New! Need Help with Den phalaenopsis repotting
 

Hi there,
I just moved into a new house in south Fl about a week ago where the previous owners were generous enough to leave me some orchids. There's about 8 stems (give or take a few) that are decent size growing from a single basket hanging from a tree. I was looking into the care of these plants and ran across the repotting subject and gave my plants an inspection. The roots are growing out of the bottom and it looks like a tangled mess and I'm not sure what to do. There's about 4 stems with buds and one that's blooming. Any help would be much appreciated. I'd hate to harm such a beutiful plant. I can send Pics if needed. Sorry so long.
Mike

Hi Mike and welcome to the Orchid Board. If you can post a couple of pictures it will help to answer your questions.
Joann

For myself, I think that if it has "buds" it is not a good to repotting now.
Dendrobium are able to develop in very small place. Leave your plants at the moment and repot in spring or winter before the plants restart.
Just my opinion, wait for others who know better dendro.

Here are some pics. I'm not sure if these are even separate plants or not. Thank you for the help. Hopefully these pics will do some good.
Mike

I think Den phal-type is one of the easiest and hardiest orchid to take care. Even if a fallen pseudobulb can throw keiki when it is still green and plump. Of course the keiki will take time growing as perfect as the basal keiki.

My advice: leave them be until you see new growth from the base of the old pseudobulbs. After that cut all the dead and dried pseudobulbs, trim the roots and all the old media, and soak in fungicide or superthrive. Then let them sit and dry for a few days. Afterwards, feel free to repot them anywhere you like or mount them.

I'm not from South Florida but I think the weather is suitable enough for hot growing orchids to be outdoors all year long as long as it's grown under shade and watered regularly.

All of the stalks have have leaves and there is some new growth, but old roots and new roots and the medium are all intertwined. What would you do in this situation when repotting?

It looks to me like the previous owner has been cutting back canes once they are done blooming. Not a great idea, but doesn't look like it hurt the plant any. I think if it were mine I would pull it out of the basket and divide it, discarding the old stumps. Then I'd put it back in the basket with new media. You can put all the divisions in the same basket together or put them in separate pots or baskets. I think I would opt to put them together.