New Pot for New Orchid?

[Justine]

Hi Everyone,

I hope you can help me! I have recently "adopted" a couple of new phal orchids that were potted in small plastic pots with no drainage holes. I read that orchids do better in more porous pots, like clay ones with drainage holes, so I took the plants out of their plastic containers and put them in some nice new clay pots. I did not remove any of the old potting medium around the roots (I had read that you shouldn't do a full re-pot with new medium while the flowers are blooming, which mine were); however, I took the plant with its current potting medium and put it into a pot, adding some more bark, etc. to fill in the extra space.

So, my question to you all is... was this ok, or should I have waited to move the plants to new pots until they were no longer blooming? Did I do anything to hurt the plants?

Thanks in advance for all your help!!!
Justine

[Donald]

The most important thing was removing them from the pots with no holes. Did the roots look healthy?
If so you should be OK.

[Justine]

Thank you for responding! Yes, I think the roots looked ok. Now that they're in new pots, should I also plant to re-pot again with fresh potting medium when the blooms drop off?

[Donald]

You shouldn't have to. Just remember not to overwater your plant.

[trdyl]

Justine, Welcome to OB!

If the roots look good, green when wet, then yes you can wait to change out the medium after it finishes. But if the were brown and squishy when wet it would need a complete repot with new medium now. I have repotted several when in bloom and they never missed a beat.

What is the old type of medium that it is currently in?

You did a very good thing putting them in a pot that has drainage holes/hole.

[Justine]

Thanks Ted! The medium they came potted in is a mossy-type material with some bark.

[trdyl]

Since this moss/bark mix is in the middle, it is going to take a lot longer to dry out than the bark around it. It may be a good idea to remove it.

[RosieC]

Plastic pots can be fine for orchids BUT they MUST have holes in. You did the right thing to get it in to a pot with a hole in the bottom.

As Ted has said you will need to be very careful because the moss/bark mix will dry slower than the plain bark arround it, which could lead to the center staying too wet and the roots rotting.

I would probably leave it for now but be very careful about watering. Probably use a wodden skewer which you can stick in to the center to see how wet it is. Once it has finished flowering you can then change the media completely.