Stanhopea wadii - is it ok to repot now?

[rbarata]

Hello, my friends

I wonder if it is already too late for my stan to be repotted this fall into a basket...maybe the new growth is already too much advanced...

[jcec1]

I can't help on repotting, but you've done a great job with this plant, it looks really healthy - well done.

[rbarata]

Thank you, jcec!

[rbarata]

Just a little bump...enough to send it all the way up!

[rbarata]

In my country we have a say like this: "Quem cala, consente.".
It means when someone say something, if no one answers it means they agree. Hence I've repotit into a basket.

I don't have photos of the roots it I had an hard time to take it out of the pot. Most of the roots were circling inside the pot and sticked to it. So I had to pull them off gently without damaging any of them. I think I was sucessful.

Lined up the inside and bottom of the basket with sphagnum moss and them put the palnt and medium in the center pocket.
I've used medium size bark mixed with small leca, coco chips, perlite and small cork pieces. I had this mixed already prepared and the plant was used to it from the pot. I just added the coco chips.

I never had used sphagnum before...a small piece turns into kilos of that thing.
Most of it (what was left) went straight to the trash bin.
I should have squeezed it more 'cause now it is too wet.
But I think it won't be a problem because my humidity is in the border between 19~20% so it should dry out fast.

The basket seems to be too full with medium but I had to cover the top roots (as I explained, they were growing in circles around the inner wal of the pot).

[Chris17]

Looks good. Good luck!

[rbarata]

Thanks, Chris. I also think it looks good.

Now my questions will be focused in watering.
As I never used sphagnum moss, and it retains loads of water, how should I water it and which signals should I look for to know when to water?

[Chris17]

I would just use the “weigh” method and water when the plant feels light when you pick it up. Also you can stick your finger in the bottom to make sure. The spagh lining might require less frequent watering, so you will just have to adjust watering frequency to what the plant needs. If it gets too sopping wet I suppose you could go back and remove more of the spagh leaving a thinner layer.

[estación seca]

At a recent lecture Brandon Tam of the Huntington Gardens told our society the Huntington has a water emitter on Stanhopea basket and each plant is watered every day. In the month since that lecture I have been soaking mine as often as possible and it has never looked so good. It is in a wood basket with sphagnum moss.

[rbarata]

My main concern is in winter time, when humidity gets higher and temps go down. Instead of soaking maybe I should water only the bark and mist the sphagnum from the outside.