Orchid repotting tips
When your potting material looks like it’s old, e.g., crumbling or when your roots are getting too crowded, it’s time to repot. As I mentioned before, we prefer bark over moss. We ordered our bark based potting mixture from Orchids by Hausermann. We missed their open house this year, which is when we stock up on supplies.
Soak the new bark potting mixture overnight. We put something over the top to weigh down the bark. After you remove the old potting material, cut out the damaged roots. They should be obviously dead, e.g. shriveled and squishy. You can soak the roots in some water before putting in the new potting mixture. The staff at Hausermann said the most common mistake is to not pack the bark in tight enough. Sorry I can’t give you info on what is too tight or not tight enough. You certainly don’t want the plant to be loose when you are handling the pot.
Hopefully you can see the difference, before and after repotting.
More specific care tips here:
https://www.orchidsbyhausermann.com/care.htm
Previous post here:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ChadHaney/posts/7GscQRsi1Ce
Supplies mentioned can be purchased here:
September 17, 2018
Hubster got me an orchid for mother’s day, and I’m astounded I haven’t killed it yet. I’ve been misting it when it’s dry, and it seems to be hanging in there. I hope I can get it to bloom again at some point.
September 17, 2018
I am looking at these as well
September 17, 2018
Lex Larson is it bark or moss? If it’s bark potting mix, soak it in a bucket instead of misting it.
September 17, 2018
My mother gave me an orchid that she got from a grocery store as a gift. It bloomed shortly after she got it, but then it dropped its flowers and never bloomed again. I did a little reading on the ‘ole world wide webz, and learned a few things about general orchid care (it seems there are many varieties that have different preferences). ANYhoo, I did get it to bloom … amazingly so, in fact. Better than any of us expected.
So Lex Larson here’s what I did to get it to flower (your mileage may vary): 1. Clipped off the dry flower stems; 2. wiped off the leaves; 3. Placed the small pot it’s in on top of the soil of my potted lemon tree (which I grew from seed!); 4. Placed the potted lemon tree (it’s a huge pot) in our south-facing window with the orchid about 30cm from the glass, partially shaded by obstacles around it; 5. Aimed a vent register to blow in the general direction of the orchid; 6. Sporadically misted the leaves (and the lemon tree), and splashed a tiny bit of water on the bark of the orchid every time I watered the tree.
So from what I read, orchids love to have companion plants. I dunno, but I can confirm it seems like these two plants are best friends. They love to have a little sun, but dappled – not direct. And apparently most varieties will only flower if they get a bit of temperature fluctuation during the day/night cycle – a couple of degrees cooler at night. Finally, apparently a gentle breeze (hence the vent register stuff) really makes them happy, as long as it’s not too drying. I am sure Chad Haney can verify whether any of this stuff is accurate … I’m just flyin’ by the seat of my pants after all, haha!
Also Chad Haney I’m having a hard time figuring out whether re-potting is necessary yet. It’s just at the end of a flowering phase (with a lovely multi-branch cascade of flowers, and little drops of “honey” along the flower stems). I’m in Alberta, Canada, so we’re moving into autumn. So is it a seasonal thing, or a number of leaves thing, or some other indicator? The bark has some sphagnum moss on top of it (probably for aesthetics), and I have no idea if the roots are crowded. It’s currently in a glazed pot of approximately 1L (1 quart) size. It’s healthy and happy, as far as I can tell.
September 17, 2018
Chad Haney yours look so nice..I love these plants but I can never keep them living. I’ve bought them at the store and also were they sell plants thinking one might live but as soon as they drop there flowers they die on me
September 17, 2018
Jessica Carrasco soak it once a week if they have bark potting mix.
September 17, 2018
Michael Ireland for moss based potting mix I’m sure air flow helps keep them from rotting. Leaving your orchid on top of the soil of your lemon tree is helping it not sit in standing water.
We have trays that catch the run off water. A container with pebbles works too. Direct sunlight isn’t desirable and a cool weather helps, as you mentioned. We used to live in a condo with steam heat. As far as the orchids were concerned, it was hot year round. When we moved to our house, we were surprised that the cooler winter environment made most of them bloom for the first time in years. Our bird of paradise loves the new home and rarely bloomed in the hot condo.
September 17, 2018
Chad Haney it looks to be bark. I’ll give it a good soak, then. Any issues using room temperature tap water?
September 17, 2018
Lex Larson oh shoot, I forgot to mention that we always leave the water out for a day or more. The orchids don’t like chlorinated water.
September 17, 2018
Chad Haney Yeah, I figured having the pot on the soil of the tree was helpful for the moisture – from what I gather, orchids aren’t huge water users – as evidenced by their juicy leaves. Having the dappled shade from the little lemon tree (but still a bit of indirect light) seems to be doing the trick. I also wonder if the micro-climate generated by proximity to other growing-things is helpful … our ambient relative humidity is usually extremely low, so maybe being close to other plants helps regulate that?
I grow numerous varieties of hot peppers which is where I got the idea of having some air flow; with peppers, a lack of air flow can cause all sorts of side-effects, including (but not limited to) edema.
September 17, 2018
Chad Haney I figured as much, thx!
September 17, 2018
I wonder if it is the “shock” of a temp change that triggers a bloom?
Back when I grew mushrooms, it looked like they were done, no new baby mushrooms, and they’d been producing for a while, so I figured it was just used up. I shut the system down (a cooler with a bubbler to keep it humid, and a small heater, and headed off to camp for the weekend. Ended up being gone for 4 days, and came back to find the shock of humidity and heat drop triggered them, and they had went crazy, pushing open the cooler lid.
Not that mushrooms and orchids are at all alike.
Our old orchid just seemed to be on it’s own schedule. Bloom when bought, then just kinda looked like a stick for a year or two, then “Hey! It’s time to bloom again!!!”