I do collect Japanese chop sticks and like those best for repotting and digging out old moss and chips. When we order Sushi to go, I always ask for 6 sets. They never question me.

I would never think to repot, divide or do any major work on orchids at this time of the year. Spring is when I do my repotting/dividing and only when I see signs of active growth. Most of my orchids are in the process of maturing pbulbs or in sheath, spike or bud.

My spring bloomers can be done now if they are making new roots. I find the warmth in Florida prevents most of my plants from shutting down entirely, so I suppose its possible to do some repotting now although I am most comfortable waiting until Spring.

I am still stuck in the NY mindset that this would be the worse time of the year to do any repotting (except in emergencies) to most of my small collection. Grey, cold, short days and even colder nights are usually a death sentence.

Jane

For you Jane. Dr Fred's article from the big apple in the Pretend Orchid Growers monthly bulletin.

Dr Fred in the Big Apple
A LETTER FROM AMERICA
Belated greetings to you all. We have now settled into life in Manhattan but finding the local orchid society proved elusive until I chanced upon a man collecting orchid stamps at a local market. This very interesting fellow wants to start an orchid export industry in Bolivia. He admitted that the Manhattan Orchid Society had seen better days and its website was difficult to find, but offered to take me to the June meeting. This was opportune because locals leave NYC in July-August and the next meeting wouldn’t be until September. Once upon a time the Manhattan Society hosted a large sponsored orchid show at Rockefeller Center, but sponsorship fell away and many fanciers moved out of Manhattan to suburbia in the boroughs where they could have a greenhouse. The Society now meets near Times Square which is only six blocks from where we live. Space is at a premium in the small upstairs conference room and seats less than 50 with only three small tables, mainly for sales and raffles. The members, who came from all strata of society were welcoming, friendly and all brought food and wine. Orchid people are nice people and a welcome change from what we are used to in Manhattan. Although less than a dozen plants were exhibited, the judges spoke at length about a representative plant from each group and gave a very lively and interactive rundown on each, pitched for advanced as well as novice members. I was very impressed with the way they shared their knowledge for about half an hour. Otherwise these meetings tend to follow the pattern familiar to ours. We had lots of time for informal discussion (over drinks) and the question I asked everyone was “How do you grow orchids in a Manhattan apartment with the big climate variations of NYC?” The answer was “with great difficulty”. Phalaenopsis do well here and almost every apartment has one. They don’t like the air-conditioning when in flower but are cheaper than cut flowers ($10-$25) and are even available in supermarkets. Air- conditioning and indirect light is also suitable for some Odontoglossums and Miltonopsis. With a good aspect Cattleyas can also do well. The specimens exhibited had been nurtured with great effort, but the sparse spindly spikes of some common species would not turn heads in Sydney. Many tricks are employed to regulate light with screens, gro-plus tubes and reflectors; to increase humidity with gravel trays, and large plastic sheets to quarantine the orchid environment. One grower complained that the environmental demands of the orchids in a small space ultimately led to a “them or me” mentality. I can sympathise after years trying to grow orchids in the extremes of the Canberra climate. The less ambitious members grew gorgeous miniature orchids under large bell jars which seemed an altogether more appropriate New York solution. I am coming to the conclusion that we are very lucky with our climate in Sydney. I hope my house sitter is looking after all my orchids.

Nick,

Without a greenhouse and growing indoors, with my current set-up I can't manage to mount a lot of my collection. I do however try to divide and grow in different types of pots and/or media. Usually the variables I can control are: pots (plastic/clay/glazed), media (bark fine/medium/course, spagh, CC husks, mix of the above, bare root...), water, fert and light somewhat.

An example: several months back based on your success, I moved a large % of my masdies to spagh, for whatever reason that didn't work well for me and I moved the spagh-based ones back to a fine bark after about 4-5 months, as the ones I had left in bark were doing OK. Anyhow, they're doing much better in bark and I'll stay away from using spagh for them any longer. So now I have some of those splits in plastic and some in clay all in fine orchiata bark mix, we'll see which ones do better in which type of pot. Live, learn and do better next time is my motto.

I've been growing 'kids for about 12 years now, and I'm just now getting to the point of really trying to fine tune my variables to the plants needs. Always before they had to adapt to a very general 'routine' that was pretty much the same for all of them. Not sure if this is the progression everyone takes, but it has been for me. I know not nearly as many commit suicide as in the past, so I've learned something over the last 12 years of trial and effort.

Bob

Following the advice of John Leathers at Hawk Hills I also moved the larger Masdies into bark. SM is great for growing up small plants but makes too much of a soggy mess in the middle of the pot for larger specimens. With large ones in medium bark with perlite and the small ones in moss, I can water them all the same. SM worked for larger ones too but I had to keep them in separate areas as I could not keep the small ones moist unless they got watered every 2 days, this is too much for SM potted large plants.

Fine tuning leads to continuous adjustments with the aim being having a collection that can be painless to manage and still get good results. This repotting stint led me to change my care of VERY large Pleuros. A Pleuro titan in an 8" pot with about 50 leaves is usually left alone. Andy advises just adding fresh moss around the edge if moved to a bigger pot. This time I took it out and sure enough, there were no roots in the center but badly deteriorated SM. All the roots were circling the inside of the pot.

I tried something new, again something I saw at HH. Took a 10" (or larger?) Cymbidium tub and lined the edge with about 1" to 2" of moist SM. It was a little difficult keeping it in place but it can be done. Then placed the plant in the hole and packed it with medium Orchiada/Perlite. The plant is now in a pot tightly packed with medium bark involving 80% of the center with a ring of SM around the edge. This is a Pleuro which are usually grown in moss.

Watering every 2 days is not the norm for medium bark but after all, this is a Pleuro. The bark will be continuously wet but not as soggy as SM would be. Should be able to tell by the new growth how the plant likes it and taking it out of there in 2 years will be educational.

I first saw this used with very large Dracula. I have a Dracula felix which is in an 8" wire basket. The sides and bottom are lined with SM, the center is packed with bark, the SM keeps the bark from falling out. A large Coelogyne cristata is in a 14" wire shallow basket (HD) which is lined with coconut matting, again the center is bark.

Jane, I'm not ignoring your comments about the timing of this. The cloud forest plants are at the beginning of their growth cycle. They grow more for me in the cool winter than in the warm summer. The Bulbos seem to grow all the time as they are kept warm all winter long, I don't think they care either way. I don't repot Catts, Encyclias etc as I grow most of these bare-root. Very few things growing outside need to be repotted. The Stanhopeas in their wire baskets get ignored, they don't seem to mind. Some have been in the same material for 10 years and just grow over the edge. I'm was only redoing the 2 groups mentioned, the cloud forest plants and the Bulbos. It's the right time for the former and the latter don't seem to care. There are a few odd balls in the mix, cold growing Dendrobiums and others, they just have to suck it up, it's the price they have to pay for the privilidge of living under my expert care.

Nick

I measured and the basket is actually 10" across, photo enclosed demonstrating the SM/bark combination. The Cymbidium shallow tub is 12" across. The bark mix also contains some heat treated fir bark, only reason being is that I have some left and need to use it up. Once gone I'll completely switch to Orchiata

Nick