Difficult Orchid Repotting | Protecting & Saving Overgrown Roots - Easy tips for Minimal Root Damage

[@FernandaNascimentoOrchids]

It must be the warmth/humidity of climate combined with superthrive. And also you keep them nice and toasty during winter. But it is better to have more roots than less roots. I never had so many roots!!! Those are lovely pots but really too expensive😒. I am really amazed!!!!

[@NicoleDeanna]

Thanks so much Fernanda! Its gotten to 40c in my grow room, with 80-90% humidity in the middle of the summer. We get waves like that in July / August for a few days sometimes. It's so miserable for me, but the cattleyas love it lol

[@NinjaOrchids]

Orchid bath time 😍 reminds me of little ducklings ... Happy days! Digging into must do orchids... I find repotme prices extortionate! Crazy how they price their pots!

[@NicoleDeanna]

I agree, $4 for that little 4" pot. And after 9 months of use, I had to cut it open! It was frustrating, but it's always the pot or the roots. Have a great weekend Nina!

[@JoyceDarden]

17:38 Hi Nicole nice job!! I’m learning 😊

[@teresascorner994]

The root growth is insane!! I love it

[@NicoleDeanna]

Thanks!! I love the Carmela Orchids :))

[@ritafromboston2249]

Hi just discovered your channel. So glad to find you. I do not like the rePotme pots at all. The slots are deadly for roots. And you are so right the are pricey especially when you must cut them up after a short use. I will not purchase them again. I buy pots with just round holes on the bottom (much cheaper) and I make more round holes on the sides for more ventilation. I use my glue gun or a soldering iron to make the holes. Much easier to free the roots with little or no damage and you get to reuse the pot. Works for me.

[@NicoleDeanna]

Thanks for stopping by! I agree - I'm going to need to find an alternate solution as I continue repotting. I'd prefer pots with no slits and just holes, it'd be much easier this way. On the bright side, the orchid I repotted here, gave me buds, I noticed them on Friday, so I'm happy this repot didn't set it back and that it happened so quickly :)

[@reyreysgarden5724]

You got some beasts going on!!! 😍😍😍 loving the rootage!!! Summer 2021, our season! 💖

[@NicoleDeanna]

Yes!!! 2021 is OURS 😁 this spring / summer everything will bloom like never before!

[@michelleslifeonrepeat]

Oh mercy that first cattleya is wow, I just mounted one with zero roots, praying for a miracle.

[@NicoleDeanna]

Wishing you the best of luck with your mounted cattleya!!

[@ileanavalerio3637]

Great job getting that Cattleya out of its pot! In Puerto Rico what some growers do is place the orchid with pot and all inside a bigger pot and then fill with medium of your choice. I have not tried this yet... but I think I may one day. Especially, if the media does not rot ( rocks, hydroton lava rocks ect.) or if it’s still in good condition as orchiada bark. I ordered Carmela’s orchid once and all the seedlings almost died and some are still struggling, maybe you can give me some tips lol. Great job taking care of them too! 🌸🌸🌸 I also live in an apartment in the Bronx, NY.

[@NicoleDeanna]

I've seen the pot inside if a pot method! I took it out because of the moss I had inside. That gets acidic quickly. With the cattleyas they love bright light and heat. I feed them with msu fertilizer and add some kelp and superthrive sometimes. I love Carmela's, give it a go again. If you get them, do it in summertime where they can establish fast. Happy growing ☺️

[@ileanavalerio3637]

@@NicoleDeanna Yes, moss gets bad quicker and thank for the advise... I will try Carmela’s again... I may have water the whole seedling and that may have been the killer. 🥰🌸

[@NicoleDeanna]

@@ileanavalerio3637 best of luck!

[@orchidgarden3124]

Excellent success!

[@SepidehDalaho]

Most helpful thank you very much👍🏻🌹

[@NicoleDeanna]

Glad it was helpful. Thanks for watching ☺️

[@orchidsbythelake]

I bought the box twice. So we probably have a lot of the same ones. Lol I didn’t really repot them. Maybe a few. And I don’t buy pots from repotme as you said, it’s way expensive. I use net pots. That works better for my watering habit and greenhouse.

[@NicoleDeanna]

The repot me pots are rediculous. I bought so many last year, I'm on the verge of using take out containers lol. Looking forward to seeing are mutual orchids. Really can't beat the quality / price of Carmela!

[@kathydevries6513]

@@NicoleDeanna I do use deli containers for my smaller semi hydro. They are sooo much cheaper! I use plastic cups for the babies, and those buckets that annabelle uses at the orchid room for larger semi-hydros but I do buy repot me pots for my self-watering. They are pricey but I buy them in the packages of 6. I figure I save enough on the other stuff I use, I can afford to pay a little more for their clear pots. 21.97 for 24 32 oz deli containers. I always use a mask pot for them so that protects them from the sun (I hope)!

[@gloriayoung6219]

Lol...super thrive IS super 😂

[@vickimoulton7766]

I love your channel! What media do you use for your cattelya? I got some young ones and can’t decide what to repot them into?

[@NicoleDeanna]

Thank you for watching my videos! These cattleyas were in an all purpose repot me mix, they had coarse bark and perlite, I supplemented it with 20% spagnum moss to keep more moisture in the pots. I've since transitioned it over to Leca. Both systems worked well. Happy growing :)

[@squeekee35]

Yes my catts do really well but I have them mounted

[@michelleslifeonrepeat]

I’ve never seen such fast root growth. I’m amazed. How frequently did your water them on average per week?

[@NicoleDeanna]

The ones in bark I water when they start drying out. In summer that's about every 2 days, and in winter around every 5 days. Im also amazed, I just assumed it's the plant vigor, but they seem to enjoy the conditions here. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday Michelle!

[@Ian-pf2pw]

Haha I have the same dilemma pot vs roots. It’s weird how when you get them they barely have any roots and then the next year there are almost too many roots 🤣🤣

[@NicoleDeanna]

Exactly hahaha! They went nuts, after month two they were crawling out of the pot!

[@ginnyreinhart9018]

@@NicoleDeanna what was the potting mix prior to this repot?

[@NicoleDeanna]

@@ginnyreinhart9018 Spagnum moss around 50%- the rest coarse orchiata bark and perlite. The temps get really hot in the summer and things dry out fast so I used moss pretty heavily. Since I repotted them initially when they were in active growth I wasn't too concerned with root die off.

[@PetalsSepalsandSpines]

This is why I hate repoting cattleyas... The struggle with roots everywhere, and how they meld with every piece of bark... And if you just look at a root wrong it ends up dying after the repot... I put off repoting mine to the point where they are potted in a nest of roots 😅

[@NicoleDeanna]

Haha! I completely feel you and understand. I prefer repotting phals 😂 oncidiums and cattleyas kill me

[@andredumas9547]

Hi Nicole, I am wondering if the huge number of roots is due to the use of hormones, chemical fertilizers and supplements (?) I use 4inch repotme rigid fluted-side pots at $1.40 in a 16pack lot.

[@NicoleDeanna]

Seems like the cattleyas are happy. They probably do enjoy what I'm feeding. I give a bit of super thrive every few weeks, but usually they get a feeding of msu fertilizer at 150 ppm in winter, and 300 ppm in summer. I add kelp usually when it's warmer, and supplement with a smidgen of extra cal mag once in a while. They are getting a variety of different things. I also alter the ph to be in the range of 5.5 and 6.5. The water here is excellent and I use tap. I think I'm getting it right :)

[@andredumas9547]

@@NicoleDeanna Hi Nicole, I must write down your reply, so much useful and appreciated information ! I will get some SuperDrive, I am using CalMag and KelpMax . Thanks for sharing your expertise Nicole. I am growing orchids in grow tents so my growing conditions are probably a bit different from yours.

[@NicoleDeanna]

@@andredumas9547 check out Rick L's channel on youtube as well. I learned a lot from him on feeding and PH. Have a great Sunday my friend!

[@teresagonzalez2022]

I got some 2” orchid from Carmela in Hawaii how long do I wait to repot

[@NicoleDeanna]

I repotted my cattleya seedings from Carmela pretty quickly (within 2 weeks) from getting them, because I received them in the summer and all of them were in active growth with nice new green root tips. If it's winter, I wait till I see active growth before I repot or I risk setting them back.

[@teresagonzalez2022]

Thank you I will repot them next week cause is very windy

[@kellyesselmont2478]

Can’t you pull them through? That’s what I did but mine didn’t look so bad… maybe make your own with thin slits so they don’t go through so bad? I’m new to orchids… just was given 2 that they couldn’t get to rebloom… so I got them home and repotted them they were both overgrown.. the one had killed half its roots because there was no room for them 😢

[@NicoleDeanna]

Pulling them through damages them unfortunately especially with slotted pots, so I try to avoid slotted pots these days and prefer pots with holes instead of slots. It's tough! Hopefully your orchid bounced back!

[@Iknowwwwww]

Wow, roots for days! I really like plastic net pots for my catts, i get them for cheap off of amazon, much better deals there than repotme. ;)

[@NicoleDeanna]

I'm going to look into that, having to break these pots with less than a year of use can be a bit frustrating. Thanks for watching :)

[@Iknowwwwww]

@@NicoleDeanna I hear you! I'm needing to find a bigger pot already for a catt I just repotted a few months ago. It's wild.

[@michaelmccarthy4077]

I'm more brutal, I'll chop off the roots because I am impatient. I figure they're going to dump most of them anyway.

[@NicoleDeanna]

It's sort of a crap shoot isn't it? Sometimes they dump all their roots (in which I'll get annoyed for spending so much time trying to save them) and sometimes they actually branch. If I had your warm climate or repotted in July, I'd be more of a savage lol. I need to find pots with less holes in them for semi hydro, the Vandas from January are doing the same now.

[@michaelmccarthy4077]

​@@NicoleDeanna it definitely is a crap shoot. I just plan on the worst and hope for the best.