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Repotting Cattleya orchids are a little different than Phalaenopsis orchids. If you haven't ever done a repot before, then I hope this video helps. I don't have a written article about repotting Cattleya orchids, but if you're interested in learning how to promote blooms, then this article might help: https://orchideria.com/cattleya-sheaths/
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Happy Cultivating!
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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00-0:43 Intro to Repotting Cattleya Orchids
0:43-2:41 Step 01 - Know The Differences Between Cattleya Roots and Phalaenopsis Roots
2:41-5:01 Step 02 - Release The Cattleya Orchid From The Pot
5:01-6:34 Step 03 - Clean Out The Old Potting Media
6:34-10:38 Step 04 - Evaluate the Orchid Roots
10:38-11:24 Step 05 - Spray Bad Parts With Fungicide (Optional)
11:24-14:55 Step 06 - Remove the Old Sheaths (Optional)
14:55-16:40 Step 07 - Picking the Right Orchid Pot
16:41-20:00 Step 08 - Adding Root Hormone
20:00-20:55 Mix the Potting Media Together
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0:00
When you repot a catelea orchid, it's a little bit different than the phalanopsis
0:05
And in this video, I'm going to show you step by step how to do that and how to have a successful repot
0:16
Hi, I'm Amanda Matthews and thank you so much for watching this video here at Orchidaria
0:21
If you're new to my channel, I just share my tips about how I grow orchids indoors
0:27
since my outside climate isn't that great for orchid care. And I am not an expert, but I do share what I've learned through this process
0:36
So thank you so much for being here. And let's get into how we're going to repot this cateleo orchid
0:43
The first thing that you want to know about a cateleo orchid is that their roots are going to be
0:48
different than the phalanopsis orchids, which we're probably more accustomed to. Their roots are probably going to stick more to the pot
0:56
They're going to be thicker and stronger, and they're going to break more during this repotting process
1:05
That's why Catalia's hate. I mean, they detest being repotted. And that's why we have to take an extra care and extra precautions when we repot this orchid
1:16
The first thing you need to know is when is the right time to repot
1:20
Well, if you repotted last year, don't repot this year. If you repotted two years ago, don't repot this year
1:25
Don't repot this year. The best thing is to wait to at least three years. You really want your
1:32
Caltillo orchid to not go through as many repots as a phalanopsis does. The catele will stay a little
1:40
bit longer. They can't, they are tougher. They are more resistant in that sense. Unless your
1:46
potting media is totally wrong and it's just degrading and there's a foul smell coming out of there
1:52
don't repot under three years. Another thing you want to know, is that you need to repot as soon as you see new root tips growing
2:01
That is a sign that the orchid is ready to be in a new poem. If you wait to those root tips reach the old media
2:10
then it's going to be a little harder to adapt to when you change out all the old potting media
2:16
So those root tips need to be started already. They need to be on their way
2:20
but they do not need to have touched the old potting media yet
2:24
And that is the perfect time to repot. Don't repot if your catlia is in bloom. That will really set it back. The blooms will probably all fall off
2:36
Catlias, again, hate to be repotted. So those are the basic information for step one. Now, step two is actually releasing this from the pot. A good idea I've found is just to get lukewarm water, get your entire pot, and soak it
2:54
So you really want those roots to become hydrated. And why do we want this
2:59
A thicker dry root is going to break. It's going to become crispy
3:05
So when you try to yank it out of that pot and yanks a hard term
3:09
while you twist and turn that orchid and manage it and try to wiggle its way outside the pot
3:17
those roots are going to break. If those roots are hydrated and what happens, the water comes into the cell
3:24
of the vellum and it becomes more malleable. So when you're twisting and turning that orchid to try to
3:31
pull it out of the pot, it's less likely to break. Now depending on how old your potting media is
3:39
you might want to keep this in here for 30 minutes. If your potting media is just num moss
3:45
I mean, five minutes is fine. Most cattlias won't be in just namas. They'll probably be in more
3:53
coarse orchid bark. So just hydrate that to make sure you know the roots are going to be more
4:01
flexible when you pull them out. Now what you're going to do, if you have a pure plastic pot
4:08
you're going to squeeze the pot all the way around. Mine is a hard plastic, so it really doesn't
4:15
matter. I can squeeze it a little bit. And that just gives the orchid
4:23
I need to get away from the side of the pot. But look, the orchid already comes out a lot easier. Uh-huh
4:35
And here is a ninja tip for you. Do not lose these
4:42
I have lost so many of these through repots because I just get busy and I just, you know
4:49
throw the tag out somewhere and I forget about it. about it. Don't do that. Step one was to identify what time is the right time to repot
4:58
Step two was soak the orchid. Now step three is to clean out the entire potting media. And I mean
5:06
entire. Get rid of all of it. So you'll want a basket and you'll just easily, you know
5:18
work your way through the bottom. This old bark. and old media should just crumble off. Yeah, right in the middle here, I can see that
5:29
it a lot The potting media has really degraded It just turned into kind of like a soil Take your time on this Do not rush Do not become overly apprehensive Just enjoy your plant
5:47
Learn to take your time with this. Oh, look at my hands
5:52
You can see here like this suitable. It was smashed up against the side of the pot and the roots were just growing smashed
5:59
against it. That's another sign that, yes, it is time to repot
6:04
I'm going to speed up this part of the video. video, so grab some water or some tea and I'll see you back in a couple seconds
6:25
Okay, I'm back with my orchid and I've tried to remove the majority of the potting media that I could
6:32
Now it's time to evaluate the roots, whether they need to be cut off or
6:36
or left on. Now the biggest difference right here between a catelia and a phalanopsis orchid is that
6:44
catlia orchid roots are more brown or browner than the phalanopsis. So just because it's brown
6:54
don't go, oh, I got to cut that off. I got to remove it. It's rotted. Like these roots right here
7:02
are totally fine. These roots right, but they're put there, media. These roots right here, they're still firm to the touch. And they're brown like this because
7:13
some orchid barks will release like a tint to them. They'll release a dye inside there. And the
7:23
roots will really turn colors. So you need to go through and look for roots like this one
7:31
right here. This one, when I press it, it just smashes together. There's no resistance whatsoever
7:40
So I'm going to follow this root up to where I can find it. But before I actually do any of the
7:49
cutting and removal of these roots, I need to sterilize my equipment. So I have just normal pruning
7:58
shears and I'm going to get a cotton ball. Oh, that stinks
8:16
And I'm going to wipe the pruning shears and really, really rub these down
8:25
This is where the majority of us are just going to want to speed over this and just a doop doop doop I'm done please don't this is crucial to not spreading any
8:37
more bacteria or viruses especially viruses inside your orchid pot bacteria it can easily be cured
8:45
viruses cannot viruses are once an orchid gets a virus just toss it there i mean you probably
8:54
can cure it through you know send it to the laboratory They can look at it, but it's almost impossible
9:03
So really scrub these down. Let them air dry. Do not blow on them
9:12
I do that a lot. You know, just get them. And no, just let them air dry
9:17
So I come back to my orchid and I find that root
9:22
that root that has no resistance to it. And I'm gonna press it back to where it does have resistance
9:28
about right there. And I cut it off. Oh, that's attached to another one. Yeah, this also is just
9:38
papery. It's like a little brown paper sack. See that even came off. I didn't even have to cut it
9:44
And I need to do this through all the roots. Like this one is squishy, squishy, squishy
9:50
and then here it has resistance. So I'm going to cut it off about there. Sorry, Orchid
9:58
And I need to go around and do this with all the roots
10:05
Now this is going to take a little bit. So just don't go by the color
10:10
Go by the resistance and follow it back. At this point in the stage, I have already cleaned the roots of the orchid
10:22
And now all of these are functional roots. They're not going to have any kind of rot
10:28
in there they will absorb and that's what i want just the good roots this part is optional if you
10:36
want to spray your whole orchid with a fungicide or a bacteriicide i don't think it's actually
10:43
necessary unless you see a lot of black rot especially up here in the rhizome so i'm going to
10:51
spray just this part right here because there is a lot of black and
10:58
I couldn't really clean up in here. All the other parts of the orchid I got down and I could clean out and I could really, you know
11:05
give that airy feeling to it. This part I really couldn't. And sometimes my spray bottle works and sometimes it does not
11:13
So there we go. Use whatever you have available in your market The next step ooh that smells The next step in repotting your orchid is also optional but I do it
11:31
See these old papery sheets right here that cover the suitable? What happens is sometimes when we water, that water will get down in between the paper
11:46
and lodge right in there. And that's going to create the perfect place for bacteria to grow
11:54
Because it's protected. It has that sheath around it. Nothing is really fighting against it
12:02
I mean, there's no light getting in there. And that water can really create harm in your orchid
12:08
So what I'm going to do with my fingers, not my fingernails
12:13
I mean, if you have really sharp fingernails, heart fingernails, be careful. It's just to come here and remove these old dead sheaths
12:23
Be careful when you're pulling them off that you're only removing the dead ones. So I'm going to
12:28
go around here and I'm going to try to get all these older sheists off here like this and clean
12:35
this orchid up a little. That just gives it an extra protection so no bacteria comes in
12:41
This orchid is looking better already without those old sheets. cheese. Now you might be wondering, what about these old pseudobobobes like here that have already
12:51
lost both of their leaves? They're just sitting there and they're ugly as crap. And, you know
12:58
what do you do with those? What do you do with these things? Well, leave them on. You do not want to
13:06
cut the old pseudobobobes off your orchid. Never do that. I mean, only when it's totally shriveled and you can
13:15
actually bend it and it falls over, then you can remove it and knowing that there's no green
13:22
whatsoever. But until there's, if there's a little bit of green in there, like even if it's a
13:28
little bitty, suitable just like that, leave it. Because that still has energy. And that is like
13:35
the powerhouse that stores energy. And this suitable is going to keep that energy and it's going to
13:42
send it to the next suitable up the line. And that suitable is going to send energy forward
13:48
So it's like you having this whole tradition, this whole family line of people behind you
13:54
supporting you and giving you the strength that you need to keep going. That's what that suitable is for
14:00
So if you go cutting around, I mean, yeah, it's going to look a lot prettier without them
14:05
But we're not in this business that have a beautiful suitable. We're in this business to have a healthy plant
14:12
and a healthy plant will give you healthy flowers and, you know, from there on
14:18
So that's part of it. Just accept it and say that pseudobold is staying on there
14:24
Through all this process too, I did mention, you know, be careful with the eyes of the orchid
14:29
but also be careful with the new growths, the new pseudobulbs. These will snap
14:35
You know, you're just turning around and you just push it down a little bit
14:39
It's off. And once it's off, there are ways to, you know, you can nurse it back, but it's really, really hard
14:47
So be careful with those. The next part is picking the right pot
14:53
I suggest one thing that I found super fascinating, which was a pot that comes with everything you need in it already pre-made, pre-mixed
15:02
So it's from the orchid supply store. It comes like this. and it has orchiata bark with a pot and it has excellent drainage in the pot and it has
15:15
wonderful sphagnumoss i mean this right here is the total cost of the pot so i mean so what you're
15:22
going to do you're going to get the pot that comes like this you're going to open it and you can
15:28
choose whether you want to use this as a top layer if your environment dries out on the top a lot
15:35
you can just use this as a top layer. My environment is so dry. I'm going to have to mix this num
15:41
moss in with the bark. So I'm going to hydrate this num a little bit. I'm just going to pour it in here
15:50
And you know this gum is excellent quality when there's not all this dust because right out of
15:56
the bag and it goes into the water. And look at that color and look how thick and strong these this
16:04
sphagnum is. I mean, that is such wonderful quality sphagnum moss. But if you do not know what bark to use
16:12
I suggest to watch this video up here. Or if you don't know what potting media to use
16:18
I also suggest another video right there. Svagnum moss will absorb everything around it. So if you
16:24
put it straight from the bag into the pot, it's going to suck the water out of the root. And you don't
16:30
want that. You want it the other way around. You want the root sucking the water out of the spagum
16:34
So keep that a good time in there Just let it hydrate Some people add rooting hormone at this point That up to you You can and if you want to it won hurt your orchid Just don add too much That always the rule Less is more in orchid care The one that I have is a six inch pot Now how do I know how big of a pot to go You want to get your orchid And you want to set it in and find the side that growing And in my case it this one This is the active growth And I have a tricky situation here because
17:15
my orchid is growing actively on both sides. So in this particular situation only, only in this one
17:24
I'm going to pot this. Oh, be careful. I'm going to pot this in the middle
17:30
because it's both growing to the left and to the right. Normally, an orchid would grow to one side only
17:38
So here's the orchid, and if it was only growing actively on this side
17:44
I would put this other side at the base of the pot
17:48
I mean, really, really scrunch it up, exactly like it was here. But I'm going to put this one here
17:54
and since it's growing in both sides, I'm going to add two fingers on each side
18:00
That's how I choose my orchid pot for a sympodial orchid, an orchid that has that rhizome
18:06
An orchid that has that horizontal root. You can see it's a horizontal root going both ways
18:11
It decided it wanted to grow in both ways. So I'm going to set it here and I'm going to make sure the top of my potting media is not buried under, but right at the rhizome
18:25
It's going to have room to grow roots in here. And you can see with this pot, that middle goes up
18:32
So there's lots of erration. And that's why I like this pot
18:37
The link is in the description. I'm just finding these pots so amazing that I have to share
18:42
So here's how my pot's going to go. And now I'm going to mix my potting media
18:48
Look at your environment and see if it's dry, if it's humid, if it's airy, if it's not
18:55
my home office is extremely dry. So I need a lot of sphagnum. So I am going to use all of that
19:03
If your environment is humid or you keep your orchids outside, don't use as much as I am. So I dumped half the bark out
19:12
And I'm going to get the sphagnum out and squeeze it. So I'm going to really give this a squeeze
19:24
Put it in there. Give it a squeeze because you don't want all that water
19:31
You really don't. You want to make sure that it's humid, but it doesn't have, you know, it's not dripping wet
19:39
Now I'm going to mix this up. I've mixed my material here and it's half and half
19:44
And usually for Kalias, you're not going to want half and half
19:48
You're going to want more bark. But that's fine. That's just my environment
19:53
That is extremely dry. I'm going to start with a little bit of the potting media in the bottom just to give it that support
20:04
Give it more. Then I'm going to place my orchid in. You notice I'm holding the orchid in place
20:16
So that's always good. Also, if you're new to Kaliah orchids, a good idea is a good idea
20:24
to leave some of the roots on the side of the pot so you actually can see what's going on in there
20:31
So here I have, it's, see those roots there? I will fill that more with bark
20:37
I will get in there and fill that. But I want those roots on the outside, you know, not outside of the pot, but outside, you know
20:44
so I can see what's going on. Once you're done placing the potting media all around your orchid
20:51
you need to actually go back and now press it in. this is going to hurt the roots. It is going to be, you know, you are going to hear some
21:00
crunching sounds. That's normal. That's expected. I love you, Warkid, but this is for your own
21:07
good because you need to be stable inside this pot. So you're going to come around and just
21:17
press it down. And now that I pressed it down, I can see
21:24
I can actually add more potting media right there. I don't want my rhizome buried
21:31
As you can see, the rhizome is running directly on the top of the pot
21:37
It's not buried underneath there. It's exactly on the top. That's what I want
21:46
And the last thing you need to do is the test. Did we do this right
21:52
So you're going to carefully look. lift your orchid up by the leaves
21:57
If the pot comes up together, that means it's secure inside that pot
22:02
It's not going to be falling over in there. That is what you want
22:06
I didn't go over and talk about the leaves. Like in this one, there are several things I could have done with the leaves and go over and say how to clean them and how to take care of them
22:18
If you want to know how to clean them, watch this video up here. Thank you so much for watching
22:22
if this video did provide any help, please give it a like or comment below. If there's any questions
22:29
that you have, I will get back to you. Don't stop your orchid care here. I can suggest these two videos
22:35
about selecting the right orchid bark and selecting the right potty media for you in here. In all
22:43
I hope to see you in the comments and happy cultivating
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