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Jen

Hi guys. I don’t know if you can get the full picture from this photo, but I repotted my Cattleya last night and this root ball was beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. It was like trying to get the most sensitive of roots out of a solid mass of concrete. No amount of soaking and gentle prodding and wiggling made any difference. It had only been in this pot for about a year and a half- I thought I was repotting early, but now I fear I was too late. I know I basically decimated these roots getting the medium off. After TWO HOURS, no joke, I ended up just cutting away a bunch of the damaged roots just to try to get to the ones that may only be slightly bruised. Good news is, there are THREE new pseudobulbs starting to grow- so I know new roots are on the way, I’m just worried that it won’t survive until then. I potted her in a big pot with more sphagnum moss this time, because clearly she’s a vigorous root grower, and I don’t want to set her back every time she fills up her pot. Sadly, she’s still such a young orchid that I’ve never seen her in bloom, so I’m worried I just set her WAY back. Ugh! Any advice?

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  1. Jen
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  2. Jen

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  3. c.cat

    you want to keep the pot 1-2 inches bigger than the current root ball, as going too big can lead to root rot. all the extra medium holds water that the plant cant take in, so it ends up sitting in moist soil for longer than it should. i think the roots will grow back in time, and as long as there are a few roots it should be ok! also, for an established root system you dont always need to replace all of the soil, unless its old or you're changing the mix to a different kind. (take that last bit with a grain of salt, im not too sure about it lol) anyways, best of luck, and i hope i helped :)

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    • Jen

      Thanks for the input, it’s really appreciated. I normally go 1-2 inches bigger as well, but this time I had to cut away SO MUCH, that the pot would have been really small, and I know this plant can clearly throw out a giant potful of roots in just 18 months… so I went big just to avoid having this problem again in a year. (That’s with the optimistic hope that the plant will survive and it starts to grow as fast as it did before.) As far as changing all the medium, I do, since any old media left behind can get acidic, and I have pretty hard water in Chicago, so I just want to avoid any extra stress on the roots where I can.

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  4. MeasomerPi

    I’m not familiar with this one but given the vigorousness of the roots, I would have upsized the pot too. I think I would have placed the sphagnum on top of the media, next to the plant, to more moisture next to the plant. But that’s more of a to-mA-to, to-mah-to thing. Does it have thin leaves? Maybe tent it to help it retain moisture while waiting on the new roots. I’m crossing my fingers that there is no setback 🤞 Were the roots holding everything together or did the mix set up and bind together? It looks like a Repotme mix?

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    • MeasomerPi

      Maybe the Nepenthomancer has some thoughts

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    • Jen

      It is the Cattleya mix from repot me. And it was the roots that bound everything together. They clung to each piece of bark like superglue, and then grew onto the next and the next in every direction and just made a tight glued knot of media-root monstrosity. 😂😭 It does have thinner leaves, and I did layer some moss at the top in the new pot for the tender new root tips. I’ll take a look at potentially setting up a tent situation. That’s a good possibility.

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