Had my orchid for a couple of years and having lost its flowers last week I thought now is the time to give both my orchid and me our first repotting experience.
Having watched MissOrchidGirl's YT instruction video I was expecting to find a lot of dead roots. I think I was quite fortunate that I didn't have to snip anywhere near the amount I thought I would have to.
A fellow orchid redditor earlier in the year advised me to get orchid premium bark instead of the generic garden center soil like consistency medium and boy I'm glad I listened to that advice. I think next time round I need to pay a little more attention to the size of the bark I need as the new bark is larger than what came with the orchid.
I've also discovered that a 5L bag for a 15cm pot is far too much. Like.. WAY too much 😂
I can't determine whether the few fly away roots are actually roots or spikes? Do all roots need to be within the medium?
I have checked for any large air pockets that I may have missed with the new bark especially since it's larger but I think I've done an okay job.
Anyway, here's some pictures from my first attempt!
by BFEE_tobyloby
1 Comment
Not sure on that brand of bark (I’ve had problems with a couple of sellers in the UK that label soft forest floor type bark as “orchid bark”) but in a 15cm pot with no airflow added, bigger bark will be of slight benefit as it allows for more airflow. Watch it for mould though, as that’s where the large bark I bought showed it wasn’t right for my orchids. Some sellers are selling grades of soft bark (not sure if it’s even pine based) that breaks down far too quickly and I got root rot in all the ones I used it in. Mine was from Grow Tropicals and the bark in Soil.Ninja and one or two eBay/Amazon sellers is the same – you can tell as some of it will be fine bendy strips rather than hard chunks. I only use the Portuguese bark from Orchid Accessories or (in a bind) Orchid Focus now. I wouldn’t personally use Orchid Focus for a big Phal though as it seems to be getting finer and finer each time I buy it.