Repotting Orchids: Oncidiums

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I’m long overdue to spend some time repotting orchids. Don’t believe me? Just look at this poor oncidium orchid! It “jumped” off the shelf last year breaking the pot, the roots are growing everywhere, and I haven’t done a darn thing about it. Until today.

I know I should be embarrassed by this, and I am, slightly! Just look at all of these roots growing out in the air! I laughed at the fact that when we were in Florida I grew my orchids in trees so I never had to repot any of them!

My first step was to remove this massive plant from its (broken) pot. It came out fairly easily and left me with a few decisions for repotting orchids.

Options for repotting orchids:

• Leave the entire plant as one and find a larger pot.
• For oncidiums only, I have the option to cut and split to two pots.
• Remove older pseudobulbs (the bulbous section at the bottom of the leaf) and keep in a similar sized pot.

I decided to use a sharp knife to cut this into two parts. They are not even, but there seemed to be a natural break in here where I wouldn’t have to cut much.

I used fresh orchid bark in the bottom of the pot and to hold these orchids in place. Orchids do not use potting soil. I know this seems obvious to some, but trust me this is apparently not common sense.

I chose pots that were just large enough to jam the plants in and get a little bit of bark around the outside. Orchids like to be pot bound, so there isn’t a benefit to increasing the size more than necessary. I tucked the roots down in the orchid bark a little bit to help encourage them to grow in there. I have a feeling the previous pine bark was so broken down that they weren’t getting enough air in there before.

I left them sitting a little big high to make sure they have the oxygen they need and that the pseudobulbs are visible.

This plant hasn’t flowered in a couple of years and hopefully the time spent repotting orchids will change that this year!

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