?? Please watch the video??

[Call_Me_Bob]

Made me cringe too!

Now I've seen people trim roots a tiny bit maybe like 1" at the most. And that alright, although I hate cutting anything living.

But this lady cut all the healthy green roots off! Not just one or two!

And by the way, the plant she reported, doesn't look so hot!

[Mira-Claude]

Somebody please get these cutters away from that woman, give her a warrant not to get less than 20' close to ANY plant and don't allow her to give anymore classes on the net about repotting orchids! Please!
This is a massacre!

[Wynn Dee13]

The first time I posted I didn't watch the video and commented on cutting long roots in general.

I just watched the video and I think she cut all those roots off because the plant had a long stem that had no leaves but lots of roots. If she would of kept the plant with all those roots it would of been sticking out of the pot with the leaves way higher than the pot surface or what you would call potted too high. I see nothing wrong with cutting all those roots in that situation. That plant had quite of few roots even after she cut the long ones off. But the situation is different with every plant you repot.

I don't know German so I don't know what she said about her reasons for cutting all those roots off, but if I had a plant that was growing like that with a long leafless stem I would of done the same thing. It is just like a Vanda that has lost its bottom leaves and grown more top leaves and roots over the years. You can then cut off the bottom leafless stem and old roots and plant the top part of the plant.

Everyone has their own way of doing things. Even repotting plants.

[Wynn Dee13]

This is a perfect example (the big Phal I-Hsin George in the 4th pic down). http://www.orchidboard.com/community...phs-phals.html
This plant is actually a perfect example of why the German lady did what she did to her Phal. This Phal has grown so well it has a long stem with roots but no leaves on the bottom of the plant. It needs to be repotted but it would be very difficult to do so if you kept all those roots. In that picture the plant is potted too high and needs to be repotted. Because it has a lot of good roots high up on the stem and it is so healthy you can cut that lower part off and plant it.

[Call_Me_Bob]

why not just a deeper pot to protect the amazing roots?

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Or even better, leave a plant as is! Arial roots are arial roots, and once they develop as arial roots, they will function best as is, in the air! I didn't watch the video (I'm too scared too! ) but I have seen the picture if the I-Hsin George, and I would simply repot it into a slightly bigger pot, and I would cut a very minimal amount of roots off.

[Wynn Dee13]

Because it is so you can bring those newer roots down to the medium. Monopodial orchids continue to grow upwards. They grow from the top and shed their leaves from the bottom. Pretty soon you will have a plant that is hanging over the pot like in that other post. If you keep potting it lower into a pot, at some point you won't find a pot long enough. Those bottom roots are going to die anyway especially if they are at the bottom of a deep pot. How many monopodial orchids do you see planted in a deep skinny pot? It doesn't hurt the plant. Many people cut off old senile roots. The plant grows new ones that work better. I have many orchid books that tell you to do this when repotting a plant like this. It is just like cutting through a rhizome of a sympodial orchid.

[Wynn Dee13]

Like I said before everyone has their own way of doing things. Even repotting and growing orchids. I bet if you went to a perfessional orchid nursery and watched them repot a plant like that they would do the exact same thing. They would cut off the old senile roots and leafless stem and plant the top portion. But of course you can plant and grow your plants however you want to.

[FairyInTheFlowers]

I kinda agree with you, but I'm saying I would never cut off living roots, except if they were broken majorly somewhere along their length and were gonna die soon anyways. The main thing that is off to me is that I would never pot arial roots in the same media as roots that have been growing in the pot, as they are totally different in build.

[Wynn Dee13]

Originally Posted by TheBlazingAugust

Or even better, leave a plant as is! Arial roots are arial roots, and once they develop as arial roots, they will function best as is, in the air! I didn't watch the video (I'm too scared too! ) but I have seen the picture if the I-Hsin George, and I would simply repot it into a slightly bigger pot, and I would cut a very minimal amount of roots off.

In my 11 years of growing orchids I have never had a problem with planting aerial roots. Also, if aerial roots are only for air then why do some start out as growing aerial then dive into the medium? They can adapt.