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How to prevent root damage when repotting

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Preventing root damage when repotting

The purpose of repotting is generally thought to be replacing nutrient-depleted growing medium with fresh, nutrient-rich medium, so that orchids grow leaves and roots, bloom and release fragrance. On this, earlier growers also had a brilliant summary: "New soil grows roots, old soil grows leaves." Earlier growers used larger pots for orchids, with three to five shootsorchid plants"a pot full to the brim, which naturally could not be reached in less than six or seven years." Nowadays people use smaller pots to grow orchids, and many use 15*20cm plastic pots; with proper cultivation, in a year several orchid roots will grow against the pot. I grow orchids on a south-facingbalconyGrowing Orchids. In summer the sun is high, and sunlight cannot shine directly into the orchid pots on the balcony; moreover, shade netting is used for shade, so there is no problem of the pot body getting too hot. After the start of autumn, the sun is low and softer, so the shade netting is removed. Because of regular day shifts, I cannot put up the shade netting at noon, and sunlight can then shine directly on the orchid pots. Under direct sunlight, black plastic pots heat up very quickly, and in less than 2 hours they already feel quite hot, and that is where the problem comes in. If the pot body is relatively large, the growing medium needs a process to heat up, and if the ambient humidity is not very high, this process is also slowed, but with a 15*20cm plastic pot, the pot body is black, absorbs heat quickly, and being small in volume heats up quickly. If the windows of an enclosed balcony are closed to raise humidity, the ambient temperature will also rise accordingly, which not only fails to slow the heating process of the pot body but instead makes it worse, and this will scald the roots. This in turn leads to burnt tips and black spots on the leaves. Regarding sunning orchids, Qu Jinze pointed out in "Linghai Lanyan" that "places differ, so take it as the standard that after long sunning the pot body is not scorched; orchid natures differ, so take it as the measure that after long sunning the leaf tips are not burnt." Senior Qu only pointed out the principles that should be followed in sunning orchids, and did not say why this should be so. I think it is related to excessive sunning of orchids causing root damage and thereby leaf damage. As for how to prevent burnt tips,orchid growersexperts also only point out: first grow the roots, and only when the roots are well grown can the leaves be well grown. I think preventing burnt tips should also be like preventingpests and diseases, with prevention first, rather than waiting for problems to appear before treating them. Preventing root damage, and thereby preventing burnt tips and preventing leaf damage, is also like this. When repotting, besides changing the growing medium, when replanting the orchid, attention should also be paid to preventing the orchid roots from sticking to the pot wall. If the roots are too long, my method is that there is no need to cut them short (that could lead to bacterial infection); just put the roots into the pot and slowly rotate, and the half-placed roots can be set deeper. In addition, since black pots absorb heat and warm up quickly, would it be better to find a way to switch to lighter-colored pots?

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