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Materials

Re-potting is consistently a topic of concern with people new to growing orchids. In fact many of us are always looking to glean some secret to help us successfully re-pot. While far from an expert, I have re-potted my fair share of orchids. Recently while moving my plants indoors ahead of the last cold front, I decided that many of my plants needed attention. The first plant I worked on is Phal. White Dream ‘V3’.  A plant that is about 20″ across, has a branched inflorescence that’s 3′  long, and produces flowers that are 4.5″  across. It’s growing in an 8″ clay orchid pot.

The photos above show the materials I use when re-potting Phalaenopsis. From left to right; horticultural charcoal, aliflor or little balls of fired clay, sponge rock or perlite, and premium sphagnum moss. My moss is already wet. To wet my moss, I place the amount of moss I think I’ll need into a plastic bag with a small hole in the bottom. I fill the bag with water, allowing the excess water to drain. In the bag the moss will remain damp and easy to use for several days even weeks. I do squeeze the bag to remove excess water.

I feel that most epiphytic orchids like at attach themselves to a solid base, so I use large pieces of horticultural charcoal in the bottom of my pot.

The aliflor is used to fill the large gaps between the charcoal and together these materials provide a very sturdy base for my plants. You’ve seen many growers use Styrofoam packing peanuts for the same purpose.

The sponge rock and moss are used around the roots.

Removing old moss

The photos above show the my steps in medium removal. One of the nicest things about moss grown Phals is that the moss is so easy to remove. I start by simply pulling out much of the moss from between the roots, taking care not to damage the roots. Once most of the moss is  removed, I soak the plant in a bucket of bleach water, about 1 cup/gallon.I keep the plant in the soak for about 10 minutes, then  I rinse well with clean water. Now the remaining medium is easy to remove.

On many of my large Phals, I will keep them in the same pot. So the bleach soak serves two purposes, sterilize the plant and the pot, and soaking makes the roots very pliable.

The roots that have grown outside of the pot can be worked into the pot. You could not do this without snapping roots unless the roots are saturated with water. A saturated root will change colors from grey to green or yellow.

Tools of the trade

After removing all the old moss I need to trim anything that is dead tissue from the root mass. Above you’ll see my torch which I use to sterilize my tools (shears, awl, and knife).

I sterilize tools before and after each and every cut.

The awl is used to attack any insect bite that has a yellow halo (bacterial infection). I will heat the awl and insert into the bad spot. But maybe this is a topic for another day.

I will work the moss and sponge rock among the roots until the pot is full and the plant is standing in the pot.

If you have questions, please comment to this post, and I’ll do my very best to  provide you with an answer.