see, which may
help you to resist over watering. Over watering and rotting all the
roots is one of the fastest ways to kill an orchid. Well, freezing is
much faster but I'm not worried about that. ;-)

Steve (Wilson)

"Casey Wilson" N2310D @ gmail.com wrote in message
news:a9gCd.9712$1U6.3596@trnddc09...
Hello all,


My question is, should I repot it now or wait until it finishes
blooming? I put the pot (typical plastic thingy they are sold in, this one
is four inches) in a catch tray and poured a cup over water over the
medium. The water ran through almost immediately.
What I've read so far is that phalaenopsis is sensitive to
overwatering, so I want to be careful about that. Experience with other
flowers and plants is that repotting can be traumatic, and I don't want to
stress the plant.
Your suggestions are invited.

Thanks for all your friendly responses. On self examination, I suppose
my question was engendered from a desire to get rid of the ugly green 6-inch
plastic pot the plant came in. My end solution was to hide the ugly in an
attractive ceramic container which now rests atop an inch of white gravel in
a ten-inch diameter tray.

Regards,

Casey Wilson
Freelance Writer and Photographer

"Casey Wilson" N2310D @ gmail.com wrote in message
news:a9gCd.9712$1U6.3596@trnddc09...
Hello all,


My question is, should I repot it now or wait until it finishes
blooming? I put the pot (typical plastic thingy they are sold in, this one
is four inches) in a catch tray and poured a cup over water over the
medium. The water ran through almost immediately.
What I've read so far is that phalaenopsis is sensitive to
overwatering, so I want to be careful about that. Experience with other
flowers and plants is that repotting can be traumatic, and I don't want to
stress the plant.
Your suggestions are invited.

Thanks for all your friendly responses. On self examination, I suppose
my question was engendered from a desire to get rid of the ugly green 6-inch
plastic pot the plant came in. My end solution was to hide the ugly in an
attractive ceramic container which now rests atop an inch of white gravel in
a ten-inch diameter tray.

Regards,

Casey Wilson
Freelance Writer and Photographer