You will need to get proper orchid compost from the GC or nursery. Multipurpose compost retains far too much water for an orchid. Does it really beed repotting? I find ours say in the same size pots for years and years.

you do need special compost,for your orchid,which is almost just like bark..very free draining which it needs.You can get a small bag at garden centres,or Wilkinsons..Are you sure it is ready for repotting,as it is natural for aerial roots to hang over the side of the pot..unless it is completely pot bound,I would leave it..I only do mine whenever absolutely necessary..maybe,approx every 3 years..hope this helps..

The quickest and surest way to kill an orchid is to repot it. Those thick greyish roots are aerial - they stick out to pick up moisture form the air. They have fungi on them that the orchid needs and will die if they are in soil as they need oxygen to survive.

As Moon Growe and Bloomer have said, basically if you really have to repot an orchid buy the special orchid compost.

It is in a tiny1 inch pot and has 2 healthy leaves but no flowers I really think it needs repotting to flower again Do u agree?

I understand after a few years the lumps of bark break down and prevent free drainage, I understand that this is the time to change the compost but unless it has a very large amount of root not to change the pot-- I've never yet had to do it, just saw your comment-- that is small did you grow it or buy it like that?

It was bought for me as a gift in a fancy metal outer container which is substantially larger Would it be ok to repot it in the outer container as this has no drainage holes?

absolutly not-- sorry, If you have a look in a local garden centre before you do anything you will see different orchids for sale ( the most common are the phaelonopsis) you'll see that they are all growing in bark , in clear pots with big holes in the bottom and roots sticking out all over the place!, If you go down to the bottom of this page, choose O then Orchids, you'll find a amazing amount of information, photo's, questions and answers from members-- its called Goypedia and a tremendous weath of gardening knowledge from members of Goy--hope it helps

No it need to be in one of those clear basket type containers with lots of drainage holes. A orchid should never be left to stand in water, water it through using rain water if at all possible unless your tap water is very soft. I have to say I was once given one of those orchids in a very tiny basket and once the flower died back I could not persuade it to flower again. Probably micro proped.

hadn't thought of that Moongrower-- I've never seen one that tiny

Pamg our GC was selling them one Christmas as gifts and then dropped the price to almost nothing just before Christmas because they were closing and revamping that area and all plants had to go. Even at whatever silly price it was it wasn't worth it! Not enough humidity to keep the poor thing going I suspect.