Myrmecatavola Frances Fox Root Tips Stop Growing

[Ray]

Chani- from what I can see, and your description of the existing roots, make me think you’re simply growing it too dry.

Here’s a typical scenario - Stage 1: new grower who’s experienced with tropical plants gets an orchid. Not knowing any better, waters it to the point of killing the roots.

Stage 2: “I’m not making that mistake again”, so gets another and puts it in very coarse medium and makes sure it’s bone dry before watering again - the other end of the “orchid abuse” spectrum.

The reality is that orchids need a lot of both water and air at the roots. With that potting medium, you could probably do well watering more often, but I’d take a slightly different approach:

Water the hell out of it. Wait 15-30 minutes and repeat. The first go-round will start the process of “opening up” the bark so it can absorb more, and the second watering will allow more complete saturation of the whole mix.

It’s not the water absorbed into the medium that causes issues with the roots, it’s the water held in-between the particles that is, as that’s what cuts off air flow to the roots, leading to suffocation, death, and rotting.

In a coarse, open-structured medium, the particle-to-particle spacing is large enough that the “bridging water” issue is minimized.

[SouthPark]

If I were to use bark, I think I'd go with something like not 100% bark ----- but maybe ratio of 5 to 1 or maybe 5 to 2 (bark to perlite) mix. And maybe go for an orchid pot with a heap of holes (and big ones too) down the bottom of the pot - for both good drainage and for air being able to come through.

That water trapping situation mentioned by Ray between pieces of bark etc is or can be a real killer of orchid roots that aren't used to watery conditions.

[Chani]

SouthPark - Thank you for the tips on the fertilizer and mag-cal supplements! I'll definitely look into that. Also, I don't have 100% bark and there's lots of air slots in the pot so I *hope* I'm good in those areas.

Ray - I think I skipped Stage 1 and went straight to Stage 2 . Really interesting idea about the double water. The way I water/fertilize my orchids is I put the inner pot into an outer pot and go around watering them all and once I've made my round, I empty out the water. They often end up sitting in the water for about an hour. Then in between those big waterings, a few days later, I do a rinse at the sink for those orchids that look like they need more moisture. Do you think that would be enough instead of the water like hell, then water like hell again?

Once again, thank you all for your help and feedback. I very much appreciate it!