If you have chosen the location for your lady's slipper carefully, then caring for it is not too complicated. However, regular watering and fertilizing is not enough. Every now and then the lady's slipper should be repotted.
How to repot and which substrate to use for lady's slipper?
To repot your lady's slipper, choose the time after flowering in spring. Use orchid substrate or a home-made mixture of wood, bark, moss and coconut fiber with a pH of 5 to 6.5, good permeability and root aeration.
When should I repot my lady's slipper?
If your lady's slipper's pot becomes too small or the substrate starts to rot, then it's high time to repot. You can recognize a pot that is too small because the substrate is no longer visible in the usually transparent pot, only roots cannot be seen or the roots are even growing out of the drainage hole at the bottom.
How often does my lady slipper need to be repotted?
Ideally, you don't wait until your lady's slipper blows up its plant pot, instead you repot it regularly. The time after flowering, i.e. spring, is usually particularly suitable for this. This ensures optimal ventilation of the roots because the substrate remains nice and loose and permeable.
Which substrate is suitable for the lady's slipper?
Orchids generally do not thrive in normal potting soil, this also applies to the lady's slipper. Nevertheless, you don't necessarily have to buy orchid soil (€9.00 on Amazon), you can also mix the substrate yourself. In addition to wood and bark, moss and coconut fibers are also suitable as basic substances.
Add small Styrofoam balls to ensure good aeration of the roots and to improve water permeability. A little charcoal is used for disinfection. The pH value of the finished substrate should be in the weakly acidic range of 5 to 6.5. To keep it that way, you should water your lady's slipper with low-lime water (rainwater or stale tap water).
The most important things in brief:
- Use ready-made orchid substrate or your own mixture
- possibly add wood ash to disinfect
- slightly acidic soil, pH value between 5 and 6, 5
- pay attention to good permeability and root aeration
- repot before the roots grow out of the bottom of the pot or the substrate rots
Tip
If you water your lady's slipper with lime-containing tap water, you may need to repot it more often. The plant does not like lime deposits on the substrate.
