Should I repot my new psychopsis mendenhall hildos? Advice & tips appreciated

[Weeniemom94]

Hello,
I just got a beautiful psychopsis Mendenhall hildos. It is currently in sphagnum moss, which I find I have not had luck growing orchids in my environment, especially in winter.

So my question is, should I repot it now? Wait and see how it does? Would a mixture of bark and sphagnum work?

If completely changing out the media is not advisable at the moment, would removing the entire thing into a pot of the same size with holes for more airflow be better? My understanding is that they don't love having their roots disturbed.

Anytime I've tried growing an orchid in the set up its currently in, they get root root.

I'm now running a fan to improve airflow as I suspect that was part of the issue with the sphagnum moss. It would just stay too wet in the middle. A mix of bark & sphagnum moss or all bark seems to work best for me. I really want to keep this beauty alive.

Also appreciate any general growing tips. Is rain water, reverse osmosis or distilled water preferred or can they handle tap water? How often should these guys get fertilizer?

Growing in a south facing window but I dont get direct sun expect for a couple hours in the afternoon due to the way my balcony is set up. I have a grow light set up to provide extra light.

I've only grown paphiopedilums and phalenopsis before. Have been wanting one of these for so long but I've always been too intimidated to try. Appreciate any wisdom you can share.

[Ray]

In my experience, psychopsis handle repotting relatively poorly.

My recommendation is to "baby" it for the time being, moistening the moss from the bottom, but setting it in a shallow tray of water.

When you see new growth and the accompanying roots, that's the time to move it to your preferred mix.

[Arne]

I agree with Ray; they are a pain to repot. And when it's time, don't forget Kelpak.

[Weeniemom94]

Thank you! That is helpful. Hoping now that it's starting to finally get warm, the moss will be easier to manage. I've never had oncidiums before either and jumped right into a paychopsis.

We'll see how this journey goes. Fingers crossed.

---------- Post added at 05:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:22 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Arne

I agree with Ray; they are a pain to repot. And when it's time, don't forget Kelpak.

I did read an older post about kelpak. Will need to find a Canadian equivalent for when the time comes. Seems like it's pretty expensive to ship

[Roberta]

Possible compromise - I agree, those flimsy plastic pots with the single big hole are pretty awful. I also agree that these hate root disturbance. You could pull the plant out of that miserable cheap pot, without disturbing roots or the medium, and drop into something more suitable (just a little larger but better drained and aereated) and fill in with bark. By leaving the spagnum medium alone, the plant won't even notice the chance of scene, but you will greatly improve air flow around it. These don't like to be sopping wet.

[estación seca]

I echo what Roberta said for this plant. Sphagnum would not be my choice for this plant long-term, because it doesn't last more than a year or two before breaking down. The best Psychopsis growers I know use extra large bark, volcanic cinders, large pumice or LECA, and don't repot. They will gently remove old pieces of bark here and there as it breaks down, and replace with new bark. They pot this plant in containers that are very low and wide, to make it easier to do this.

Sphagnum is chosen by a lot of commercial growers because once people learn to water plants in sphagnum, it permits extending the watering interval. That saves money on both water and labor. It minimizes drying out, which permits many orchids to grow faster than if would if they regularly dried out.

I do recommend everybody learn the proper way to water plants in sphagnum. You many find an orchid you really want, but it is planted in sphagnum, and it is the wrong time of year to repot. Knowing how to water properly, you could keep the plant happy until repotting time.

The goal of watering in sphagnum is never to soak the moss - unless you have a very hot growing environment and the plant uses enough water the moss dries within 2-3 days. Almost no home growers have those conditions. So remember you must never soak the moss. Most people need to segregate their plants in moss from plants in other media, because plants in moss need watering less often.

When you get a plant in sphagnum moss, it will usually be in a thin and flexible plastic liner pot. This is especially true for supermarket Phals. and Oncidium intergeneric hybrids. If the moss is wet throughout, gently work the plant out of the pot without disturbing the root mass. This is almost always possible if you work carefully. Set the plant on a dish in a well ventilated environment. If a Phal. or another plant that doesn't mind going dry, let it get almost completely dry. Don't let Oncidiums get completely dry in moss, but neither let them stay soaking wet.

Once the moss has mostly but not completely dried out, slip it back into the pot. Water by holding the plant in your hand, and running it under a stream of water at the sink for only 1-2 seconds, no more. Only the top of the moss will be moist. The water will diffuse through the entire moss mass, giving the roots water with plenty of air.

Now wait to water again until the top of the moss is crisp, crunchy dry. It will still be slightly moist inside. If you have a plant in a plastic liner in a decorative outer container, you can simply inspect the roots. Phal roots should be nearly silver when the moss is dry.

When the top of the moss is crisp dry, water by doing what you did before - run water over the top of the moss for only 1-2 seconds. Then again wait until the top is crisp dry.

It's the same when fertilizing. Run fertilizer water over the top in place of a regular watering, for only 1-2 seconds.

Don't let seedlings of Cattleya, Dendrobium nor Oncidiums in small pots of sphagnum get completely dry. Seedlings of these genera don't tolerate drying out. If the top of a 2" / 5cm or smaller pot of sphagnum is crisp dry, the bottom will probably also be crisp dry, and the seedling will suffer.

Edit: I found my lecture notes from a Zoom lecture to our Society by Carri Raven, deep in the time of covid 2021, regarding growing Phals. in sphagnum moss. I will write up my notes and post them to the Potting & Repotting forum.

Watering in sphagnum moss
Watering sphagnum moss
How to water in sphagnum moss
How to water sphagnum moss

[WaterWitchin]

Probably gonna get things thrown at me for saying this, but most everyone says they're touchy to repot. I have four and have never found that to be the case. First one I got quite a few years back. It's been repotted a couple of times. Originally purchased it in late winter (Februaryish) and it was in bark. Moved it to semi-hydro right away. It grew in same pot for around seven years and ran out of room. Repotted into a quite a bit larger pot and stuck a smaller one purchased in with it. The smaller one came in sphagnum and I got it super wet, took tweezers and painstakingly removed most of moss, and into the leca they went.

Just repotted another one around a month ago that had outgrown its pot. Was originally in bark medium, repotted on arrival into semi-hydro. Eased it out of the pot, lost a little leca, picked out a few more leca that were really algaed up around the outer edge and plunked into bigger pot. It's blooming and putting up a new stalk. The fourth one appears to be a couple of years off from needing a repot. It was also originally in sphagnum and got the soak and tweezers routine to move it.

None of them ever lost a beat. Truth told, I actually don't wait until the "right" time to repot anything if it comes to me in any medium other than my choice of leca. Have never lost a plant by doing that. I sure have lost plants in bark or sphagnum attempting to grow them while waiting for the right time to repot. So I say if you grow best in a certain medium, just do it.

Regarding your other questions...

"Also appreciate any general growing tips. Is rain water, reverse osmosis or distilled water preferred or can they handle tap water? How often should these guys get fertilizer?"

I grew with pretty high TDS tap water for quite a few years and it didn't seem to bother them at all. Got five spikes total in that time period, lots of blooms. They get RO water now, just because everything gets watered from a 75 gallon container that I add fertilizer, Kelpak, etc, to. Just because it makes life easier.

I water everything around five to seven days in summer, and around seven to ten days in winter, and that's when they get fertilizer, sometimes Kelpak, etc. Everything gets the same treatment. Again, because it makes life easier.

"Growing in a south facing window but I dont get direct sun expect for a couple hours in the afternoon due to the way my balcony is set up. I have a grow light set up to provide extra light"

Have two that are in a south facing window that get sun for a bunch of hours each day. Two others are in west facing sunroom windows, and everything there has lights on them. I grow in pretty high light, because the Hildos ones tend to otherwise not have great spots on the leaves.

[Roberta]

No rocks at all! Your experience is evidence if you get them the environment that they like, they'll accept the change gracefully. Part of that success is that you did this gently - removing the sphag (which does stay 'way too wet ) GENTLY, preventing root damage. That helped a lot, I'm sure. If one must choose between leaving a bit of old medium behind and damaging roots, avoiding damage is the biggie.