about a year ago, I mentioned that I had found the perfect pot for trying to grow my mexipedium. my plant two years ago had five flowers before either the spike dried up or a mealybug crawled up and chewed on it! last year, it had the main growth that was flowering, an old small shoot and a new large shoot. I got busy, 
and moved and the pot was down in the basement and my media stuff was in different tubs, somewhere. last month or so I started digging things out, and repotted my plant a few days ago.
the first shoot had died back so removed, the old flowering shoot had two very long leaves, the middle shoot has a lot of shorter leaves and may flower, and there were two small shoots that were sticking out from the sides of the old pot, and were therefore sticking up above the other section of the plant. I had to perch the middle/new parts of the plant while keeping the rooted section down in the bottom of the pot (and get it all near the bottom of the media)
big tupperware cake tub top, on warm radiator, under compact fluorescent light
angled shot showing depth
top-down
I put a layer of very large, chunky diatomite in the bottom, and piled it up in the middle. the growth with the most leaves was lifted up slightly and the two little growths in the center/bottom were up over the edge of the pot. I mixed up some orchiata, charcoal and spongerock and layered that over the top of the rock and the plant. the small growths were sitting 'okay', but the center one was moving slightly so I attempted to wire it to a small chunk of treefern to stabilize it. I reminded myself to be careful since I had read that the old stems could be brittle, and sure enough just after that I snapped it off. at that point, it was wired to the fern so I just left it where it was (sigh)
I poked a hole about an inch up the side, and then filled it with water/klite. let it sit, and then drained it out. the radiator is running now, of course, so with the heater and light it's pretty warm and assuming more humid in the tub. a little water may sit in the very bottom but with the bottom heat it evaporates fairly quickly. I lowered the hole, and after watering and sitting a few minutes I tip the tub to drain it out
I noticed that some who've posted their mexi media here, don't necessarily use calcium and their plants seem to do fine. it seems that if you use a gritty media and water/drain often they are the most happy. I may use some sand, but will wait and see what it does with this.
and moved and the pot was down in the basement and my media stuff was in different tubs, somewhere. last month or so I started digging things out, and repotted my plant a few days ago. the first shoot had died back so removed, the old flowering shoot had two very long leaves, the middle shoot has a lot of shorter leaves and may flower, and there were two small shoots that were sticking out from the sides of the old pot, and were therefore sticking up above the other section of the plant. I had to perch the middle/new parts of the plant while keeping the rooted section down in the bottom of the pot (and get it all near the bottom of the media)
big tupperware cake tub top, on warm radiator, under compact fluorescent light
angled shot showing depth
top-down
I put a layer of very large, chunky diatomite in the bottom, and piled it up in the middle. the growth with the most leaves was lifted up slightly and the two little growths in the center/bottom were up over the edge of the pot. I mixed up some orchiata, charcoal and spongerock and layered that over the top of the rock and the plant. the small growths were sitting 'okay', but the center one was moving slightly so I attempted to wire it to a small chunk of treefern to stabilize it. I reminded myself to be careful since I had read that the old stems could be brittle, and sure enough just after that I snapped it off.
at that point, it was wired to the fern so I just left it where it was (sigh)I poked a hole about an inch up the side, and then filled it with water/klite. let it sit, and then drained it out. the radiator is running now, of course, so with the heater and light it's pretty warm and assuming more humid in the tub. a little water may sit in the very bottom but with the bottom heat it evaporates fairly quickly. I lowered the hole, and after watering and sitting a few minutes I tip the tub to drain it out
I noticed that some who've posted their mexi media here, don't necessarily use calcium and their plants seem to do fine. it seems that if you use a gritty media and water/drain often they are the most happy. I may use some sand, but will wait and see what it does with this.
