Help with Phalaenopsis

[mmorehead]

Hello, All! Sorry for the persistence with posting this question again, but I really need to know something in regard to re-potting a phal...

Is it common to have new roots sprouting from brown, rotten roots? I re-potted a phal today and accidentally cut a brown root from the rhizome that had three long green roots attached to it via a white fiber. It still has many healthy roots, but I needed to know how to go about this in the future. When encountering bad roots with new roots attached, is it recommended to cut them anyway? Do all brown roots need cut during the re-potting process? I know this may sound extremely amateur, but I'm still learning.

Thanks!

[PitcherASAMD]

From what I've picked up from others, the root can still be dark but able to provide nutrients to other attached roots via the inner "white fiber" as you described. If the root isn't squishy then it might be best to leave it alone...But hopefully others will chime in to give you more advice. Good luck!

[Zoi2]

Sometimes roots will turn a brown color due to the media fading, these are healthy. The brown squishy ones are the dead ones. In the future, just cut the dead roots and you'll be fine.
Joann

[RosieC]

I've had ones which have gone hollow higher up, then have good root below the thin thread.

Hollow ones (rather than squishy ones) are not rotten, but are dead. But water can still be drawn from the lower good root through the thin thread.

I used to cut these off, but now I prefer to leave them. I often remove the outer sheath and just leave the inner thread to connect the lower root to the plant.

[camille1585]

I just saw a root like that last week when I was repotting a new phal. I was about to cut off what seemed to be a very dead root, when I noticed two growing green ends on it. So I left it. The thread in the middle is actually the true root. Everything around it (the velamen) is there is collect water to give it to the root.
Completely brown squishy roots can be cut off, but I would leave one that have growing tips on them.

[Ray]

Sometimes you'll see a root look like it's good at the end, but truly is rotted closer to the plant. What has happened is that the original root has begun to succumb to suffocation from the decomposing medium, but before it has died altogether, began new growth, which is tailored to the environment.

You might as well go ahead and remove the whole thing, as once that upper part totally dies, that apparently-OK growth below will not be able to survive.

I believe that the so-called hollow "fiber thing" in the core of the root is pretty much just the xylem, which some will tell you indicates that the living root below can still push mineral nutrients up though the xylem to the plant, but without the phloem to transport organic nutrition and sugars made through photosynthesis, the lower part cannot survive.

By the way, a phalaenopsis, being a monopodial plant, does not have a rhizome.