Imported Bare-Root Orchids: How to Pot and Settle Them In

Imported bare root orchids, from areas like South America and southeast Asia, often arrive dehydrated and with bad roots. This video shows you how to deal with them and get them settled in. The basic method is as follows

1) Soak in sugar water overnight. This will both hydrate the plants and give them a boost, with the sugar helping to restore dry, desiccated roots. To make sugar water, dissolve around 2 tablespoons of ordinary white sugar in a bucket of water. Too much sugar is not good-you are not making a syrup!

2) Pot in the smallest pot possible, enough to take just 1 year worth of growth. The idea here is to establish the plant and encourage it to grow new roots. This is easier to achieve in a small pot, and using bigger pots for plants with bad roots can result in rot as there aren't enough healthy roots to absorb all that water.

3) Water with ordinary water (ideally rainwater if your tap water is hard) as normal for a few weeks, then start fertilising as normal. There is evidence to suggest that sugar water damages plants which are healthy if it is used for extended periods, so please don't keep using sugar water.

Note: I use coconut husk for all my Cattleya and Laelia orchids, as I find that they do particularly well in it in my conditions. I also find that they settle well into coconut husk. Many people use pure sphagnum moss, and repot the following year into an orchid bark based mix once the plant grows new roots. Others pot straight into orchid bark or coconut husk. You may use whatever you find easiest and works best for you.

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