How to transplant an orchid at home

At one time, almost every florist thought about how to transplant an orchid at home. You  can  watch many videos about it on YouTube and other Internet resources. This culture needs regular transplants, especially if the owner appreciates its healthy and beautiful appearance. However, the procedure must be carried out according to special rules so as not to harm the young plant. Let’s figure out how to transplant an orchid at home. Also, do not forget that after transplantation, the orchid will need quality care.

Substrate and pot

To transplant an orchid at home, you first need to prepare properly. It is important to choose a suitable substrate (soil mixture). Since the culture is exotic, a special composition sold in stores is best suited for this purpose. Well, or you can try to create soil for transplanting yourself by mixing several parts of the following components:

• peat – two parts;
• pressed coconut – 1 part;
• sod land – 1 part;
• coconut fiber – 0.5 parts.

If you cannot get coconut fiber and shavings, then you can try to replace it with ordinary pine bark, treat it with boiling water in advance and grind it into powder.

However, the orchid is still an exotic culture, so it is recommended to use the most correct composition. It can also be purchased at any flower shop. The main thing is to choose a mixture that has a fairly good structure (without lumps).

As for the pot for planting, the orchid has no special advantages. However, it will have to be transplanted almost every year, so it is most rational to use an inexpensive plastic pot (although the culture will get along quite well in a clay pot). The material must be made in dark colors, for example, black or green. This is necessary in order for the earth to properly warm up under the influence of the sun’s rays.

If the transplant is carried out immediately after the purchase of the flower (this must be done in order to replace the transport soil mixture with a permanent one), then there is no particular need to increase the size of the pot. On the contrary, an orchid will feel uncomfortable in a too spacious vase, as its root system must be located densely. In the second and subsequent years of life, the diameter of the pot should increase by 2-3 cm or as needed.

Step-by-step transplantation

The orchid has a rather delicate root system, so the transplant procedure should be carried out according to certain rules. Otherwise, the flower will take a long time to adapt to the new conditions or will get sick and die. In order not to make a mistake, it is important to follow certain instructions:

1. How to moisten the ground a few days before transplanting. This must be done so that the root system absorbs as much moisture as possible and does not get damaged when extracting the flower from the ground. In addition, it will be much easier to pull phalaenopsis from wet soil than from dry. However, there is one very important nuance in this rule: if the transplant is carried out in order to avoid the development of root rot, for example, during waterlogging, then it is highly not recommended to carry out an additional watering procedure.

2. Take the flower out of the vase. This should be done especially carefully with an adult plant, since it has a large root system, so it is extremely difficult to transplant it. In order not to damage the roots in the process, it is recommended to pull out the culture slowly, holding the lower part of the thick stem. As soon as the work is done, it is necessary to remove all the earth from the roots and carefully place the flower on a newspaper in order to conduct an additional examination and exclude the development of various diseases of the root system.

3. Remove the diseased parts of the roots. If during the inspection, areas suffering from root rot or other diseases were found, then they should be removed with the help of special garden shears, pre-treated in a weak solution of manganese or medical alcohol. It is recommended to lubricate the cutting sites with a stimulator of root formation so that new roots appear on it as quickly as possible. In fairness, it is worth noting that not only diseased roots are subject to removal, but also those that were severely damaged during the transplant procedure.

Now a few words about when you can transplant an orchid at home. Most experts who teach videos on YouTube and have their own website say that it is best to do this in the fall, one month before applying fertilizers. However, in emergency cases, transplantation can be carried out even in winter. A large and old bush, the age of which is 5 years or more, should be “relocated” only if the root system began to feel a lack of space.

Further care of culture

In order for the orchid to start blooming after transplanting, it is not always enough to simply carry out this procedure correctly (step by step). It is also important to follow certain rules for caring for a plant that has experienced severe stress. Only in this case, indoor phalaenopsis will enter the flowering phase and will delight. Here are just the main nuances that must be observed:

• Temperature. In the room in which the orchid is located, the air should be maintained in the region of 22-26 degrees.
• Lighting. For a transplanted plant, it is necessary to ensure a 12-hour light day.
• Humidity. Due to regular spraying and steam generators, it is necessary to ensure humidity in the region of 60%.
• Watering It should be abundant, but moderate, so that the root system does not become infected with the fungus.
• Special instructions. It is important to exclude proximity to heating radiators or being in drafts.

In everything else, the departure is not difficult. It is only necessary to regularly monitor that the plant does not need anything, and also plant it as necessary. As for feeding, they can also be carried out as usual, but most professionals do not recommend applying fertilizers within 30 days after transplanting. Otherwise, the florist will have to take care of a sick plant suffering from an excess of trace elements.

As for how to care for the directional root system, it should be taken into account that if the plant does not want to take root in a new “place of residence”, it must be treated with any fungicide to prevent the development of various diseases.

A drug called “Zdraven” shows itself quite well, which not only eliminates infections, but also stimulates the protective functions of the plant. However, it is worth understanding that if the root system has been cut hard enough, the flower will take root for a long time.

Blooming orchid

Not every flower grower thinks about how to plant a blooming orchid, because most assume that this cannot be done. Yes, such an operation threatens severe stress for phalaenopsis, but in some cases it is better to expose the flower to such a risk than to leave it in infected or excessively waterlogged soil. The transplantation technology is slightly different from that which should be followed in the usual case. Here is a small instruction that will help to carry out the procedure as correctly as possible:

• Lightly moisten the substrate with a spray bottle and leave the flower alone for several hours so that the roots are properly saturated with moisture. This can be done in all cases, except when the plant is in danger of being infected with a fungal infection.
• Pull out the flower together with the lump of earth. For this, it is necessary to properly “stir up” the pot. If there are no infections in the soil, and the root system does not need processing, then the procedure should be carried out using the transshipment method – simply send the flower to the pot where it was originally planned to “relocate”.
• Pour the pre-prepared substrate into the new pot. In order not to weaken the phalaenopsis, it must be done as carefully as possible so as not to disturb the sensitive root system. If everything was done correctly, the orchid will not drop its buds in the next few days.

As for the further care of the newly transplanted flowering crop, it is nothing special, because the root system of the flower was prone to pruning or treatment with growth stimulants. It will be enough to continue moistening the plant or even add mineral fertilizers to the substrate if the culture experiences a lack of them. The transfer method allows you not to give up most of the care techniques and not to mess with the flower all day long.

Location

In order for the transplanted culture to adapt to the new conditions as quickly as possible, it should be placed in a well-lit place. A window sill facing east or south is best for this purpose. However, it is worth understanding that in the summer, direct sunlight can leave burns on young orchid petals. Therefore, it is important to create an additional source of shading, using a special garden net or tulle for this.

Also, a newly transplanted orchid can be placed on a glazed balcony or veranda in spring or summer. As for autumn, it is best to refrain from this idea, since the plant can stand in strong drafts. Although if the florist will ensure that the air remains fresh, but not cold, the orchid will soon adapt to the new conditions.

But putting a vase with a flower in the northern room is not the best idea, because the orchid needs a lot of vitamin D after transplanting.

In addition, the air temperature in the northern rooms is always several degrees lower than in the southern ones. This will be especially noticeable at night, when the amplitude of temperature drops will be almost 10 degrees Celsius – such stress is unacceptable.

Signals for the procedure

Of course, the culture must be transplanted when it begins to lack space in the pot. Usually, the procedure is resorted to every year while the plant remains young, and about every 2 years, when the culture has grown quite a lot. However, in some cases, it is necessary to replace the pot or substrate even for a five-year-old orchid. Here are a few situations in which a transplant is strictly mandatory:

• Overwetting of the soil. If the flower grower accidentally used too much water for irrigation, then you should immediately resort to the transplant procedure. Otherwise, root rot will develop inside the substrate – a dangerous fungal disease for which no medicine has been invented at the moment.
• Infection of the flower by pests. Even if all the insects were killed with the help of insecticides, it is far from a fact that their eggs did not remain in the soil. In order not to take risks, it is recommended to transplant the plant into a new substrate, previously treated with boiling water and dried in a warm place.
• Excess fertilizers. Why is a newly bought flower usually transplanted? It’s just that in stores they are contained in a special soil with a large amount of fertilizers, which allows you to give the culture a “marketable” appearance, but over time they kill it. Accidental introduction of a large amount of trace elements into the soil can also be attributed here.

There is nothing complicated in transplanting phalaenopsis. The main thing that a gardener should remember is that the procedure should not be carried out in a hurry.

The more carefully the plant is transplanted into a new pot, the less stress it will experience and the sooner it will please its owner with beautiful flowering and a decorative appearance.