Repot Question on Recently Purchased Miltoniopsis Edie Brown 'Jackpot'

[Mandy2705]

Gorgeous, are they very fragrant?

[bil]

Nice Milts.

This is why everything I buy, I repot.. I'm experimenting this year with some Milts and some odontoglossum. One of the Os, when I tookk it out the pot, it had no roots at all. Literally. That is not an exaggeration..

So many plants I buy, it is as tho they were potted fine to begin with and then they are sold at the point of 'Repot or die'
I just bought a Nepenthes pitcher. Their substrate is suppposed to be oopen, like orchids, but more moist. When I repotted it, the medium was so dense, I don't know how it had survived.

My Milts and O's I have potted up the same as hhardcane dens, fine bark and nothing else, in wide but very shallow pots. About 3 inches deep.

[besmu]

How are your milts doing now? I bought 2 around the same time as you (a couple weeks before) from them being a newbie I didn't know they were in spag moss and left them until mid July. They nearly lost all their roots. Now my deep sea is looking very bad losing leaves a lot and the jackpot is not looking great either. I'm not really sure what to do.

[bil]

Originally Posted by besmu

How are your milts doing now? I bought 2 around the same time as you (a couple weeks before) from them being a newbie I didn't know they were in spag moss and left them until mid July. They nearly lost all their roots. Now my deep sea is looking very bad losing leaves a lot and the jackpot is not looking great either. I'm not really sure what to do.

Well, they are still alive. One or two are not doing anything, no better or worse than when I bought them. two are slightly worse, but nnot sa bad that they can't recover, and some are thhrowing new shoots. In short, it is too early to tell.
If they are alive come xmas, tthere will be hope, and if they flower next year, then they will do OK, but till then, it would be unwise to say one way or the other.

Orchids can take some time before you can say they will do well or not. Typically, if they are alive 6 months down the line, all you can say is "At least I haven't killed it yet"
If it flowers a year after you bought it, you can take the credit for that, and a year after that if it is growing and doing well, yoou can figure you have the hang of it.

I'll tell you what IS amusing. I bought two yelllow flowering Os, one yelllow with black spots, the other plain yellow. I repotted the one with the black spots, and it had fairly decent roots for a garden centre. Then I repotted the plain yellow one, and it came out the pot wiith no roots at all. Seriously, I turned the pot upside down, and it fell out leaving all the roots in the pot. So I potted it up in fine bark, put three rocks round it to hold it upright, and put it with the others.

Personally, I see that as a challenge, plus, saving an orchid is an excellent way to learn stuff, with hands on experience. I've learned with the hard cane dens that no matter how dead they look, given the right care and attention, a dead looking cane (unless it has gone mushy it's entire length and is really dead) will throw a couple of keikis, given the chance.

Anyway, the joke is that the one with decent roots isn't looking happy, and the one with no roots is looking perky as anything. Go figure.