Excessive moisture settles in pockets in the orchid potting mix and rapidly decomposes the compost. When this condition prevails, roots tend to rot off, bulbs shrivel, and leaves turn yellow.

An inexperienced grower, concluding that these symptoms are caused by a lack of water, may overwater, completing the damage to the roots and killing the plant.

Cleanliness is important in repotting and the orchid potting mix. Old pots and crock (broken bits of pots used in the bottom of a pot for aeration and drainage) should be scrubbed thoroughly. New pots should be soaked for a time.

As a concluding word on the subject of equipment, the grower should remember that 'A proper place for everything and everything in its proper place' is a wise maxim. The best arrangement is to have a clean, light potting shed adjacent to the greenhouse.

The major furnishing of this shed should be a potting bench of a height suited to the potter. A comfortable height is advisable, or potting may become a back-breaking job.

A specific example will provide the most understandable picture of potting procedure. Let us take a Cattleya plant with Osmunda as the orchid potting mix; the method will be similar for other plants with certain exceptions that must be discussed separately.

The Osmunda, after dirt and foreign material have been shaken from it, is chopped into pieces about four to five inches square, cut with the grain. The medium is easier to handle if it has been sprinkled with water the night before.

Old clinging roots are severed from the pot with a sharp knife, and the compost, containing the undisturbed plant, is forced from the pot with a screw driver. The roots are shaken free from decomposed material. Dead or long roots are trimmed slightly, since they would be injured in potting anyway.

On a mature plant most of the backbulbs will be found to have no roots and, usually, no leaves. Three to five of the newer bulbs are left; the rest are cut from the plant and, if they are lacking leaves and roots, and are true backbulbs, they are labeled and kept under the bench, dark and damp, until dormant eyes break. The plant is now inspected for pest or fungus, for which it may be treated with a safe insecticide and a small brush.

If it has not been possible to save some of the good Osmunda on the forepart of the plant or if for some reason the roots have been destroyed, a soft ball of Osmunda is tied to the base of the plant as a foundation on which to work.

It is often well to enlarge the hole in the bottom of the pot to give the drainage and aeration needed by epiphytes.

Some growers use a single piece of crock in the bottom, while others fill as much as one-third of the pot with crock—bits of brick, coke, haydite, or gravel may be used instead; in any case, the hole should not be tightly covered.

With the plant held firmly in one hand about one-half inch below the top of the pot, the back of the plant close to the edge of the pot, and the growing end toward the center, potting begins.

A piece of Osmunda is held at a right angle to the top of the pot with the grain also running at a right angle to the top; with a little flip of the potting tool, so that it never touches roots or plant, the chunk slips neatly in place within the pot, to rest vertically and against the plant.

This procedure is repeated, from side to side, until all the gaps are filled, each chunk being made shorter as the edge of the pot is approached. If the plant leans to one side it can be straightened by adding Osmunda to prop it up.

The beginner often feels that experienced orchidists place too much emphasis on packing the medium tightly in the pot, but there are good reasons for this emphasis. Cattleyas require firm potting so that roots will have a strong hold on the orchid potting mix.

Plants that are held weakly may wobble and roots may be broken. Firm potting also prevents plants from falling out of dry and shrunken compost and keeps water from settling in holes and rotting the roots. It is wise to spread the roots, packing Osmunda among them for aeration.

There are many methods of packing the orchid potting mix into the pot, but the one outlined is a good workable way of doing it and seems to pack the medium more satisfactorily than just to force it in without regard for direction.

Some growers favor severing the rhizome while the plant is still in the pot, dividing it some time before repotting, and thus encouraging new roots and growths without disturbing the plant. This is a good plan and sometimes saves a year of growth.

Whatever the method, the potting material should be worked in without letting the potting tool touch the roots. Success depends largely on the roots' being disturbed as little as possible. If the tool is pressed against the edge of the pot for leverage and the material worked toward the center, only the medium will touch the plant.

A further and equally necessary precaution is to take care that the rhizome lies along the top of the potting material and particularly that the dormant eye is not buried.

This may be difficult if, owing to failure to repot in time, the plant has started to form new growths up in the air. Even so, the rhizome must be placed along the top of the material and the bulbs gradually tied into an upright position.

Even after the amateur has decided he can force no more Osmunda into the pot, it is usually wise to try again. It is surprising how many times the pot will be found not nearly so full as it was believed to be.

When the pot is full, the stake is inserted at the back of the plant and the bulbs are tied up. They should be tied firmly enough to prevent a movement that will break off roots as they form, but not tight enough to choke the bulb or to force it so suddenly into an upright position that it will snap from the strain.

The label is placed toward the back of the pot, and the pot is then set aside in a place especially designated for newly potted plants.

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