We need to know where you live, what zone.

If you live a tropical climate you could add holes. If you live in a cool environment, you don't need them. Colder climates have indoor heat which is very drying. If the roots are too exposed to the air, they will dry out.

If you live in a humid environment, you need air to get to the roots to keep them from remaining too wet.

Please provide growing zone and your growing conditions, window, outdoors, etc.

Can't provide help without that information.

Jane

Hi Jane, I'm in Zone 5 (PA)
Window seal grower
I do not put them outside for the summer,,I want no chance of bugs!

I typically water once per week, the ones with the extra holes or the pots with the slits are drying out quicker and could be watered every 5 days.
Even with it being winter I think my heat is drying them out, maybe too quickly..

Maybe I should quite putting the extra holes, I just thought it would help keep them from getting rotted roots

jeannie01,

Western OH here, and I don't put any extra holes in my plastic pots for my 30-40 phals. All watered weekly when inside. Not much issue with root rot as long as I don't use spagh :(

BTW: If you can get them out on a east patio or 'shady' other area this summer, you'll be amazed at how well they will do next fall when time to flower. Plus nature will handle the needed seasonal temp drops for developing fall spikes. If you do, be cautious putting them out as they need to acclimate.

Good luck,

Bob

Oh boy Bob, do you think I should report in the spring to pots without so many holes? Here I was thinking I was helping there roots and I went alittle overboard!
Maybe rather than repot could I just put them into another clear plastic orchid pot? Which would cut down on the amount of air they are getting. As I sit here slapping my hand across my forehead, duh!

Ha, ha, very funny. We've all been where you are! This is how you learn, you didn't do anything wrong.

The problem growing orchids is to try and fit them into your environment. We have to fool around, trying to retrofit our homes to mimic their natural environment. It takes time and fooling around making all sorts of adjustments. You'll find your way.

I wouldn't put the Phals inside another plastic pot but if you have some clay pots laying around, stick the plastic pot inside the clay pot. The clay lets air through but will also keep some humidity around the roots. They grow well that way and I did that when I lived in zone 6 in NY.

Orchid roots will dry out due to the low humidity inside a heated house in the winter. If you don't have clay pots, you could use a larger plastic pot which leaves some air space between both pots. I did that also during winter. I would put some Styrofoam pieces around the space to keep the smaller pot from falling over. You can use rock or broken clay pieces just to keep the smaller pot stable.

In Spring, remove the larger pot and move the plants outside if possible. Many times, their roots will grow into the empty space and attach to the bigger pot. In that case, you can continue to grow the plant that way. Phals seem to like that. Otherwise, you could repot at that time.

They will be fine, either way. I wouldn't repot any of them now.

You did a good job!

Jane

Thanks for the suggestions, Jane.
Funny late last summer I was disgusted with how many flower pots I have, so I pitched a bunch of clay pots! Lol
I will look around to see if I saved any of them. I do have some larger clear plastic pots that I bought by mistake. I may need to use them.

My only concern is that since they are doing well and spiking maybe I should just let them be and just keep an eye on how fast they dry out.

I thought maybe I could put some tape on the extra holes, but I worried that the tape could be poisonous to orchids.

Decisions, decisions! Lol

jeannie01,

At this point I'd keep them as is and just keep up on the watering. Next re-potting you shouldn't need to add extra holes to the new pots.

Bob

Thanks Bob and Jane, I guess I need to order some pots so I have them ready.
I have started to write on my pits the date I repoted. I'm also going to mark the bloom/spike date.

I buy from repotme.com or EBay.