Orchids Growing Out of Control!!! - Orchid Board

PhalinVA · #1 09-05-2010, 11:45 PM

I have four orchids (all Phals) growing out of control. They are throwing aerial roots everywhere (not in pretty way, they kinda look scary now) and the roots are peeking out of tiny holes of the pot at the bottom. I did repot them a few month ago. I'm not sure what I should do now.

A little about the orchids' history... I knew nothing about orchid until last fall when I received my first orchid from my boyfriend. I killed it in a few weeks by overwatering and was discouraged. I received three more orchids in 4" pots on Valentine's Day, and I almost killed them again but YouTube finally educated me and saved them. I bought another 3" orchid from grocery store meantime, completing the four mentioned above. When the petals fell off, I followed the instruction in YouTube and repotted them all to the transparent orchids pots with tiny holes at the bottom and side, in premium orchid mix (which I know nothing about but the description sounded good to me). The ones from 4" were repotted to 5" and 3" one to 4".

That was end of May. By end of July, each of them grew at least 3 new leaves (one is having 4th leaf), and the grocery store orchid starts to squeeze out several roots through the side and bottom holes. I had to repot it to 5" (2nd time repotting in 2 month). By end of August, all Valentine's Day orchids started to do the same so I repotted the biggest one with 4th leaf to 6". To me, it seemed weird because YouTube video said that orchids usually grow 2-3 leaves per year and should be repotted only once a year and move up pot size every other year. How come my orchids are about to pop out from the pots only in 3 month?????

Valentine's Day orchids also started to grow a lot of aerial roots everywhere - some are growing to bottom, but others are growing upwards and sideway, etc. They were cute at the beginning but when I saw the plants were covered with roots every angle, they looked rather unpleasant.

And then Valentine's Day orchids started to have spikes...with huge leaflets. I was surprised to see them in July because the petals fell off in April. And then these spikes started to develop huge leaflets instead of growing tall. I thought it might be keiki at first, but no, they are not. They are where the spikes should be (not at the bottom of the plants) and no roots around them other than the crazy aerial roots. Two of them have double spikes and they all have leaflets as big as my thumb (and are still growing bigger).

I'm worried I'm doing something wrong with the plants. I water them only once a week and haven't given them fertilizer for a while. (Used to give fertilizer once or twice a month until July) They were perfectly normal orchids when I first brought them home with a lot of pretty flowers and normal spikes with normal or no leaflet. They had a couple of aerial roots but not so many like now. I'm afraid they will just keep growing to 5th and 6th leaves with no flower and grow out of the pots again. What should I do? Should I keep moving up pot size? Should I control light? I'm so confused and lost.

Rosiefuture · #2 09-06-2010, 12:06 AM

Hi PhalinVA, welcome to the OB

Any chance of some pics of these manic phals? Especially the 'leaflets' you mentioned? Do the roots of the phals fill the pots that you have potted them into?

trdyl · #3 09-06-2010, 01:31 AM

Welcome to OB!

Growth is good. Pics will always help. Epiphytic orchid roots will generally grow everywhere. I have included a link to a Phal culture sheet.

AOS | Phalaenopsis

PhalinVA · #4 09-06-2010, 03:46 PM

Thanks, Marion and Ted.

I've attached some pictures above. The spikes started like in picture #4 and then grew like pic #1-#3. Pic #5 and #6 show roots filling up the pot and peeking out at the bottom.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #5 09-06-2010, 03:59 PM

General guidelines for Phals are that they grow anywhere around 2 to 4 leaves a year during the course of their normal growing season from spring on to the end of summer, (sometimes a couple more), under ideal or near ideal conditions.

Root growth can occur at any given time of the year and can be quite vigorous.

Keikis along the spike are usually a sign of distress. But plantlets along the base or stem of the plant are a toss up between normal and distress in Phals depending on what kind you have and other specific situations.

In the case of your plant, I'd think that you're doing just fine.

Roots on epiphytical orchids are generally unruly and often times highly disorganized. So roots that grow out of the pot is normal, and I actually have quite a few plants that have this going on.

Just as a point of reference...

Terrestrial orchids, in general. tend to be the stingiest in regards to growing roots. Some terrestrial orchids will only grow less than 5 roots per plant.

Any further questions, feel free to ask.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #6 09-06-2010, 04:05 PM

Oh yeah...

Epiphytical orchids have roots that are fully capable of photosynthesis. This ability increases the plant's surface area to exposure to as much light as possible wherever it can get it.

CTB · #7 09-06-2010, 07:38 PM

Looks like they are doing great They like being crowded in a pot, so let them grow some before repotting again. When you repot you set the plant back a bit before it will begin thinking about flowering.

Roots are good, before long you'll find twisted, long, strange roots exciting. Enjoy!

got ants · #8 09-06-2010, 09:43 PM

I am terrible at growing phals. Mainly because I grow 100% outdoors, and in south Florida, its just too darn hot for them.

Your plants on the other hand, look wonderful! Like others noted, I wouldn't worry too much about them growing too fast, and keep them in that pot a while longer. Just keep an eye on for the media and replaced as soon as it seems to deteriorate.

So basically don't change anything. Keep the same watering schedule, same light, and whatever you are doing right.

Good luck and happy growing.

PhalinVA · #9 09-07-2010, 12:10 AM

Thanks everyone for your advice. King of Orchid Growing, are you sure those are keikis and not big leaflets of flower spike? What are the chances of three orchids having keikis at the same time where the flower spike should be (not along spike...they came out like that without developing actual spike)?

Rosiefuture · #10 09-07-2010, 01:44 AM

Hi, yes they are what is called basal keiki's and they look very healthy. They may produce roots of their own later and it is possible to remove them from the parent plant and pot them up when they have about 3 roots of 3 inches long. Having said that the general concensus here is to leave basal keiki's on the parent plant because they will usually produce spikes of their own and make a lovely display if they bloom at the same time as the parent plant.