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Ive tryed mounting many orchids over the years and i always just end up putting them in a very open mix in a clay pot or basket. I grow in a basement grow room and the humidity is at 70%rh or above most of the time. I cant keep them growing on mounts even in those conditions. It is a chore to water twice a week as it is i could NOT imagine having to dunk or spray a mount ever again on a daily basis. And you doont need a mount to have a specimen of a typical 'creeping' orchid i have many specimen plants that just out grew and consumed the clay pots they were in, now they are a ball of orchid hanging from a hook and they look great.
If you are going to repot it, or for that matter, mount it, you should wait until it is starting to get new roots. You will see these starting to grow at the base of the pseudo bulbs, usually the largest ones. One of the main reasons folks mount or put this plant in a hanging basket (like phalspitals) is the drooping flower spikes. They will develop better if they are not hitting a table or window sill. Your plant looks like it is in the right size of pot, I wouldn't go any bigger right now. Before you repot it try to contact the person you got it from and ask them when it was last repotted. If it was done in the last couple of years you probably don't need to bother. I use a mix for my potted smaller Densiflora Dendrobiums consisting of 40% bark, 40% chopped coconut husk, 10% course charcoal and 10% course perlite. They are all in clay pots. In my opinion you would be best to mount your plant.
No need for a greenhouse in the subtropical South...they stay on the lanai all year. It rarely gets below high 40s in dry season, but summer is around 90 and rain every day. In the winter I hang them from the palms, and in summer they sit soggily under the palms. Even though I'm not here to take any care of them for half the year, they seem to love it. I forget to feed them, and they repay me by blooming. Sometimes I get energetic and feed and spray and cluck over them, and it doesn't seem to matter... go figure.
[QUOTE=theflowerbread;421020]But how you repot them, aren't the roots too attached to the walls of a clay pot? Could you share some photos?
Breaking a few roots is not going to kill the orchid. I always soak my orchid pot, with the orchid still in the pot, for about 20-30 minutes in a bucket with water that I also put a little Sea Kelp or any root hormone you might have. This will make the roots more pliable, then if it still will not slip out of the pot then I will use a very thin knife and run it against the inside of the clay pot very slow and very carefully to loosen the roots from the pot. Hope this helps. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of me doing that, you might check YouTube they might have some video's showing how to repot the species you have. Good luck!
I would expect to break the clay pot after soaking. Mine is in clay and I hope it covers the pot and turns into the ball of orchid as described by Jeromy!
Thanks folks! How many nice advices you gave me!! The only "problem" - repotted in a slightly (imo) bigger pot than it was simply because other pots I had were too small. Tomorrow I will post a pic of it. In case if the pot is too big I can buy a smaller one (I should really do some orchid supply shopping...I'm running out of bark soon as well as need some cork barks for my mounting experiments).
Anyways my plan was to keep it in the pot untill I get all the necessary equipment for mounting (cork & sphagnum). I hope it doesn't mind. I tried not to disturb roots too much (I just basically put the whole rootball in the new pot, filling the gap between the plant and the pot with some new medium mix). Simply because the roots look good and overall its old potting media looked fine. I'm keeping the rootball opening and cleaning before the mounting.
Btw it seems it's making a spike...
The medium I used was medium to small sized bark + charcoal + bits of sphagnum moss. I did not add any perlite as I read aggregatum likes to dry fast (in two tree days) and completely before each watering so I got confused and thought perlite as moisture keeper would not be a good idea. To provide good drying. Now I'm in doubt maybe I had to add pieces of peanut chips (I guess how is called in English? The white foamy polyester chips used for protecting electronic devices like tv, microwave etc.). I usually ad to potting mix for oncidiums and cambria orchid types to make it more "airy" and getting dried sooner. Maybe I had to add for aggregatum as well?
Anyways, I'm planning to keep in a pot contemporary untill I'm ready to mount. Thanks again for lm r your replies!
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Oh and sorry for some spelling mistakes, is not so comfortable to type from a phone.
Btw I think I found a way to post the pic from the mobile browser.
Here it goes
And looks like we got a new spike here
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Nice. I would let it finish the bloom cycle before disturbing the roots again.
I just got the yellow as well!! No blooms yet. So excited
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Hi good night, I have this orchid also, I live in the caribbean islands I have mounted it and its growing roots all over the mount, I used a piece of teak, it seems to love the mount and water all of my orchids that are mounted twice a day, if no rain falls, I use a small bit of spagnum moss on the mount, then place the orchid on it and put a little moss on that and cover it with a small piece of coconut fibre and tie it onto the mount, i have phals, a few cattleya, and even denrobium done this way, I dont have to worry about root rot, or fungus and insects too much, I use a miticide and a fungicide about once a month in a weak solution mixed together and spray all my orchids.