Dear orchid friends, what would you do with this? All comments/opinions are welcome. Comic relief would also be well received.
I have had this nice, big healthy Angreacum Crestwood plant nearly 3 years, and it had a fading flower on it when I got it but has not bloomed since. Yesterday at the orchid show I was bemoaning this to my friend when the lady standing next to us said "I have one that did that, too. Had it 4 years and it never bloomed, then I re-potted it and it has bloomed nicely ever since." She moved on before I thought to ask her what kind of medium she used, etc.
So, today I circled the plant for a while, then made several attempts to coax it out of its (non-vented, plastic) pot. It felt like it was cemented to the pot, so I put it in a tub of water to soak and tried again after a little time. Thankfully it did eventually come out without breaking any roots, but then I was confronted with what you see in the pictures. The medium it had in that pot is sharp grey gravel, (from Krull-Smith who seem to pot all their orchids in that
) so of course it is not at all broken down. Some of the gravel came out, but as you can see, the roots have formed a nearly solid 'basket' inside the pot and most of the gravel medium is still in there. Most roots I can see are plump although the ones that were down next to the pot walls are discolored reddish brown. Nothing is mushy or stinky.
Would you:
Pick out the gravel? I've hosed it, and shaken out as much as is going to come out without surgery on the root ball.
Risk breaking roots to loosen up this root ball?
Leave the whole thing intact and just pot it up with new medium around it?
What kind of medium? I know they like to stay fairly moist, so some sphagnum in the mix? I have that, and bark mix and Aliflor-type stuff.
What kind of pot? I have a nice vented clay pot the right size, or also a cedar basket.
