OK, we're good to go with the medium that's presently in there.
Here are the photos.
In the clear plastic pot


You can see in this one where one of the roots has gone out one hole & up into another (right at the bottom hole). I had to cut it to get it out of the pot. I made a clean cut with the knife.


Out of the pot. Sorry, my hand was shaky.


And a side view


I cut those rotting roots off clean & sprinkled with cinnamon on the cuts.

This is the clear plastic pot sitting inside the only clay pot I have so you can see size difference


You can see the clay pot has been broken with a big hole at the bottom in addition to it's normal drainage holes. It's cracked up the side too. I figure all this is to my advantage being as how we're speaking of an orchid here.


So I have washed the clay pot with bleach water, rinsed & it's drying now. I have some cypress mulch -- pretty chunky -- certainly as chunky as the medium that it's already growing in. You can see it on the ground in some of those photos. I propose to use that OR I have some Excelsior (wood wool) but I doubt you'll think that's best to use. I can use either a coffee filter over that gaping hole so the medium doesn't go spilling out OR I can use some cut up stockings. I don't have any screen or wire mesh around.

The pot will not get messed with much as it's just the dh & I - no kids or grands - so I'm not real worried about the crack in the pot & it falling apart on me. For that matter I have a hot glue gun I could run a line of hot glue up the crack.

I figure this will do for now until I can pot it up proper when I get a good pot. I want to make sure this thing is going to survive my care before I invest anything more in it. I'm not worried about now while it's on the screened porch but I have a black thumb when it comes to indoor plants. The thumb of death!

So what do yo all think? Any suggestions? Anything I should do different?

Yes, recommend you drill some more holes in the sides of the clay pot before you pot it up, Ann. Air flow to the roots is critical, not just 'breatheable' clay. Don't be in a hurry to cover all the roots with medium, either. These plants like to stick their roots up into the air, so leave the ones that are on top of the medium uncovered.

It might have been a good idea to wait until the blooms were done before you began re-potting, just for future reference. Phals are terrible divas, and often will drop all flowers and buds if they are disturbed during blooming. The bloom can last a couple of months on a Phal too, so sometimes it's really hard to wait.

Phals also have a disturbing habit of wrinkling up their leaves after re-potting, too. Don't be too worried if it does this. Mine all recovered when they did this. Just mist the leaves for a few weeks, and water the roots sparingly. I also dust the whole root area with cinnamon after trimming the dead roots off. Can't hurt.

Thank you Elaine. What great information! I did know not to cover all the roots. I was just going to put medium around the sides - enough to hold it from wobbling back & forth. I did dust the cut roots with cinnamon. I have not yet potted it in the clay pot. I slipped it gently back into the clear plastic. Perhaps I should leave it there then until it quits blooming??? Thanks for letting me know they are divas! So if it suddenly looks like it is fainting & going to die I will just tell her to suck it up & act like a big girl - no Kardashians are allowed to live at this house.

Use a pot clip to keep it from moving around in the new pot. That kind of movement can damage new roots.

Jim

Those roots look amazingly healthy! Gorgeous, Ann! I'm sure you are going to have great success with this one! And yes, I'd wait until the blooms have faded for the re-pot. They do tend to be a bit fussy! Not necessarily "Kardashian fussy", but divas none the less!

Thanks Tara! They do look amazingly healthy to me.

Sure Jim, one pot clip coming up. Now what the heck can I fashion a pot clip from? I'll figure something out.

That pot is a bit too big in my humble opinion. I would really layer extra styrofoam peanuts at the bottom and then use a pretty chunky mix and pot clips if you are going to go that big. Realistically, you want the pot to be just a smidge bigger otherwise, the plant will spend a LOT of energy growing "into" the pot rather than blooming next year.

I grow my Phals in moss, but I use really high quality NZ sphag and I go into a pretty tight pot. According to Tom at Stones River, the Phal should sit tight enough into the pot to pick it up by the plant without it coming out or wiggling. You make sure that you leave 1" of room at between the moss and the top of the pot. That is your watering pool.

To water you fill up to the rim and then let it soak in. Pick up the pot to feel the weight. If light, fill to the rim again. Here is a picture of Phal bellina with a 12" leaf span. To give you an idea, that is a 4" pot.

Thank you Melissa. I have decided to leave them in their clear pots until they are finished blooming. Since "Grisinni" didn't pout I feel lucky & will leave well enough alone for now. I have not had them in the outer white pot since I purchased them. By the time they've finished blooming I will have the proper pots for them. BTW, the Asst. Mgr. at the store said they water them by putting 3 ice cubes in them each day. Interesting but not something I'm going to do.

And you guys are wondering why I keep saying "them"?

OOPS I did it again!


This one says Kimono on the pot. Meredith, can you track that real name down please?

I haven't put the first one in the db yet as things got crazy around here but it hasn't slipped my mind either.

Just a little trick I learned from my orchid society....mix your cinnamon with white (school type) glue and paint it on those cuts that way. The glue helps seal the cut and the cinnamon doesn't get washed off with the first watering!

Neat trick Patty.

I don't know who Meredith is but I can't find a registered orchid named Kimono. There is a Den. Haleahi Kimono but no Phal.

Jim

OOPS! I meant Melissa @shadytrake
I found these links:
https://www.orchidweb.com/prod...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/...
http://www.gettyimages.com/det...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/...
So apparently Kimono is not a clonal name???
I do not see it in our db though.

OrchidWiz nor Kew list orchids by clonal names. All I can tell you is that Phal or Dtps or any genera with Kimono is not registered. Clonal names are those in single quotes after the genera and species.

Jim

Thanks Jim.

Sorry have been absent. This took some work to research. Then I had to google the translation.

https://translate.google.com/t...

It is Phalaenopsis Cascade 'Kimono'

http://www.certi-care.com/coll...

Apparently this company redid the cross from 1959 and came out with an exceptional bloom, which they cloned 'Kimono'

(Phal Hécube x amabilis) Nice plant and bloom!

Thank you so much Melissa!!!! I really appreciate it. It *is* a nice plant & bloom. The dh & I are thoroughly enjoying it.

Good job running that one down, Melissa. With only a possible clonal name, I was out of luck with OrchidWiz. All I can add is that Phal. amabilis is pure white.

Jim

hawkarica said:Good job running that one down, Melissa. With only a possible clonal name, I was out of luck with OrchidWiz. All I can add is that Phal. amabilis is pure white.

Jim

Jim, it is really weird that Orchids Limited would have dropped the name and just kept the clonal. That is what stumped me. It must have been a popular clone that they took on to sell.

Well you certainly went to a lot of work to find that one Melissa and I do appreciate it.


This is the website of the place that grows the 2 I got.
http://silvervase.com/our-coll...

I wonder how many of these are ones that would have to be tracked down?

Probably all. You can ask who their supplier is so that you can get names or you can just start buying from a grower who keeps the labels with the plants. It is usually better that way. Better quality plants too.