How do you transplant an orchid?

Air roots are the most natural for orchids! Good for you for keeping your girl in great health. For answers to ALL things Orchid - go to the orchid guru on YouTube: Miss Orchid Girl. She has answers to transplanting questions and LOTS of excellent tips. Don't change a thing until you've watched her do it. There are so many things that you could do wrong and end up damaging your baby. But plan some time before you start - even though her videos are not very long, you'll be so engaged you'll want to watch a lot!

The are roots allow them to gather humidity out of the air. They are natural to orchids. Orchids like to be root bound and don't need to be repotted but every couple of year, or when the orchid medium starts breaking down. I have found that with the orchid bark medium, which I use, two years is close, mine go usually eighteen months to two years before it shows signs of the wood chunks breaking down. You never want to go more than one pot size up, just like with repotting potted plants since they like to be rootbound. Watch the videos to make it easier, I learned on my own, and it took a while for me to figure out how to do it right. At least the orchid survived! When it didn't flower when the rest did, it was the oldest one, we checked the medium and noticed it looked like it was breaking down. Within a week it started putting out a flower stalk and flower buds! Orchids are really not as delicate and hard to care for than people think. With minimal care, they will thrive and live a long, long, time.

Soak the pot containing the orchid in water for several hours, then gently pull out the orchid. Carefully loosen the roots, then remove the growing medium from the root ball. Replant your orchid in a pot that's only about 1 or 2 inches larger than the previous pot. Pack orchid potting mix around the roots