Bulbophyllum phalaenopis question
 

Hey all,

Recently picked up a very nice Bulb phal and have been trying to do research on it but not a lot out there on the ole web. Wondering whether I should be looking to re-pot this one or ride it out for a bit. It came in a small, shallow 3" pot in hard packed sphagnum. Was damp when it showed up, watered it shortly after and the water took a good 5 min to soak into the medium!
I don't believe mounting is going to work for my climate. I'm planning to have a nice humid/warm enclosure for next winter but generally here it's very dry in the winter and keeping up with watering seems like a losing battle. I understand bulbos aren't too keen on getting re-potted, so I don't want to mess it up with my first one!
It has a nice new growth starting if that makes any difference, I still haven't found a good resource on how to time it. Most say because it's such a large family of orchids, "It depends". :((
Looking at doing some kind of shallow basket that I can hang and let the new growth stretch it's legs. The current bulbs have leaves that are about 8" and 12".
I'm kind of hoping it's just a case of plopping the old into a bigger pot with moss without messing with the roots. Or just let it go for another year!
Some pics below. Thanks!

hi there- the pics are not working

I also have a young plant of this species and the info is pretty scarce.

i have mine mounted using hygrolon fabric around the mount and then the plant and then a ball of sphag...i got it in Jan and it has not done anything but lose one leaf since....

i got it at a show from an Asian grower so it was about as shocked as a plant can be being shipped, displayed, moved and remounted ( i got it in a plastic bag)

it is now hanging in mu Bulbo garden and i am hopeful it will "wake up" soon or at least be ready for next year....all of my bulbos have at least one spike right now...many 5+ so i know it is a good area for them...

good luck

Hey DC, thanks for the reply. I added links to the pics, so hopefully they are viewable now! Mine was shipped really well and maybe got a little cold on the way but seems fine after 4 days now. Want to make sure I'm giving it the best chance to establish in my environment. I'll probably keep it outside this summer if I can figure out how to get it set up to happy.

i have mine mounted inverted...i have also seen them in hanging baskets but i do know that they need to have space below them to hang down.

i clicked the link but it just takes me to a minus sign?

Alright, third time's the charm I hope! I just ashcanned the direct links and attached a few pics. Somehow they didn't end up sideways for once!

The pics are good. I'm not experienced with these but, we are from a similar climate. I think your basket idea is a good one, that's the way I would mount it, like a semi mount really. I did this recently with two weird Oncidium types; they immediately loved it, sending roots out everywhere. I made sure to put something water proof underneath and I can just water with abandon! However, In my dry interior (which Pella tells me is too humid) watering mounts is a major pain.

there are two tricks for lining baskets...for plants that you want to drain...not these, line it with shade cloth.fror water retention, use coconut coir sheet (i cut up the pre made liners from home depot or just gather coir from trash piles)

i think your plant is looking great! to beefy new growths..well done

now is a good time to repot as they will shoot out new roots one those new growths get going

I used a plain, premade coir liner only for one, plain bark w a little chopped sphag for the other. Remember DC, the OP is in a waaay different climate than yours. They may have to experiment.

I don't have experience with Bulbo. phalaenopsis specifically, but I do grow several other Bulbo species and hybrids. I grow most of mine in vanda baskets with fine bark (a Paph mix) mixed with sphagnum and then a layer of sphag on top, though I know many Bulbo growers use just sphag (some of mine are potted in just sphag, one in just bark, they all seem happy as long as I water enough).

I agree with others that repotting now will be fine. It would be good to get it into something larger now so those new growths can root into the medium since they tend to ramble and can extend over the sides of their pots pretty quickly! I think you could pull off some of the old sphag if you want, but I don't think it is necessary to try and remove it all unless it's completely broken down. I have not found my Bulbos to take repotting too badly so I do not think you need to worry to much about "messing it up"! That said, they also don't need to be repotted often once they get established in a good sized pot/basket.

ahhh, yes, minnesota, not exactly neighbors lol