BigBill said: Yes, even in bloom Ted. I am a little disappointed in myself for not repotting like I normally do. Normally as in like for 40 years.
In the case of any plant, it would always be preferable to losing the plant due to a loss of roots or rot from the decaying root system. So saving the plant should rule. But Ted, in the case of Phalaenopsis, they respond very well to repotting! I am very comfortable in saying that.

Let me add Pahiopedilums to the list or plants that like to be repotted. As I grow forward with Bulbophyllums over the last 2o months, they seem to respond very well too!

I agree wholeheartedly on Paphs loving it when repotted. You can almost hear them say AAAAHHH
On the other hand, Psychopsis will sulk. Had one PO'ed at me for 2 years because I had the pure gall of removing the now soil medium

I have one more.
This is Phal. Joy Fortune Diamond x Phalaenopsis gigantea. Again, like the previous spotty, I could not find a published name for this hybrid. But notice one thing, in this cross, Phal. Joy Fortune Diamond was the pod parent, or the female contributor. Phalaenopsis gigantea normally is a large plant when mature capable of large inflorescences with dozens of flowers. Flowers are on the small side but there are lots of them. It can flower as a younger seeding but ultimately it can be a huge plant.



It is a nice sized flower of hard substance nearing three inches in size.



We see a richer yellow background here with more raspberry or fuchsia colored markings with a very intense dark, raspberry lip. Substance is heavier which could be due to gigantea's influence. Petals are very good sized, nice flat full form.
I will go out on a limb here and say that Phal. Joy Fortune Diamond is a good parent in these spotted hybrids.
In the first flower I showed you it was the pollen parent, here as I said, the female or pod parent.

BigBill said: Okay Ted, very nice! They sure look happy. Keep us posted when they bloom. I am looking forward to seeing them.

Here they are
(phal. mituo king bellina x phal.violacea 'indigo') x yaphon




Phal. Dragon Tree Eagle x Jennifer Palermo CL1

Great job Ted!! Just great.
The plants look nice and healthy.
That reminds me, I hope that you are feeling better.

Ohhh wow, they are pretty!!

How are you feeling today?

Thanx for asking. I am finding Dayquil and Nyquil keep most of the symptoms at bay. Everyday a little better.

I am glad to hear it, Ted!

The above cutie is one of my Novelty Phalaenopsis that I purchased recently. It is Phal. Mini Lemon Drops 'Snowflake'. It is a hybrid of Phal. I-Hsin Venus x Phal. tetraspis forma 'alba'.
The flower is full, flat and a little over two inches. It is bright canary yellow and has very good substance. Flower is ivory white basally with an ivory white column. Lip is darker yellow and appears to be slightly golden.



The additional image is of the plant around 10 weeks after repotting. The plant has a new root growing that you can see pointing downward. You can see the top dress layer that I now use in repotting these novelty Phalaenopsis.
Oh, there is a nice, new leaf as well.

Bill, it looks wonderful!

It is time for another update on my novelty Phalaenopsis and my 'Oreo Potting Method'!!! Maybe I need to patent this???



Now this plant, shown in the above image, was repotted not quite 2 months ago. And yet look at the last leaf on the right hand side of the plant. It has grown to almost triple its' original size! Triple!!!



Now in this image, look at the new root growth. That is exactly what we want to see after repotting! To say that this plant is happy after being repotted, might be a bit of an understatement.
This is Phal. Mituo Diamond 'White Python'.
As a quick review, 10" under twin T-5 tubes, 12 hours a day. Fertilized once a month, 68-78 degrees, humidity now running between 70-80%.

Here is another plant.



This plant is again, only one month after repotting!! Take a good look at its healthy appearance. That is just fantastic! Towards the center, that is 2 new leaves that have come since the repotting. Talk about a healthy plant!!!!



Now this is a bit different of a story then Mituo Diamond. In this second image you can clearly see the cut off root stubble. The media that I purchased the plant in was killing the roots by holding too much water. This was an emergency repotting. I am pretty sure that I mentioned that above within this thread.
Look in image two, here comes a new root. Looks like I caught this in time and the plant will make a complete recovery.

I must remember when we get questions about Phalaenopsis in out Forums, that I direct newbies or skeptics to this thread. This to me is great evidence as to why repotting is important. AND if they do it, this "orchid thing" becomes easier!!

Bill, I agree! I don't want this thread to get buried.
Take a look, I made it to a sticky and changed the title a bit. Is that ok, or do you have a better title? It is easy to change.

I like it!
Looks good.

I have another novelty Phalaenopsis to report on. This is a species plant, Phalaenopsis tetraspis. Tetraspis produces very variable flowers. They are some combination of white and raspberry.
They could have raspberry sepals with white petals and lip. It could be the reverse.
They could be white flowers with random raspberry markings. Just about any combination is possible. This plant is actually a sibling cross of two tetraspis clones, 'Bredren' and 'C-1'.



When this plant arrived, it had 4 green inflorescences present. There was evidence that it had bloomed quite often previously. But when it arrived, there wasn't a single bud!! Now, all 4 have buds.





Now from what I understand, it is possible to have novelty Phalaenopsis like this in flower all year round. Now wouldn't that be cool 😎?!?!?!

I repotted this plant using my Oreo method, 1/4 media, 1/2 sphagnum moss, top dressed with 1/4 media. I can say for certain that the plant is healthier over the 7 weeks that I have had it. And it must be happy as evidenced by all the buds that have been produced.

Bill, it looks like your Oreo method is a hit! 👍 Looks good!!

Yes it does!
Now one must remember that up until 2010, I could not grow a Phalaenopsis if my life depended upon it. It was so bad! A judge, an orchid grower, a speaker that killed every Phalaenopsis he touched!! 40 to 50 in total.
And then it suddenly hit me in Sunny, Liquid, Bubbling Hot Florida. I had to get them more water! Some how I needed to find a way. That's when Oreo Method #1 was born. It had three layers, just like today's mix but substitute fir bark for aliflor! I kept the charcoal, kept the perlite and kept the sphagnum. But my Phalaenopsis here, under lights, needed water too. It honestly has worked perfectly.
So when I decided to try some of these colorful, summer blooming jewels under lights, I just tweaked mix #1. Call it #1A or mix #2, whatever we call it we have to include the fact that it works.
I am thinking that is would work for just about every one!!

I just repotted one of my novelty Phalaenopsis because I was concerned with the media was holding too much water.
I purchased the plant on the last Saturday in March so roughly 2 months ago.


The image above shows the plant with the old media removed. The roots actually looked pretty good. The one dead one that I removed is sitting at about the 7 o'clock position.



I zoomed in a bit so the dead root is visible @ 7, notice the nice white, green tipped root and the narrow, green pointy tipped bloom spike!


Above is the pot I am using
Below is the first layer in my Oreo method, a 1" layer of media.



Next are images of me working in a 2" layer of sphagnum moss.





Now here is an image of the top Oreo layer, more media. The moss layer is the vanilla cream in my Oreo.



Notice my red lead pencil is pointing to the developing flower spike!



Well there is a final close up, repot complete. I did not rush the process. Moss was pre-moistened. Media was gently applied and the moss was put in snugly, NOT crammed in there as hard as I could. NOR is the moss layer loose. It is snug so it doesn't block water flow but snug so it holds water. Not as a puddle of wet, but as a moistened area holding water longer to meet my underlights needs!
I encourage every one to give this method a try.

Edited to include: that broad white thing in the center of the last image is that same green tipped white root. It is covered by media and ready to grow down into the pot safely, securely and happily. Completely undamaged!!!

Bill, this looks terrific! You make it look super easy!!

You know me, I try hard to make it look easy. My step by step is planned a bit in order to show everything that's involved. If I can make it look easy, then perhaps people will find it easy.

I wish that I had had this type of info when I tried it years ago. Yes, there were pictures in books but maybe, just maybe, this works better.

The folks at the St. Augustine Orchid Society are now advising to keep Phals in the moss they come in at least for a year and not water so much. They say the growers only water every three weeks.

I did repot my little Phal. amboinensis Flave X Bellina Alba - that is what the label says. When I entered it into the data base they changed the name to Phalaenopsis bellina X Phalaenopsis amboinensis 'Guadalupe Pineda' ???

Anyway it did struggle for a while after I repotted but it is happy now with a spike or two coming along. The old spike from last year is still there, it does not look like it might die off, I wonder how long they hold spent spikes.