Repotting Young Orchids

[Hummy]

Hi, I generally buy larger plants but recently I have purchased some young plants that came in 2" pots. I plan on repotting and am wondering if I should use 3" pots for now until they develop more roots. Most of my newbies are Oncidiums. Thanks

[Roberta]

First, Welcome!

Don't go any larger than 3" pots for those babies. You definitely don't want a lot of excess space. It's much better to need to repot again in a year, than to overpot - the middle of the pot tends to stay too wet and airless, so with more mature plants you'd want to allow for only about 2 years' growth. For the little ones, even that's too much so going up one pot size is about right.

[Davey]

I would like to give a warm welcome too!

[camille1585]

Welcome to Orchidboard!

My experience with young plants is in line with Roberta's remarks, in that they do much better when kept in pots adapted to the mass of roots they have at the time. I've generally seen better/faster growth and development when pot size can accomodate no more than a year of growth, even if that means frequent repotting in the first couple of years.

[estación seca]

Welcome!

If those came from Olympic Orchids, I would leave them in those small pots in the sphagnum until they outgrow the pots. Ellen uses fresh, high-quality sphagnum. They will need frequent watering, every day when it's warm.