Repotting Orchids

Why is it that beginners are so fearful of repotting orchids?


This is really one of the easiest parts of orchid growing. Slip the orchid out of the pot, knock away the old potting media, slip it in a new pot and pour in the new media. Slick and simple.

When you hear stories about how difficult it is to repot an orchid and not kill it or set it back badly the real reason is almost always a poor choice of timing in repotting the orchid.

Repotting Orchids Is Not A Difficult Task

Here is a step by step guide to repotting your orchids. Most of the discussion below is explaining why we need to repot orchids and what you need to think about to make the process simple and successful. Ready? Ok, let’s go to it.

Viruses

Discussing viruses themselves is another page for the future.

Viruses can easily be spread from an infected plant to other plants in the collection while repotting.

If you have a collection of inexpensive plants for your enjoyment you may not be worried about virus problems.

If your collection has some meaning to you and you wish to do what you can to preserve the collection, taking precautions to prevent the spread of viruses should be high on your to do list.

This article assumes you want to prevent the spread of any possible viruses, diseases or pests. It is your choice to decide if you want to expend the effort in controlling these problems.

Why Do We Repot Orchids?

The orchid is growing out of its pot.

Perhaps the best reason there is for repotting an orchid. Giving it a little bigger pot and fresh media will keep the growth going.

The potting media is deteriorating

With the exception of a handful of synthetic medias you can expect the potting material to break down and cause the orchid to decline after a year or two.

Not very many potting mixes will last two full years. I find it is best to develop a habit of repotting the collection once a year. This way you can repot your plants at the optimum time and not have declining orchids and emergency repotting when the potting mix starts breaking down rapidly at 16-18 months.

You want to divide your orchid

Dividing plants is really a subject for another day, just a couple of quick thoughts. Larger divisions are much easier to care for. Make big healthy divisions.

Large plants produce more flowers than the same plant divided-up. If you are looking for impressive floral displays divide plants only when you must.

The potting media is infested with pests

Sometimes pests like mealy bugs or fungus gnats can lurk in the potting media becoming a chronic problem. Often the easiest way to get the problem under control is to repot the orchids in fresh new media after giving them a thorough cleaning.

The roots are rotting

Most of the time the roots of an orchid are rotting because the potting media is breaking down. When you find rotting roots at the outer edges or bottom of the pot you can be sure that there is not much for roots in the center of the root ball. When this happens timing means nothing, immediately repot the orchid.

What’s the difference between dead roots and live roots? Dead and dying roots are slimy or dried out, maybe shriveled up and falling apart. The good roots are plump and firm and if you have timed your repotting right you should see glistening green or white root tips.

Salt build-up from fertilizers or poor quality water

Fertilizer salts build-up in the potting mix over time. How fast depends on the amount of fertilizer you use and your watering habits. It is just going to happen and if you have “bad” water the buildup will be even faster.  Leaching the plants when you water will help hold down the salt buildup.

This buildup of salts in the media will start effecting the orchid’s growth in time. The simple cure is repotting the orchid in fresh potting media.

While some orchids resent potting and will sulk for a while after repotting others like Paphiopedilums are very sensitive to salt buildup in their growing media. You can repot them two or three times a year and see a burst of growth after each repotting.

What Is the Best Time to Repot Your Orchids

The best time for repotting orchids is usually late spring to early summer, just as the plant starts forming new roots. For many species this coincides with the end of flowering season.

When the plant is in active growth it is better to hold off until next year unless there is a pressing reason to repot right away.

When the potting media is turning to mush or the orchid plant is going downhill you just have to throw timing out the window and repot. What is worse a dying orchid or one that is suddenly set back rather hard but placed on the road to recovery?

Preparation Before Actually Repotting Your Orchid

Water or soak the plant

Either water the plant or soak the orchid pot and all in a tub of water for 15 minutes or so. Do this at least a few hours before repotting.

The water softens the roots and makes them more pliable. Wet roots are also easier to detach from the pot.

Soak the new potting media

The new potting media should be soaked and well drained in advance of repotting. Dry media is dusty and more difficult to work with. Dry media also steals moisture from the roots of the newly potted plant.

Watering dry media in after repotting just doesn’t work, you end up with many dry spots and it takes weeks to thoroughly moisten the media. In the mean time you have a stressed, declining plant.

Soak clay pots in advance

If you are using clay pots soak these and allow them to drain in advance of potting. Moisture holding pots like clay pots if used dry will steal moisture from the potting media. Again this can lead to stress on the freshly potted orchid.

Gather the tools and supplies needed

Besides your orchid plant, pot and new potting media you will need a few additional items.

Other items that will make the job easier are shears or disposable cutting tools, kitchen knife, disinfectant, disposable gloves, newspaper, paper towels, stakes and maybe pot clips.

The disinfectant, gloves and disposable tools are to reduce the risk of spreading viruses to healthy plants.

Pots should be new or washed and disinfected in advance. Same for stakes and pot clips.

A simple disinfectant is common household bleach. Diluting with 9 parts water to 1 part bleach makes a very good disinfectant.

Better yet is Physan or the other quandary ammonia compounds. Organic compounds (like plant parts and ordinary dirt) don’t deactivate them as quickly as bleach. And the best part is if you get some on your clothes…no bleached out spots. Yes, of course Physan is more expensive than bleach and worth every penny!

The cheapest disposable cutting tool I know is the single edged razorblade. Use one per plant and stop spreading problems around your orchid collection

Good quality shears work too but need to be disinfected between plants. The disinfectants above will work with a long soak, alcohol will not work. The best disinfectant for soaking tools in is TSP. It needs to be used with care and if you don’t clean-up your tool after use it will rust them away. It deactivates viruses almost instantly. You can find in the paint section at the hardware store.

You can either change your gloves with each plant or give them a wash in the disinfectant you are using.

Prepare the Work Area

A counter near a sink is great but any convenient work area is fine for this job. The newspaper can be used for protecting the counter and the paper towels are great if you are a mess maker like me.

Now for the quick and easy part, the repotting

The demolition

nock the plant from pot, if the roots are holding it in just run a knife around the inner surface of the pot. Ok you have the plant out and in the process damaged a few roots. Don’t worry you will most likely damage a few more; it is expected especially the first few times you try this.

Remove old potting media. This can be as simple as shaking out the old media to carefully picking it out of the roots. It just depends on what potting media was used last time.

Trim any dead, damaged or rotting roots. Judgment is required here. Just don’t get carried away. Shears or heavy scissors work great at root trimming.

Remove any old growth that is dead or shriveling up. Plants like Phalaenopsis don’t usually need much work here but orchids that grow like Cattaleyas, Cymbidiums and Oncidums will require some effort here especially if they have been neglected.

Replant the orchid

Where do we position the orchid in the pot? If your orchid plant has a single growth like a Phalaenopsis you would position the plant in the center of the pot. If the orchid has multiple growths you would position the oldest growths near the edge of the pot, allowing the plant to grow forward towards the opposite edge of the pot.

With a chunky potting media just poor in handfuls while hold the plant with the other hand. Firm up the media by shaking the pot and carefully using your fingers. If you are using something stringy like moss wrap it around the spread out roots until the plant will slip nicely into its pot.

When you are done the orchid must be stable in its new pot. An orchid the rocks around in its pot will not be able to establish itself. Sometimes you will need to use stakes or pot clips to accomplish this goal.

Ok, water the orchid in. Do a thorough job of it; this is where the sink comes in real handy.

On to the last step, my least favorite…clean up the mess.

After care

Because new media does not hold water well you will need to water the orchid more often.

Placing the plant in an area of lower light levels will help to reduce the stress on a newly repotted orchid as will increasing the humidity around the plant. While reducing the light is usually easy increasing the humidity is much harder.  You don’t need to do everything, just help it along where you can.

Summing-Up Repotting Orchids

Believe me orchid repotting sounds much more difficult than it really is. After repotting just a few orchids you will become much more relaxed with the process and start to wonder why repotting orchids ever seemed difficult.

This webpage covers what most of us need to know about orchid repotting.

Have I covered everything about repotting orchids? No. Many details and special situations have been left out. Any good book on orchid care will cover more ground than I have here.

My suggestion is stick with this until you are comfortable with the process. Then you can start adding details, that is, if you want to.

Orchid Repotting – The Videos

This first video is on repotting Paphiopedilums and Phragmipediums. Don’t skip this one as the basic steps for repotting any orchid are shown very clearly here. Running time is 5 minutes.

Below is a video on repotting orchids with a poor root system by the American Orchid Society. The video is packed with information but details are sometimes difficult to make out because of the distance of the camera from the subject. This video runs three plus minutes.

The most asked for potting demonstration video is on how to repot a phalaenopsis orchid. The phalaenopsis repotting video here is by a local production company that specializes in garden videos and is one of the best I have seen. Running time is just over 5 minutes.

Repotting Orchids Conclusion

Put away your fears about repotting orchids. As you have read and seen in this article repotting orchids is a simple process. After repotting your first orchid you will wonder why you were ever concerned about it.

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