Repotting... (But not really)

[Pleurothallidan]

Something I've recently been doing with some Paphs that seem to have stagnated in growth, is to take them out of their pot, and put them back in with the exact same media they were in. Started as checking the status of the media in pots for plants not reallly doing anything. Most of the time the media was fine so I would just put it back in the same pot with the same media. (Obviously if the media needed changing I would change it).

HOWEVER, I've noticed growth spurts for all of the plants that have been "repotted" (both fresh and old media), specifically in the new root department. So I'm wondering if mild root disturbance promotes the development of more roots.

Curious if anyone else has done this in the past and seen the same effects.

 

[Morja]

I know they like more frequent repotting. I'm not sure how much disturbance they get in nature from little creatures, weather etc. Sometimes I wonder if it's just a slight stress response adapted to hang on if the plant starts to wash out of a crevice somewhere in the wild. Regardless I know some people have had great success with yearly repotting. Why not change out the media?

 

[Sky7Bear]

There has been some talk of using rockwool cubes as a medium. Has anyone had good success with this? If so, what container? Clay? Net pot? Do they just mush down into a mess and become unusable?

 

[gonewild]

I know they like more frequent repotting. I'm not sure how much disturbance they get in nature from little creatures, weather etc. Sometimes I wonder if it's just a slight stress response adapted to hang on if the plant starts to wash out of a crevice somewhere in the wild. Regardless I know some people have had great success with yearly repotting. Why not change out the media?

Most often when a wild orchid plant gets completely dislodged from its established growing spot (unpotted) it dies.
When a tree falls or dies standing, the orchids usually slowly decline and die.
Growing the orchids in a pot of bark is like growing on a dead or dieing tree.
So perhaps reporting into fresh media tricks the plant into thinking it might have a future?

 

[Morja]

Most often when a wild orchid plant gets completely dislodged from its established growing spot (unpotted) it dies.
When a tree falls or dies standing, the orchids usually slowly decline and die.
Growing the orchids in a pot of bark is like growing on a dead or dieing tree.
So perhaps reporting into fresh media tricks the plant into thinking it might have a future?

I was thinking more of a slow pull out of a rock crevice, one from lots of rain and that would take a long time to do any real damage and where the plant may have time to work on "holding on", as many slipper orchids grow in such places (and like limestone because of it). But I actually have no idea. Of course, growing new roots once completely dislodged is futile. I just think that if growing conditions are still making sense for the plant after it has been disturbed, it may grow more roots to avoid future disruption. I dunno though

 

[gonewild]

Could be that a massive root disturbance triggers a rapid growth response in an effort to reestablish secure footing.

 

[Pleurothallidan]

I know they like more frequent repotting. I'm not sure how much disturbance they get in nature from little creatures, weather etc. Sometimes I wonder if it's just a slight stress response adapted to hang on if the plant starts to wash out of a crevice somewhere in the wild. Regardless I know some people have had great success with yearly repotting. Why not change out the media?

I don't change the media out mostly due to convenience. If it's still good for another few months, and I have enough media in a container from the old pot to fill back the old pot, I just use that instead of making new media.

Growing the orchids in a pot of bark is like growing on a dead or dieing tree.
So perhaps reporting into fresh media tricks the plant into thinking it might have a future?

Wow that's dark haha.

I'm thinking of doing a little experiment with some seedlings to test this out. Something like 3 groups of plants. 1 control group - so do nothing, 1 fresh media group - so repot into fresh media, and 1 old media group - so repot into old media. Image roots at day 1. do a "repot" maybe 3 months in, wait another 3 months then check roots again. If I have time to do this lol

 

[Brabantia]

Maybe it's because the aeration and loosening of the substrate?

 

[NYEric]

There has been some talk of using rockwool cubes as a medium. Has anyone had good success with this? If so, what container? Clay? Net pot? Do they just mush down into a mess and become unusable?

For what plant group?

 

[tmoney]

yes, we have seen this with the paphs...most seem to absolutely love a repot. many have started blooming nearly immediately after.

 

[big923cattleya]

Repotting a Paphiopedilum is one thing, disturbing a Paphiopedilum is another! I can not equate the two in my mind. In my experience, impatience is not normally a good idea. Something, either one factor or several are off in your culture. By looking for change, wondering why things are not growing faster is not really something that I would ever consider. The way I see it is if your culture is off and your plants are unhappy, disturbing them is not going to help.

I pick out a media. I put my entire Paph collection in that media and I create some stability. I give them a year in that mix. I do not disturb them at the roots. I set up a watering schedule. I stick to it. I evaluate what is going on. I fertilize on a regular basis. Under lights i go from a 9 hour day, to a 10 hour day to finally a 12 hour day. I watch how the plants respond. I recently finally figured out how to use my light meter properly and I lowered my lights getting them closer to the leaves. Things are looking better. I also recently upped my fertilizer concentration. Maybe that will help.
But for me, growing orchids properly takes time. Observation is key. It takes practice. It is not a hobby really for the quick fixers, the impatient. Things don't happen over night. You can disturb them all you like, you can really fuss over them but unless you can really comprehend what is going on in the growing area, how do you know what is working and what is not?
Old expression. "Slow and steady wins the race".
Constant turmoil creates chaos.

The key is to gain as much consistent basic culture knowledge and then learn who is responding and who is in trouble and why?

 

[Pleurothallidan]

I don't appreciate your subtle jab suggesting I am impatient or do not understand my growing area well or don't have knowledge on "basic culture".

I merely inquired to see if others observed the same or a similar phenomenon to the one I originally posted.

Finding new innovations or techniques is not something that takes practice. It's something that involves trial, error, replication and then justification... and more importantly, it requires risk and failure. I'm fine risking a few plants if there is a chance to improve my culture... even more so if I have duplicates.

On your point on chaos... Nature IS chaos and that's all I'll say on that.