Help! My orchid is potted in a non-draining pot. What should I do?
It has happened to all of us…we are at the store and there is this cute orchid, in a decorative pot. This orchid would be perfect as a last minute gift or you just want to bring it home. Once bought we realize that this orchid is in a pot with NO drainage hole (as shown below). This is wrong on so many levels! Orchids need drainage to survive. They naturally live in the jungle on a tree, with free flowing water. Unlike other plants, orchids hate being in standing water! They WILL die in this environment because they 100% will get root rot eventually. It is essential to have your orchids in a pot that allows water to flow freely out the bottom, check out my favorite pots HERE.
But what to do? Well if you just want to enjoy the blooming orchid and then throw it away go ahead but secretly I will be judging you:) If you want a potted plant, that likes standing in water, I suggest getting a mum or poinsettia. Most people think orchids are impossible to grow, which is the a myth, and they end up throwing them away. This is expensive and not necessary! Orchids are easy to grow as long as you know what to do.
So if you want to see this sweet orchid bloom again and thrive then you have another option. It can be confusing, in this case, because every website says to wait to repot orchids after their blooms have fallen…. NOT in this case! They need to escape this environment ASAP! And unfortunately they may already be lost if their roots have rotted from overwatering. This is because even if they were given the proper amount of water, their roots would be sitting in this water instead of it freely running over their roots and out of the bottom of the pot. Hopefully they have not rotted… If your plant is not dead, do this;
1. GENTLY pull the plant out of the closed container. Hopefully, inside the pot with no drainage, there is another clear plastic container with drainage. If this is the case…leave it alone outside of the “bad” pot. It may need to dry out a bit before you next water it. The next time you water it – follow these watering instructions. Once watered you may put it back in the decorative container but only after the water has flushed through it and out the bottom. I would also wait to put it back in the decorative pot until it has sat outside for an hour or so – just to make sure there is no extra water that may drain out later. Don't water it in the decorative container because the water will just pool at the bottom and not drain out.
2. If there is not an inside clear pot – you are in trouble! – soak it in a tub of water for ten minutes and see if you can gently pull it out. If it won't budge you may have to break to the pot in order to gently take it out.
Moving an already bloomed orchid from one pot to another is called “drop potting” and should only be done in extreme situations such as this. You are not going to want to fully repot. Once you have freed the orchid from the suffocating pot you will want to “drop” (place gently) the orchid, IN ITS ORIGINAL mix into a similar size pot. In extreme situations I cut off the bloom/stem when I realized the roots were so bad that they could not support this bloom and the whole plant would die. Orchids work in a balance between their leaves, blooms and roots. When out of balance they are in distress and can die.
3. Now that your orchid is in a cozy and free draining home let it rest for a bit before watering. Hopefully the new drainage will allow it to bloom happily for months, but quite often you may loose some blooms because repotting an orchid while in bloom can create “bud blast.” This has happened to me….the blooms that were not opened yet, fell off. This does not mean it's dying it is just adjusting to it's new home and is protecting itself by letting it blooms fall off.
4. Once your orchid is done blooming follow these repotting instructions because they will need completely new mix.
Note: Here are more pictures I took at local grocery stores for your reference. These are potted in non draining pots.
Hope that Helps,
Hannah
Feel free to leave comments or questions.
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Hello, I just bought two Phalaenopsis Orchid’s, they are both in a glass pot but the plant itself is wrapped in plastic with a hole in the bottom. Do I need to take that plastic off? I don’t know if when you’re referring to a plastic container if this is what you’re talking about. My white one the leaves aren’t looking to good, kind of getting yellow spots. When I check it for dryness I can feel that it’s moist. I’m just worried about how the leaves are looking. The other one is purple and the leaves are very green and healthy looking. I’m just concerned about the plastic covering. Thank you
I would take it out of both containers and place it gently in a container with drainage holes (just find one that is the same size). Typically orchids are sold in two pots not one wrapped in plastic but either way you need to have total drainage. You want to drop pot it because it’s in bloom.
Hannah
Thank you so much, I love this site and I’ve bookmarked it too!!
You are welcome!
Hannah
Wow! Your site is very informative and helpful!
Thanks a million!
Thandekile
You are welcome!
I have 2 plants in a glass pot so there’s no drainage they have bloomed twice but wondering if I need to repot them into different containers tho I do love them in a glass pot as opposed to a plastic container… Information on this site is really useful and hopefully my plants will continue too strive!
Hi Chrissy,
Yes you do. See above. They will die in glass containers with no drainage holes. Orchids are not like normal house plants. Their roots can’t be wet all the time or the roots will rot and they will die.
Hannah
Hi Hannah. I am a new orchid mom and have a question. I am drop potting my plant but the bottom of my non-draining pot had a single layer (like a sheet) of moss on the very bottom below the roots. When I drop pot, should I lay this down in the new pot or toss it? I’m worried it may hold in too much moisture and the water will not drain properly…or should I leave it in case the plant is used to this layer? Thanks in advance! I love you blog!
Hi,
Thanks for the compliment! I would not use the sheet of moss. Anything that traps water and slows drainage should be eliminated.
Hannah
I have 3 orchids in non-draining pots purchased last year or year before. 2 of them re-bloomed this spring. What I do now is fill the pot with water and immediately turn it over to drain all water out without losing the bark soil. The oldest one is root bound and has never re-bloomed. Glad I found this site and I think I will still repot them all after blooming.
Hi,
Just make sure they get really dry before watering them and repot them as soon as they are done blooming,
Hannah
Hey Hannah,
It is really great to have a read of your post, but I do have a question.
I have just started to grow orchid. I have browsed a lot of website and it looks like everyone says I should grow it in a pot with hole underneath. However, I just rang the flowerist and the guy there told me that u dont have to buy a pot with hole as if u didnt water too much (i.e. to the amount that need a hole)
I’m so confused, the only one can help me is either the flowerist or the internet. Dont know what I should do to better feed my orchid!
Regards
Samantha
Hi,
I would love to help!
Orchid roots can not be in a container with out drainage and air flow. They are not like normal houseplants in this way.
I would have to disagree with your florist on this. If you look at wwe.repotme.com website (my favorite site) they will tell you this as well as the American Orchid Society.
Hope this helps,
Hannah
I have an orchid that has starting growing keikis on 4 different stems but have just realized that it is in a pot with no drainage. My husband gave it to me last November. I assumed it was in a plastic case inside of the decorative pot, but as i was contemplating repotting it today or not, because it has babies growing on the stems, I have now realized it is in no other pot inside the decorative one. There are 3 plants in 1 pot. Should I repot them before the babies are all grown and ready to be repotted or should I repot them now? Should I leave them all together or give them all their own pot? and then add the babies to that pot when they are ready?
Hi Shauna,
I would love to help!
Yes, you should “drop pot” it as stated above in the post. Once the babies are grown – you can fully repot all of them with fresh mix.
I have a post on keiki’s – as stated in that blog entry you don’t want to cut off and repot the babies unless their roots are at least three inches long which can take awhile. Your orchid probably produced these bc of the no drain pot. You can pot them along side the mother plant if you like at first or you can plant them separate – that is up to you. Here is the link…
https://myfirstorchid.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/basal-keikibaby-orchid/
Hope that helps,
Hannah
Thank you Hannah! I have read up on what to do with the keiki’s and when they are ready to be repotted. I appreciate your willingness to help us newbies get going:)!
Shauna
Shauna,
No problem! Glad I could help,
Hannah
Hi, Hannah, I just stumbled on your blog after quite a few weeks of looking around the internet for answers to my many orchid questions. I inherited about 20 orchid plants last December. I knew NOTHING about orchids then, but I’ve learnt a lot!
I live in coastal Florida, where we have no shortage of humidity! the plants had all been outdoors (mostly in full, direct sun or in hot shade) for about a year, and they were all still alive, so I left all the orchids in their original containers, pretty much (they all had holes in for drainage). Through the last 6 months every single one has bloomed (!), making me very happy.
Although I did bring in three flowering orchids at a time to have in my living room, I rotate them after a month or two, putting them back outdoors. Most of the plants spend most of their lives on my covered porch, where they get a fair bit of indirect light, a lot of humidity, and no water except what I give them. I had been watering them by just giving them a few ice cubes a week, but they seemed to be getting really dry and hot. A few were limp. So, after reading on the internet about it, I recently started watering them via soaking them in a bucket for half an hour, letting the roots get really wet, and then letting them dry out for at least a week…at which pouint I resumed the weekly ice-cube treatment. I plan to dunk them in water once a month. All of them seem better now, except for one, a new baby, which has turned two leaves yellow and is losing those leaves (that’s how I found your blog today, looking up “yellow leaves”). I gather from what you wrote that it will be okay, and the leaf drop is normal as the baby starts new roots and leaves.
My main question now is, should I be feeding the orchids so they will bloom again for me in fall? I have a worm farm and I have sometimes put some of the liquid from the worm farm on my orchids, but I don’t know if that’s too strong for them or just right or not enough. I could also put the worm castings (sort of like soil) into the pots, but I think it might be too rich. Do you recommend buying commercial “orchid food”? thanks in advance for your advice on feeding my orchids!
I will be following your blog from now on — maybe you’d like mine, too — it’s a travel blog called BLOGODONIA: BLOG WITHOUT BORDERS.
Hi,
Thanks for reading:)
I use only true orchid fertilizer on my orchids because they require special fertilizer (not just normal plant fertilizer).
They also require special orchid mix – not normal soil that you would plant let say a tomato plant in.
I get both mine from repotme.com. But you can get it anywhere…
I have heard of soaking your orchids like this but I like to water them by flooding then with water when they are dry.
I have a post on this. How to water orchids.
And I don’t like using ice cubes because they are a tropical plant and are not use to really cold water.
I think your set up sounds good but I would consistently water them the same way. I also don’t like the soaking method because many times people “forget” they were soaking them and do it for hours which can cause root rot.
Orchids don’t like to be sitting in standing water – this is one of the main differences between orchids and normal hours plants.
Hannah
I just got a little orchid (it is quite small) and it has 4 flowers one it but the pot has no hole
Amber,
I would love to help. Most times inside the pots with no holes there is a small plastic pot that is inside.
See if this is so.
If it is pull it out of the “no hole” pot and water in the small plastic pot and wait for ALL the water to drain out before putting it back until the next watering. Or you can just choose to not out it back in the old pot at all. Eventually when the blooms are done blooming you can repot it in a better container with holes.
If not.
You either need to poke holes in the bottoms of the “no hole pot” or drop potted into a similar size pot.
Drop potting is used with a blooming orchid. It is different then repotting because the orchid is in bloom and its less shocking to it. Sometimes when you repot a blooming orchid it will loose it blooms as repotting can be shocking to it. Drop potting is just placing it in its original soil in an new pot.
Hope that Helps,
Hannah
I bought a phalanopsis for my wife’s birthday and it bloomed and flourished for 2 weeks. I put some miracle grow fertilizer sticks in (10-10-10) and added some extra support structure ( bamboo ladders), and now I am getting bud blast. I figure that the fertilizer sticks is what has caused the bud blast. However I have been reading up on your blog and I am worried that I might have a non draining pot and am beginning to worry about the root system. The care card that came with the orchid said to let it dry out completely before watering again. So I have been testing the potting media ( moss). It has been moist but it is starting to get hard to find a moist spot now and I am wondering if the bud blast is from not watering it enough. Or am I just so lucky that I have multiple problems at one time? Please help. This orchid was not cheap and it is very beautiful and I would love to save it if possible.
Franklin,
Hi! I would love to help. I recently got an orchid for Mother’s Day which did the same thing…
Most of the time this happens, with a newly purchased orchid, because of the extreme conditions it goes through when being shipped. Which is not your fault!
This is different things that happen to it while being shipped…
No natural light.
Over watering.
Shaken around.
Different drafty air.
So I would not be concerned about it reblooming next year – it will probably be fine.
As far as this year is concerned. I have a few questions..
1. You said you were concerned about it not have a drainage hole. Does it?
2. As far as watering goes. Are you waiting till its completely dry? I know you said its hard to tell but if its packed in moss it should get crunchy showing its dry.
3. Are some of the blooms open or did they never open at all?
Let me know and we can figure this out:) you can also send a pic to myfirstorchid@gmail.com and I can take a look at it,
Hannah
I dug around a bit and found that the orchid is in a smaller pot inside of the larger one so I removed it from the larger pot (I took the whole small pot with the orchid in it out of the larger pot). Some of the buds that were on the plant when I received it did open up and a few new ones formed. But the new ones are the ones that are shriveling up. As for watering when I took the smaller pot out I could tell that the moss is still moist so I’m gonna hold off on watering for a bit also some of the roots were exposed and they were green and looked healthy. Let me know if you would like some more pics beside the ones I sent already and I will send more.
I responded via email but it definitely has bud blast and is most likely caused by the shipping process. Did you read my post on Bud Blast? If not I can explain it further. I am terribly sorry – so frustrating!!
Hannah