Did i do the right thing ???????

[mikethebike]

Hi Orchid lovers.I posted a while ago regarding how best to re-pot a cattleya intermedia as it looked very pot bound to me,the pot is totally surrounded by a rock solid mass of roots and as i could not see a way of getting it out of the pot without damaging lots of the roots i went with the advice to sit the whole thing in a slightly bigger pot and surround it with coarse bark medium,,its looks healthy enough which is great but i have since noticed a lot of other orchids in what look like undersized pots with lots of roots on the outside which has got me wondering....at the time i hadn't sussed how to attach pics so have now sussed it and attached some pics of how it was before i sat it a new pot ,and basicaly i just wanted conformation from anyone in the know that it did indeed need potting in something bigger and that i have done the right thing,, i was working on the assumption that when the plant reaches the edge of the pot it needs a bigger one,,,,or is it ok to let the plant grow off the edge of the pot out into mid-air so long as it has some roots in a medium and is getting correct watering and feeding.Thanks for reading,mikethebike.

[estación seca]

No photos, but your description is great.

I have been told it's OK to let a Cattleya make one growth over the rim, but to repot before the next growth matures.

[Roberta]

I think you did the right thing. A major grower in southern California (Santa Barbara Orchid Estate) does this routinely. When the Catt is small, it's in suitable medium. As it outgrows the pot , it just gets dropped into a larger pot (once past the seedling stage, there's no further medium added) I have bought plants from them that turned out to have 5 nested pots... and masses of roots. The space between pots seems to provide a humid environment that encourages root growth. These plants to receive lots of water in their nursery, and they are very close to the coast, so it's quite humid. I have found that for my conditions, I need the large bark media to get enough moisture, so it's a balancing act. But many Catts (and also Laelias such as L. anceps) seem to grow best once they escape from the pot.

[fishmom]

I think ES has a good point. The new roots are the most active and efficient at taking up water and nutrients, and the older roots gradually die off as the old pseudobulbs age. You want the newer "teenage" roots to be in the best situation possible for good growth over time.

[bil]

I would SO repot that.

Personally I shove them all on mounts, but failing that, I would pot it in the largest pot available, pref shallow, 4 -6 inches and use coarse (2") bark only. Sieve it to remove the fines.

Set up like that it will need watering every other day in the summer, less in the winter. There is no danger of overwatering with that setup until the bark has rotted away.

[Mountaineer370]

I'm not experienced enough to be offering advice about what you should or should not do, but seeing those photos, I'm thinking, if you really want it out of there, it wouldn't be too difficult to simply cut away that kind of a plastic pot with a pair of strong scissors or shears. There might be minimal damage to a few roots, but if you just cut it off in small increments, it shouldn't be too bad. Am I way off base with that idea?

[mikethebike]

Brilliant ,thats very helpfull ,,and resuring that i did do the right thing,A big thanks and much appreciation goes out to everyone who replied,i'm learning fast thanks to this excellent forum,its like tapping in to the worlds collective knowledge on orchids
Take care y'all .
Mike .

[Sharon's Sheepdogs]

In response to Mountaineer370's post, I cut the plastic pot off of the orchid when I repot. I soak the orchid & then just begin cutting & snipping the pot. It's a little time consuming but it works.