Maxilaria variabilis - how to repot?
 

Hello,
I have a nice Maxilaria variabilis which gave me fllowers for about 4,5 months.
There are roots all over the substrate and I think it needs repotting but I can't do it without destroying a lot of good roots. It's potted in coco chips for at least 7 months ( that's when I bought it, it came to me that way). I know it hates repotting.
So, my question is:

a) Should I keep it as it is?
b) Should I keep the original substrate and add more coco chips in a bigger pot?
c) Should I proceed to remove the substrate and in the process make both of us ( I suffer, too:() miserable?

I'd appreciate your ideas.

Here's some photos:

What a beautiful bunch of roots! I would go with (b) Don't disturb those beautiful roots, just give it a bit more room. (I think Maxillarias in general don't like having their roots disturbed) ...

Drop it into a bigger pot and fill in the gap with more medium. Don't disturb the roots.

i would also go with b! thats what we did when we got ours and it didn't skip a beat.

also, have you tried propping it from a couple of mature pbulbs?? it is super easy! it is a practice i have always followed with ficus bonsai and other plants is if a couple roots are lost you offset that with a small reduction in leaf mass (not possible with phals or paphs and such obvs). so it might help to cut a couple of the bulbs that have like 2 old bulbs stacked up, or single bulbs from last season cut below the base. our cuttings rooted in no time (we did it as soon as it started to get a tiny bit warm) and are now flowering. i love it that some orchids can be vegetatively propped.....

Don't cut anything! Let the plant keep growing. It is doing very well, do as little as possible to disturb it.

Thank you. That's exactly what I was hoping to do. It would break my heart to mess with the roots! Here's a picture of how it is now. As for propagating, still not feeling skilled enough. I'm a toddler yet! It's good to know, though!

hahvhaha, ok fine...but where's that pioneering spirit?! our mother plant didn't seem to mind the hair cut at all and is blooming happily again now. also the other small group of cuttings taken at the same time and given to a friend is growing happily as well (but not blooming). i personally have seldom had such overwhelming success with propping any plant, orchid or otherwise, so the prevailing knowledge of these guys confuses me. perhaps we jut won the lotto and got an exceptional plant but i doubt it. i dunno, what's wrong with experimenting a little, epecially with a healthy plant??

op, as usual please take anything i say worth a grain of salt!!!! :biggrin:

---------- Post added at 11:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 AM ----------


trust me, we are toddlers in this game, too :waving

and thats what toddlers do best, imho, get into all kindsa crap they shouldn't :biggrin: