Repot...again?

[The Mutant]

This is what I discovered today when I checked my chids; my MK has decided to start sneaking out of the pot:

It isn't that bad yet, but I really don't want a healthy root tip to dry up and die because it wanted to venture outside the pot for a bit. On the other hand, I really don't wish to repot it again considering I did it not long ago at all (maybe one or two months) and I don't want to disturb it when it's apparently growing nicely.

So what should I do you who know? Should I ignore it and let the root tip dry? Should I just move it to a slightly bigger pot, disturbing the roots as little as I can? Or should I repot it "properly"?

Personally, I'm leaning toward the first or second choice, but I don't know which one to choose.

Help please?

 

[eggshells]

Leave it be it will grow another root. Nothing can be done. Those roots have a mind of their own.

 

[SlipperFan]

Personally, I'd lift the plant and media out of the pot, turn them just enough before setting them back into the pot so that the root is forced away from the hole. I might put a little media on the bottom of the pot to cushion the root first before setting it back in.

 

[goldenrose]

How many good roots did it have? The comment, there's nothing you can do, it will grow another one - sorry but I TOTALLY disagree!
First off, IMO, when you repotted, did you repot to an appropriate sized pot? The leafspan of this plant, suggest to me that maybe it should have had a bigger pot? or a deeper pot?
Two, you can repot any actively growing orchid at any time of the year. Is it that much trouble to go to the next size up & add more sphagnum or is it just moss as a top dressing? or go along with Dot's suggestion.
Third, the tip would probably not dry up out side of the pot put it is likely to be damaged &/ cause the pot to be unstable. The time it would tip over is when it's in spike, what will you be saying then?
If any of the above suggestions are too much trouble, then send it to me, I'd LOVE to have that problem!

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

Paphs get repotted when they need it. Usually, it's every year or so, but sometimes it's 2 years...and sometimes its a few months. Paphs have to be repotted on their schedule sometimes. But the pot size has to match the root size...I've had lots of top heavy paphs in small pots because their roots weren't enough to fill a more appropriate size pot. Sometimes, for appearance and stability, a small pot has to be nested in a bigger one until the plant is ready.

 

[abax]

I'd repot. Apparently, it's growing new roots and needs
more room. That appears to be a awfully small pot for the
size of the plant and it will tip over sooner or later. Why not try a clay pot with lots of drainage and a little heavier
so the top of the plant doesn't tip the whole thing

 

[cnycharles]

size of pot = size of root mass plus a tiny bit, though maybe a slightly deeper pot. though it's a big plant, obviously there weren't many roots or it would have had to have gone into a bigger pot in the first place. if a plant doesn't have happy roots, you keep the roots happy (not too much wet media that stays soggy and rots roots) by being in a smaller pot, and then watching for when you have to upsize slightly, in this case it might be a slightly deeper pot each time, and just keep your smaller pot inside a larger one to keep it more stable (as was already stated, just reinforcing).

grow your roots, and the plant will follow in kind. kill your roots, throw your plant away

 

[Mocchaccino]

I agree with goldenrose. There should be some actions to be taken. If I were you, I would see how the roots were growing and repotted it into a bigger pot if the root mass was sufficiently large enough.

 

[SlipperKing]

Repot

 

[TyroneGenade]

Instead of repot, why not simply pot-on to a deeper/bigger pot?

 

[The Mutant]

Thanks for your suggestions and opinions. They mean a lot to me since I was uncertain how to proceed (and because it was only a month or two since I repotted it, I didn't want to disturb it too much).

The reason why it was in that ridiculously small pot was because of what cnycharles pointed out, it didn't have any roots when I got it. I got the MK and my biggest roth from Schwerter at the same time, and none of them had any roots to speak of, the MK had actually none at all, only some dead tentacles hanging below it... I was never worried about it though since it had two or three little root nubs poking out, but since I didn't want to cause any root rot, I planted it in the smallest pot I had, which it fit perfectly in and with plenty of rooms to spare too. So that's why the Paph with the biggest leaf span I have (about 1 meter) ended up in a pot with a 8 cm diameter. :rollhappy:

Thanks to your advice I decided to repot it, or rather, I planned to just move it to a larger pot without disturbing the roots.

And no goldenrose, it wasn't due to laziness that I was hesitating about the repot, it was because I didn't want to disturb it too much with me having repotted it quite recently and all (which I had forgotten to mention in the initial post), and I have a bad tendency of not leaving my poor Paphs alone enough so they can focus on growing. So I'm not sending it to you, it's MINE! :wink:

Ah, yes, back to the repotting. As I wrote, I had planned to to a gentle repot, something along the lines of what goldenrose and Dot suggested, but I ran into trouble immediately when I tried getting Mr. MK out of the pot; it refused to budge. Some wiggling and coaxing later it literally exploded out of the pot, spraying bits of bark all over my kitchen and I realized that someone had been very busy filling up the pot with some seriously fat looking roots.

It is now potted in a bigger pot and I must say I was really surprised to see how many roots it had managed to grow in such a short amount of time. I suspected I had gotten a vigorous MK on my hands, and this really proved it I think. I really, REALLY like it.



Again, thanks for your advice guys, both me and my MK are now very happy again!

 

[John M]

This thread is a tempest in a teapot! This is NO BIG DEAL. The root tip is emerging because it happened to hit the hole, instead of the plastic bottom of the pot. If the pot had been up on a wire screen, with lots of air movement below the pot, the root would've redirected and not emerged out of the hole. Or, it would've stopped growing, callused over and side branched further back, somewhere inside the pot.

The fact that the root did emerge tells me that the pot was placed on the bench in such a way to make the underside of the pot remain moist for long periods. That condition encouraged the root to simply continue growing and emerge out of the hole. It does not mean the pot is too small! If the plant was repotted just a month or two ago, you do NOT want to disturb it this soon. You'd be asking for trouble. The plant could respond to the extra disturbance by putting the breaks on and sulking instead. Just break off the root tip and keep the pot elevated to allow the air to circulate which will make the root callus over and heal. The root will side-branch somewhere further back inside the pot and continue on it's way.

This does not need to be a problem. It is NOT a problem. People with large collections and commercial growers don't waste one second worrying about such minutia, or repotting plants just a month later because of one errant root.

 

[The Mutant]

Thanks John M. Unfortunately, it was the fact that I forgot to mention that it had been repotted recently that led people to give me the advice they did, which are no bad advice at all I think.

As you might have read, it had grown plenty of more roots and I nearly couldn't get it out of the pot, and now it has already been repotted and I won't hassle it anymore for at least a year I hope.

I hope it won't sulk too much due to being disturbed again, but I guess only time can tell.

 

[eggshells]

Hi Mutant, That is the reason I advised you to not repot as John M said. As I was following the saga of this plant. It came with next to no roots that is why folks here advised you to put it in a small pot. I wanted you to avoid over potting the paph again and risk root rot once again until it actually grow many many roots.

Anyways, Since you've been showing us buds and blooms. I take it that you are getting used to them and is doing a great job on taking care of them. So regardless, I think you will do great.

Take Care.

 

[The Mutant]

Thankies eggshells. I think you might be the only one remembering that I've posted about this guy before.

Yeah, I wanted to avoid that to, which is why one (me in this case) should include ALL facts before asking for help. Oh, well. Done is done and hopefully it'll survive this (it had an impressive amount of fat roots after all, yes, they were FAT) and continue growing as it has. It seems I've gotten my hands on a rather vigorous MK.

 

[quaker]

I would not repot. I would use a pot about 2 or 3 inches bigger in diameter and fill it with the same type of compost that the plant is in. I would then gently just sugmerge the plant ( still in its pot ) so that it sits in the middle of the larger pot. This will give the roots plenty of room and eventually you should see new growths appearing in the larger pot.
Ed

 

[John M]

Well, now that you've done the repotting, it's great to learn that it had a lot of new, fat roots. It seems that the small pot and the potting mix you chose for it did the trick. BTW: What did you use in the small pot for potting medium? Did you use the same when you repotted it?

 

[The Mutant]

Yup, I was actually surprised that it had grown as many as it had. I had expected it to be slower growing, but I'm definitely not complaining!

I used the same mix I use for all my Paphs (at least the ones I've repotted) and Phals; bark (smaller grade for Paphs), sphagnum, and perlite. Oh, and crushed oyster shells to those that are calcicolous. I usually add sphagnum as a top dressing to try to prevent the medium from drying out too fast and unevenly.

Also, I use K-Lite and seaweed extract with every watering (I follow the recommendations from the experts so as not to overfeed the plants), and I flush the pots with every watering too. This because I'm senile and would never be able to remember which Paph/Phal I had flushed and when. My collection is small enough that I can adapt the watering after each plant, otherwise I suppose it would be easier to remember when I had flushed the plants.

Oh, and since I'm such a newbie when it comes to Paphs, I have skewers in all their pots so as not to give them too much or not enough water.

And this was much more information than you asked for... Oops.

 

[John M]

Thanks very much for the details. You can never have too much information!

 

[The Mutant]

Haha! I'm not used to that response when I start yammering about my orchids, people usually get this glazed look or they get confused about which orchid in question I'm talking about at the moment (and I only have to different genera). My friend thought that "equestris" was an orchid genus until I told her that it's a Phalaenopsis species. I just have a lot of equestris so it's easier to say only "equestris".

I'm very interested to know how you more experienced people keep your Paphs. There's a lot of information that I've gleaned by just surfing through the threads, so not only do I like reading about Paphs, I like talking about them too. In other words; danger of ranting has been issued!