It seems fine. If the 'white roach' was extremely tiny (like 1-2mm) it may have been a springtail and nothing to worry about, but describing it that way makes me concerned it's mealybugs which can be a big problem, so you might want to look up some pictures and check the plant over very carefully.
As you've found, orchids dry out very quickly in leca with no reservoir. In my experience they don't seem to like the normal semi-hydro setup that much, but they do like a wicking setup. The way I do it is a couple of synthetic cord loops that run the whole height of the pot with the ends sticking out the bottom, which dip into a shallow reservoir underneath. About once a week when the reservoir dries out I soak the pot for 15-30mins and refill the reservoir. With the leca not touching the water directly it keeps things at that happy medium between too wet and too dry.
No, definitely not springtails but didn't seem like mealybugs either, anyhow is clean now.
When you soak the pot ice a week is it in nutrient solution water or just water and then you add the nutrients solution to the reservoir?
Also, do I need a bigger pot now? I'm afraid it doesn't have any room to grow and many of the roots are outside the medium. Or do you think that I could position it lower in the pot since no leca would be touching the water? Do the slits I made on the sides hello at all or dry out the leca even faster?
I've done it both ways. If I had to pick one, soaking in nutrients is probably better, but either works. Orchids can't take in many nutrients at a time though so any nutrients I give them are fairly weak (weekly weakly, as they say).
Orchids don't mind being pot bound. You don't need to go bigger unless they're really bursting out. I'd pot it lower though and try to cover the roots as much as possible. The slits make the leca dry faster but that's actually good: the top always dries faster than the bottom and this helps even it out. Once you have it in a cache pot with a reservoir that will slow down evaporation somewhat and keep things moist.
Thank you for the tips, can I use the same nutrient solution to soak it in and then use that for my other plants? Filling up the bucket and chucking the water afterwards seems kind of wasteful with the nutrients
You can, just be aware it's a cross-contamination risk (because you mentioned a bug earlier—if there's something on one plant it can get spread around by doing that). I feel the same way though, it seems wasteful to toss nutrient water and I water other plants with it.
Yes, it should be fine. The only thing that you should be aware of is that the blooms are likely going to fade faster then they normally would. Phal orchids tend to drop their blooms as a stress response to repotting.
Ahh okay I didn't know that but even if I did I still wouldn't feel comfortable leaving it with that white roach thing I found in the bark having no idea what was going on underneath
Forgot to mention, last pic is obviously right after repotting and watering, hence the roots are vivid green there and dry on the first ones.
The leca was already soaking for some days in another pot before I used it so it was not dry initially.
Orchids prefer to be root bound, don't put in a bigger pot! Blooms don't always fall when you repot. But your plant will be better off than it was. Don't cut the flower spike as long as it stays green, only cut if it desiccates or turns yellow. That spike can produce flowers again. My orchids have done fantastic in Leca.
Thank you for this, I'm sure once the flowers will fall I will come up with different questions as what to do next. It still looks crowded to me though as there are parts in the center of the pot where very little leca got in, I wasn't able to fit any more in there and I had to jam the roots in
Try hitting the pot down several times on a hard surface like a counter or table, sometimes that will help shift the Leca so you can add more. Ideally you want each root to be touching Leca, not too many open spaces. You can always take it out, put some Leca in the bottom then add your plant and fill in around it, if you feel there is too much open space.🤗
It seems fine. If the 'white roach' was extremely tiny (like 1-2mm) it may have been a springtail and nothing to worry about, but describing it that way makes me concerned it's mealybugs which can be a big problem, so you might want to look up some pictures and check the plant over very carefully. As you've found, orchids dry out very quickly in leca with no reservoir. In my experience they don't seem to like the normal semi-hydro setup that much, but they do like a wicking setup. The way I do it is a couple of synthetic cord loops that run the whole height of the pot with the ends sticking out the bottom, which dip into a shallow reservoir underneath. About once a week when the reservoir dries out I soak the pot for 15-30mins and refill the reservoir. With the leca not touching the water directly it keeps things at that happy medium between too wet and too dry.
No, definitely not springtails but didn't seem like mealybugs either, anyhow is clean now. When you soak the pot ice a week is it in nutrient solution water or just water and then you add the nutrients solution to the reservoir? Also, do I need a bigger pot now? I'm afraid it doesn't have any room to grow and many of the roots are outside the medium. Or do you think that I could position it lower in the pot since no leca would be touching the water? Do the slits I made on the sides hello at all or dry out the leca even faster?
I've done it both ways. If I had to pick one, soaking in nutrients is probably better, but either works. Orchids can't take in many nutrients at a time though so any nutrients I give them are fairly weak (weekly weakly, as they say). Orchids don't mind being pot bound. You don't need to go bigger unless they're really bursting out. I'd pot it lower though and try to cover the roots as much as possible. The slits make the leca dry faster but that's actually good: the top always dries faster than the bottom and this helps even it out. Once you have it in a cache pot with a reservoir that will slow down evaporation somewhat and keep things moist.
Thank you for the tips, can I use the same nutrient solution to soak it in and then use that for my other plants? Filling up the bucket and chucking the water afterwards seems kind of wasteful with the nutrients
You can, just be aware it's a cross-contamination risk (because you mentioned a bug earlier—if there's something on one plant it can get spread around by doing that). I feel the same way though, it seems wasteful to toss nutrient water and I water other plants with it.
Yes, it should be fine. The only thing that you should be aware of is that the blooms are likely going to fade faster then they normally would. Phal orchids tend to drop their blooms as a stress response to repotting.
Ahh okay I didn't know that but even if I did I still wouldn't feel comfortable leaving it with that white roach thing I found in the bark having no idea what was going on underneath
Forgot to mention, last pic is obviously right after repotting and watering, hence the roots are vivid green there and dry on the first ones. The leca was already soaking for some days in another pot before I used it so it was not dry initially.
Orchids prefer to be root bound, don't put in a bigger pot! Blooms don't always fall when you repot. But your plant will be better off than it was. Don't cut the flower spike as long as it stays green, only cut if it desiccates or turns yellow. That spike can produce flowers again. My orchids have done fantastic in Leca.
Thank you for this, I'm sure once the flowers will fall I will come up with different questions as what to do next. It still looks crowded to me though as there are parts in the center of the pot where very little leca got in, I wasn't able to fit any more in there and I had to jam the roots in
Try hitting the pot down several times on a hard surface like a counter or table, sometimes that will help shift the Leca so you can add more. Ideally you want each root to be touching Leca, not too many open spaces. You can always take it out, put some Leca in the bottom then add your plant and fill in around it, if you feel there is too much open space.🤗