URGENT: In the middle of repotting

[Mothra79]

Sue, I'm growing them in S/H.

[cb977]

Oh

I don't really know much about that...sorry

[Lene Th.]

Im quite new to S/H as well, but i do grow most of my chids in this medium/way of growing. I like this becoures the watering-procedure fits my urge to constantly water...its nearly impossible to water too mutch. A big improvement to my poor chids... *lol*
But, before a chid can adapt to the S/H and the constant moist environement, it needs to grow new cellulare adjusted to the new environement. Thats why the new root-growth from the base is that important, the old roots will usually not survive in the long term, and needs the new roots to take over when they die. If the chid does not have any new growth, it may take too long to adapt, since the chid has to produce new roots and at the same time has to deal with a repot. And if the old roots colapse before the new ones are big enough to support the hole plant, it may suffer and if youre really unlucky, the chid dies.
Growing in S/H is a great way, as long as you take the time its needed to adapt, and make sure it has new roots before the swift. I have even repotted several in both blooms and with buds, but they all had new roots as well. Two of mine did not had any new roots, but where both used to wet environemet, that seems to make the adjustment easier.
Take a look at Rays site, theres all the info you need!
Good luck *s*

[Mothra79]

Lene, that gives me some hope then. This one has a lot of old roots, but it was putting out a ton of new roots right before I took on this little project.

[Ray]

I agree with Ross that you'll likely lose most of those old roots, and if I was repotting it, I'd have trimmed them off before doing so.

As you didn't, I wouldn't worry about it now, but be prepared to flush a lot as they die and decompose. Note: That does NOT mean you're losing the plant, just that the current roots are not designed for the new environment.

[cirillonb]

Lord knows I am no expert but I have studied both sets of pictures several times. The first thing that strikes me is that most of the roots are very dark brown, perhaps not black. I can't feel them whether they are soft, nor smell them for a fetid odor but I suspect many are not functional. Furthermore, I don't see a lot of new root growth nor top growth. I have several plants wallowing in s/h because I did not follow that suggestion (rule) that one should only put things into s/h that are showing active growth.
Thirdly, if you decide to proceed, the second frame of the first set of pictures show a large hole into the center of the root mass as viewed from below, I would gently put as many pellets up there and wherever they will fit otherwise before the final potting.
Just my less than 2 cents.
Nick

[Mothra79]

Thank you everyone for your advice! I have a phal that I brought back around from root rot. It has mainly new roots, with more on the way. I think that it will be my S/H experiment plant. I think the dendrobium is going to go back into regular orchid mix tomorrow. Hopefully I haven't done too much damage to it already.