Root porn!!

[Roberta]

Crowded, not a lot of room. Some things, like Ansellia africana and Den. speciosum do vertical roots just on general principles. If in a confined space, they capture detritus from the canopy in those "birds nest" roots. Den speciosum especially... it's a lithophyte, roots into cracks of the rocks to hold on, then vertical roots to capture nutrients.

[BobcatJohnson]

K-Sci,

I like how you tease us by taking a picture of a plant with the tag in the photo, yet, placing the tag in such as way as we can only see the back side of it.

[Shadeflower]

Originally Posted by K-Sci

Okay, I may as well throw another one in too. I've always wondered what makes orchid roots grow straight up. High humidity? Moisture in the air? One would think they'd go toward moist media rather than away.

-Keith

nice one keith. I have roots wanting to grow out of the pot like you and Sade but mine rarely grow straight up... They generally grow sideways, away from the light. My preferred theory is that they are growing in the direction of my desk, ie trying to reach me

I've got one really determined one, one root is beating the others by a fair margin by now. I wonder how long it will get?

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by K-Sci

Okay, I may as well throw another one in too. I've always wondered what makes orchid roots grow straight up. High humidity? Moisture in the air? One would think they'd go toward moist media rather than away.

-Keith

I have several Odontocidium Catatante who grow exactly like that. I think it has something to do with catching falling leaves, etc, to harvest nutrients in nature. Making like a little bird nest to capture debris. But I could be way off base. Can't remember where I heard/read it... maybe here.

---------- Post added at 08:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:04 AM ----------

And it appears I didn't read far enough...forgot to look further or "turn the page" first.

Yes, like Roberta says.

---------- Post added at 08:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:06 AM ----------

I have several Phals that do that "lets crawl away" root thing like ShadeFlower's. They appear to be begging for mounting, which is how I end up with more mounted plants than I want to care for. It's such a tease.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by BobcatJohnson

K-Sci,

I like how you tease us by taking a picture of a plant with the tag in the photo, yet, placing the tag in such as way as we can only see the back side of it.

The yellow tag in the media is blank on both sides, but the one on a cable tie in the lower right says Oncidium Sphaceatum ‘Sunbeam’ AM/AOS.

-Keith


---------- Post added at 06:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:47 PM ----------

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

I have several Phals that do that "lets crawl away" root thing like ShadeFlower's. They appear to be begging for mounting...

Sentient plants. Hmm.

Well, you did say "appears".

The really odd thing about my Oncidium sphaceatum ‘Sunbeam’ is that there were no roots above of the media when I first got it. It has to be something in or about the environment.

Maybe they do this when they're too dry and the humidity is very high. This plant spent the summer outdoors in the Mississippi heat. It is in a basket filled with straight Ochiata and was watered 1-2x day. Perhaps it is putting them out because they did get watered well, but that doesn't explain why they went straight up rather than straight out.

-Keith

[BobcatJohnson]

Posted a picture of this plant in the "Orchids in bloom" page of the forum. I gave a history of the plant in my care, and mentioned that I'd post a picture of the roots in this thread.

I posted this first picture several months ago when the roots were pushing on nicely, I'll post again here for reference.

June 2021.


November 2021.

[Roberta]

A root machine!

[SADE2020]

What kind of orchid is it?

[BobcatJohnson]

Oncidium Witches jewel ivory lips.
I posted about it in the "orchids in bloom" thread.

[isurus79]

Wow!! That's intense!