Are you sure it needs a larger pot? It looks fine to me unless the medium has broken down dramtically...It looks very healthy. Do you feed it frequently and with what?

Thanks! I'm not sure actually if it needs a larger pot. The bark is still intact. I put the pot under tepid water until it's completely soaked - about every 10 days or more. I don't remember how often I fertilize maybe twice a year - I use Schultz Orchid Food.

Iv'e been doing a heck of a lot of research and it seems the best way to fertilize orchids is with a weak solution very often, after you have already wet the media with plain water. Anyways, I like to soak mine first for at least 15 minutes on most in warm water. It seems that when I fertilize mine, they pick up thepace, just to slow down if I go over 3 days or so not fertilizing them. So now that I have been more oten, they seem to be taking on healthier characteristics and respond well. I don't like to fertilize heavily because salt build up residue can be left behind if you don't flush your mix within 48 hours with just plain water. For me that was too aggrivating. So ffar so good.

Why don't you lift the plant from the pot and check the roots? Mines never react poorly and continue to blossom even when I do. One of my friends re pots while in spike, and they still spike and flower.

I would not touch it until the bloom is done. It looks very healthy. My only concern is I think there is no side drainage on the pot. If so replace the pot in the future. Enjoy the bloom is your only work now...

Myermike - I will lift the plant - good idea! And Shavedmonkey (love the name) thank you - and there is side drainage - it doesn't show in the photo

Generally speaking, you want to repot an orchid when there are signs of new root growth. This usually coincides with warmer temps and brighter days than you would be experiencing now. Also many chids seem to put root growth "on hold" as the flower spiked mature and bloom.... probably due to all the resources being put into making the flowers.

It should be in as small of a pot as it will fit. They do not do well in large pots because the roots will rot if the medium does not dry out

"They do not do well in large pots because the roots will rot if the medium does not dry out" . . . . . I can't grasp the logic. You are saying that the medium dries out faster in smaller pots with tight roots? Really? Don't the roots need air?

I was wondering that also

It depends....you are trying to grow an orchid in your growing conditions where said orchid has ancestors that grew/grow in various places in Tropical South Asia.

The ingredients in the cake mix are

Temperature

Potting Materials

Size of Plant

Size of pot

Humidity

Watering

Fertiliser

Light

The recipe varies according to where you are in the world.

Current conditions where I'm trying to grow a small collection

Bright light (its cloudy outside) They are about 3 feet from a window. No filtered sun today because it is raining.

Inside Temperature 19.9C

Inside Humidity 64%

It is spring here at latitude 33S and the plants are watered once a week.

So, I've said before that they are rarely grown here in the sub tropics. That is because most orchids grown by Society members are grown outside all year and outside all year here would a death zone to Phalaenopsis.

Hi Arthurm, I love your description in your answer likening it to a recipe. That I can relate to as I love to cook. Anyhow, as of this writing, my orchid has another leaf starting to show. When I lived in Florida, my orchids really thrived and they were in my lanai year round. Thanks for your detailed response.

On the question of pot size and drying, the bigger the pot is the longer it will take the center and bottom of the mix to dry out.

This speeds up the break down of the bark, which then starts to restrict air flow.

When you do pull the plant out of the pot you might find that the media at the bottom has turned to compost. This will happen in any pot but faster if it stays wet longer.

Also as discussed in another thread , orchids tend to like being a bit pot bound. I would use a pot an inch smaller or keep the same pot but not go bigger.

James, thank you very much for your information! I appreciate it.

Thank you Paul. Very interesting and helpful.

Me too. Thank you, Paul.

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

I've grown outdoors during summer and indoors during winters for @15 years, almost all of my orchids (phals, dends, paphs, catts, etc...) do better when 'wearing tight shoes'. I get lots of blooms and I definitely don't think it is because the orchids are stressed, unless they have survived/thrived with stress for years. Learn to water correctly based on your conditions and potting methods and things work out OK regardless of pot size/tightness. But for me, tight pots with a good bark based media seems to work well. Tight doesn't always mean small pots, I have several phals in 6" pots and one in an 8" pot, these are phals that are pretty large (20"+ leaf spans and/or 10+ leaves) with extensive roots systems, but even in these larger pots they have 'tight shoes'. Most of my 20+ phals are in 4"-5" pots and I've had many of these for more than 5 years.

In my experience, if you can grow most of your orchids potted similarly (tight pots with bark based media for me) your watering is simpler as your collection grows, as they generally adhere to the same watering schedule.

Good luck,

Bob

Most plants in the wild are growing in the ground where soil and gravity keep them in place. Most orchids are growing in trees where there is no soil and gravity is fighting against them.

In order to stay in place orchid roots push into tiny cracks and crevices in tree bark. If you think about a plant in a tree sending out a flower spike and then seed pods, that’s a lot of weight to support. Think about how they would support that weight in wind and rain.

An orchid that is loose in a pot probably wont flower, in the wild the plant would fall out of the tree and die if it were loose. I don’t know how it knows the difference but they do.

Now you could use a large pot and pack the bark in tight, a lot of growers use a wood dowel to wedge the bark in. Then you have to watch out for the core of the pot staying too wet. You also have to buy more bark that you don’t really need.

I also want to include the info below from the St Augustine Orchid Society. I recommend visiting their site, they offer tons of great info on orchids.

Fabulous information everyone thank you so much. I have had luck with my orchids thankfully I water them every 10 to 12 days and that seems to work I will look over everyone’s comments later but have to get ready for a high school reunion!