D. Lai Klang needs a pot - maybe?

[Dewie7]

I have a small D. Lai Klang that had a little accident this summer. It was outside and - squirrels took an interest in it. Ended up, I shoved it in a short drinking glass, proceeded to neglect it, and just dumped water in the glass occasionally. Imagine my surprise when the bottom of the glass was soon covered with new, fine green roots! I continued to abuse/neglect it for a few more months. Roots stayed green and now we have aerial roots. We could call this success except there is algae growing in the glass, too. And I fear that my luck will run out if I don't do something more permanent.

I read about repotting dendrobiums. Generally, I read about pots that are smallish but deep or shallow and wide. And some articles referred to mounting dens. I happen to have a terracotta "orchid" pot, full of holes. It is 6" across but just 2" deep. I would like to use it but have concerns. The medium I have available is mostly a bark mix from rePotme. Also have leca. And I have spaghnum moss on hand. If I use the pot, do I fill it with medium? Or could I put some in the bottom of the pot and set Lai Klang in it, using it somewhat like a mount of sorts? I'm concerned that when roots are moved from the wet environment, they won't be happy. The aerials may decide to attach to the terracotta nicely..?

It has been a survivor and I'd like to give it the TLC it deserves.

[SouthPark]

Dewie ..... it will be ok for roots to move away from a very wet condition to a drier one. The reverse is what usually doesn't work well - as in regular condition to very wet.

If the orchid had been developing lots of aerial roots, then it likely means the humidity in the growing area is suitable.

In humid enough places, dendrobiums may not even need to be repotted - and may just grow well with lots of aerial roots hanging off it. The only thing that they 'might' need sometimes (if needed, is a little bit of fertiliser, and maybe a little bit of mag-cal).

As for a terrocotta pot that is 2 inches deep ..... for me ..... I would just hop down to the nursery or home depot etc to buy a regular plastic pot that is much deeper than 2 inch. And then I just pot and water using a method like the one shown here.

The media can be 1 size (average diameter). A deep enough pot can allow a stake or stakes to be used to make the orchid stationary (if needed) using twisty ties.

[Dewie7]

Thank you, SouthPark. I have some plastic pots that I can use. Good to know that drier conditions will be ok.

[Roberta]

Any chance you could upload a photo? It sounds like you now have a happy plant! I tried to find more information on this plant, since Dendrobium is a huge genus with plants having various needs. I can't find it in the database of registered names - growers often sell plants with "trade names". So a photo would help to identify what group of Dendrobiums it belongs to, which would help to "fine tune" the advice for its potting and care.

[fishmom]

There is a Den. Lai Klang Oon which is a den. phalaenopsis. Does this picture look right for the blooms? <h1>ANGEL ORCHIDS PHOTO GALLERY</h1>/Dendrobiums/Den. Lai Klang Oon

[Dewie7]

I think I'm uploading correctly. I'm ashamed of how I have neglected it. I need to clean out media in the roots. But so many greenies!

[Roberta]

Clearly it has been quite happy with its "neglect". That it has done so well with no medium makes me suspect that the semi-hydroponic approach (inorgnic medium like LECA, in a container with hole(s) in the side so that a reservoir of maintained) would be ideal, and probably lead to no "shock" at all since that's pretty much what it has received. Take a look on the Semi-Hydroponics Forum for LOTS of information from the many people who use the approach, and/or check out information from the Firstrays.com website - Ray Barkalow, a frequent contributor, did a lot of work on the technique https://firstrays.com/free-informati...i-hydroponics/

[Dewie7]

Thanks, Roberta. I'm familiar with semi-hydroponics and have 2 small cattleyas in it. They are doing well. Don't ask me what the squirrels did to them! But they recovered and one has a spike!

I believe that would cause less shock to Lai Klang. I'll go that way after cleaning it up.