Encyclia repotting help

[nicki]

I checked the forum articles and did a search. I can't find anything here on how to repot an Encyclia. I don't think my book at home gave much info. Can someone help me out with this? I've repotted phals and dends before. But this is a bit different & I want to do it right.

[navyderek]

I just repotted mine, just cleaned off the roots, washed them real good and dipped them in fungicide, cut off the dead roots (roots which the outer casing just slides off the inner root), and repotted with a mix of 20% spahgnum, 80% bark chips with some river stones at the bottom of the pot. I used some sphag to keep it a little wetter because I like watering less frequently. I also underpotted it a bit as I will be mounting it next time. Other than that I treated it just like I would any other orchid with psuedobulbs (like my oncidiums and hybrids). I dont know if this is helpful, but I hope so.

[nicki]

How do you know how deep and what size pot to use? The pbulbs are not all on the same level if that makes sense.

[navyderek]

From what I've learned, just angle the plant a little until the psuedobulbs are as level as reasonably possible. It is a natural tendancy for some orchids (like my brassia hybrids) to climb towards the light. The expert growers on the forum assure me that even if it climbs out of the mulch, the roots will eventually find their way back down. As far as pot size, I used the smallest pot I feasibly could to get the roots down there with my pebbles and mulch. Its okay if some of the roots that are naturally growing out of the pot remain out of the new one--from my reading and brief experience, that is.
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[Brutal_Dreamer]

Thanks Derek! I agree (except for the sphag part - I would kill the roots the way we water ) Good luck Nicki!

Cheers,
BD

[Lambert]

I agree with Derek, I recommend a chunky and very open medium (medium charcoal pieces, styrofoam pieces, clay pellets and tree fern fibers work for me)
I also agree that encyclias roots tend to do whatever they want, some will go to the bottom of the pot, some will wander at the surface and "escape".
So I wouldn't overly worry about burying every one of them or have the pbulbs all be "neatly" buried as you would with other orchids.

[Ron-NY]

I grow most of mine in plastic baskets of medium bark mix. It drains well and dries quickly...My Encs love it

[Slyjester]

Can you grow these semi-hydroponically? I'm wondering if I should transfer mine into hydroton.

[navyderek]

I don't know....maybe you could ask that in the Semi-Hydro area......it seems from reading this site nearly everything can be grown Semi-Hydro......it seems tough to do on a windowsill though.

[nicki]

Thanks Derek & everyone. I have a bark mixture from the store (not sure of the quality), coconut chunks & of course styrofaom peanuts. I was worried that burying the pblubs could cause them to rot if the medium doesn't dry quick enough. Also with them being covered it's harder to tell if new roots are coming along. I wouldn't use spagh, with my conditions and watering the stuff takes way too long to dry out. It is currently in coconut chunks in a clay pot. I might put this one in a basket and see how that works outs. I may even have 2 that I should repot.