I have several of these dendrobiums and usually find if they yellow immediately, it's the stress from the transplant. Were the roots in good shape and did you soak the media for a while before transplanting? I know they hate being cold and I live in Michigan so in the summer I place them in a sheltered area outside but have to bring them in before any of the other orchids in the fall. I've found mine seem to do better in a type of stone media rather than bark for some reason. I have them in pots with a lot of drainage holes in the sides and bottom. Old canes will die off and turn brown eventually but still give nourishment to the new parts of the plant so I leave them alone and don't cut them off. Not the prettiest with old canes thrusting out in all directions but they always bloom every year and sometimes twice a year. My oldest one is probably about 12 years old.

First of all, put down the orchid and step away. You're killing it with kindness. If you want, just leave the phalaenopis unpotted until you get back from your trip. Orchids are tougher than you think. In my early years, I used to nitpick about every little detail about caring for my orchids. And I killed many of them in the process. I had to learn the hard way that they can care for themselves, just as long as you give them what they need, plenty of water and bright indirect sunlight. I've had this rescue phal sitting outside all summer long without a pot or any orchid mix whatsoever. It was potted up, but I didn't care for it because it lost all of its leaves and I thought that it was dead. But then I noticed this basal keiki growing off to the side of it. That's when I removed it from its old potting mix and left it completely bareroot. I did this because its roots can photosynthesize energy just like their leaves can, and I wanted it to gather as much energy as possible to help it grow. So its been like this all summer long. All I do for it is spray it down with a garden hose whenever needed. But now that it's growing its third newest leaf, I'll finally get around to potting it up today. The vast majority of orchids are epiphytes, meaning they grow up on the trunks of trees in the rainforests. Potting them up is more for our convenience than it is theirs. Dousing your plants with fungicides won't do it any good.

There is no simple answer to this as it depends on environment and so many other variables. This person is growing in NY. Her plant needs to survive the winter indoors with low humidity. Orchid roots cannot stay wet. The mix has to fit the environment. The pot size needs to fit the environment. Bark soaks in the water. If watered too frequently it never dries out. The roots stay wet and air is blocked. If you want to overpot, you need to use a large bark mix, something which allows the air to flow through. But during winter some sphag should be mixed in to prevent the roots from drying out. Many new growers tend to over-water and in a large pot the bark, as James explained, does not dry out. The roots will start dying and the plant might send out aerial roots into the air. In a dry environment, those roots will dry out. The safest way to prevent all these hypothetical situations is to underpot. Water when the bark feels almost dry and the plant will thrive. I have grown Phals in NY for many years and now in Florida. Florida is a totally different culture. High heat, high humidity. New York, warm summers, cold winters indoors, very low humidity. I would recommend 'Summerlee' repot after flowering in a pot that is not too big. Give it some protection by covering the surface of the bark with a thin layer of sphag moss during winter and only water when 'almost dry.' Jane

As far as too-dry roots, should I have just sprayed them more? Or should I have pruned less off the roots in the first place, and maybe kept some of the soil around them? They didn't have all that much mass, and I did wonder about that. My husband kept telling me, don't cut its roots! Even if you use a soil that allows you to use a much larger pot than you could use (effectively) when using a water-retentive medium, a ficus will usually colonize the soil to the degree the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact - so it doesn't fall apart when you pull it from the pot. That's how I judge when a plant would benefit from a repot ..... but I'm using a high quality medium. I said that so I can say, if it's been more than a year in the same pot and the soil wasn't fully colonized by roots, there's something amiss. The plants might be reacting adversely to one or more of your soil's ingredients, or to how it's structured. In container media, that there is nothing phytotoxic (poison to plants) in the soil and how favorably (to the plant) the soil is structured are the most important considerations. It's not the soil's job to provide nutrition, that's your/our job. The soil's job is to provide a ratio of water to air that doesn't prove limiting to the plant, and it's better for the plant if you err on the side of more aeration than needed than more water than needed. The former is only limiting if you can't keep up with the plant's water needs. The later is a limitation any time you water appropriately - to beyond the point of saturation. This is a ficus repot of a F benjamina v "Too Little": After most of the soil has been removed: After all the root work was done. Note I kept only fine roots, the workhorses that do the lion's share of the heavy lifting: Repot completed - 90% of the top (branches and foliage) removed. It's pretty apparent I'm not too bashful about removing huge %s of roots, and the only trees I've ever tented were junipers of one species that I had grafted Shimpaku juniper (a variety of chinensis) branches to. I often tent hard to root cuttings, however. Even though conventional "wisdom" says you shouldn't prune the top of the plant to balance the volume of roots to shoots, those of us who collect trees in leaf from the wild or transplant/repot trees in leaf know it's foolish to think one size fits all. It's very often requisite that a significant fraction of the top be removed if the root system is weak or you judge it insufficient to support the top mass. After a few repots, you'll get better at making that judgment. The kitty litter contains *only* bentonite clay, and NOT clumping, NOT scented. Keeps its form when soaked, frozen, and thawed. OK, good. Was there a lot of dust in it? Fine bentonite forms a slippery, slimey paste that expands when it gets wet. I use it in Kokedama and in the dams that must be built to hold soil on top of tree plantings on flat stone slabs Al, I would feel very good about pruning. I don't see buds, but the tree-lets were in good shape and putting out new leaves before...before I tried to help them. Be patient. You can always take it off (branches) - harder to put it back on. Questions: --Are you talking about topping them above a branch? Just saying that's something you COULD do if you like - not a suggestion, just an observation. I do it all the time on very large plants. Another "story". Imagine how tall this tree was when I chopped it back. Does it look like a bonsai? No? Much better - right? No? this spring after repotting into training pot: Taken last Fri as it comes into leaf: Won't that get me two shoots/trunks at each cut, or a funny joint? No. The top branch becomes the new leader and the branch below it gets restrained. You'll prune it so it's growing horizontally. Changing a branch's position from vertical to horizontal also significantly changes the amount of energy that flows into that branch. The tree will always pay more attention to the branches growing vertically. Would I choose one branch, wire it up straighter, and remove the other? See what I just offered. Will that joint be strong enough? ;-) This is a tree in a put, you're not going to hang a tire swing off the branches or a chainfall so you can use it to hoist cars. It'll be fine. --Cut back a third in height? More? Whatever you like, but wait until the tree recovers. For now, just prune the branches. I can help guide you in that process. --If I take off the slender little twigs and actual branches that now go the wrong direction, will the trunk put out completely new growth from old wood? Yes. There are already dormant buds immediately distal to the point where every leaf that was ever on the tree was attached ...... and if that's not enough, the tree will form adventitious buds at random if it's healthy and really likes it's growing conditions. It seems like it might.... You're right. --Would it be better to repot it (them) into a different soil or is it too late? I don't have a good sense about what kind of job your soil will do. I'm not at all a fan of coir. Every experiment I ever did with it ended up with the plants in coir or CHCs faring nowhere as well as plants in pine bark and/or peat. Even in view of the fact I was using appropriate work-arounds for several of coir's shortcomings. This the soil mix I made today, which I could use tomorrow to repot. I was attempting to come *closer* to 5-1-1 but with some Turface added: There was no image. It would be great if you could come up with something that resembles one of these, or even a combination: [5 parts?] 3 cf Gro-well Soil Conditioner (composted forest product, sure looks like the composted pine fines photos to me...at least closer than coir???) [1 part?] 4 gallons Perlite [1/2 part?] 2 gallons of coir (peat moss substitute? ...feels similar to peat moss in texture...and that isn't very large proportion of it...) [1/2 part?] 2 gallons of MiracleGro Potting Mix (peat moss substitute) 2 C Osmocote 5 small handfuls of gypsum (~1/2 C?) [2 parts?] ~1 cf Turface MVP If you think you have a medium that drains reasonably well and will be adequately aerated if we get rid of the perched water, using ballast can make a very large difference by nearly eliminating all saturated soil with as very simple trick of science. This explains how it works. Al