Quote:
Originally Posted by whitetshirtguy
One more question: since I'll repot it in bloom, should I still cut off the dead roots? I ask that because everywhere I look it says I should be as gentle as possible with the roots when repotting in bloom, and just cutting them off doesn't seem that gentle...
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As BobInBonita has said, dead roots are dead roots. Cutting dead roots off will not affect the plant adversely. Damaging or cutting living roots off will.
Quote:
Originally Posted by whitetshirtguy
I also read somewhere that sometimes you should keep the dead roots, which would serve as a bit of organic media.
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I disagree with this statement on certain points.
First of all, if there is a recommendation to keep the dead roots on, I would think that it'd be for the purposes of keeping the plant properly anchored into the potting medium if a large portion of the plant's roots are dead. It makes it easier to grow the plant in a pot, for example, if the plant was 10 cm tall with only 3 living roots that are 3 cm long on it. How many dead roots to leave on the plant in relation to the amount of living roots that are on the plant, and how long the living roots are, is really at the grower's discretion. My recommendation is to keep as few of the dead roots on, while allowing them to serve their purpose of anchoring the plants in the pot.
Secondly, keeping the dead roots on the plant for the purposes of having organics in there is not necessarily the most efficient practice. The amount of nutrients the plant would derive from the dead roots is pretty negligible. If you have even a vague understanding of the way that dead epiphytical orchid roots decay, you'll find that the claim you speak of doesn't hold up.
Thirdly, those dead roots carry the risk of causing further problems with the living roots if there are too much of those that are left on the plant.
Some problems are:
1. Root rot from too much water retention. That mass of dead roots acts like a mop - it sops up water and doesn't really do anything with it.
2. Root rot from infection. That can be a breeding ground for diseases if the plant is allowed to have too many dead roots hanging on it in cultivation.
3. Further root damage from insects such as fungus gnats. That is a perfect breeding spot for fungus gnats! Lots of dead roots = lots of fungus for the fungus gnats! Fungus gnats will also eat living roots for desert.
If I must absolutely have dead roots remaining on my epiphytical orchids, I usually remove a large number of dead roots, but keep what I think is the bare minimum amount needed to keep the plant anchored in the pot. I don't like having too many dead roots on the plant as much as possible.
For terrestrial orchids, leaving dead roots on is of lesser consequence. They're usually in varying amounts of organic matter in various levels of decay.
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