Not all dead roots are dead. Be selectively careful.

[james mickelso]

For the newer hobbyist among us. When you are repotting be selectively careful what you decide is a dead root and what may be still viable. Not all roots even though they appear brown and dead need to be taken off. Unless there is an abundance of live healthy roots to choose from, some of the decrepit looking roots can be kept as insurance against losing more roots. What you see when you take the orchid out of the pot is a nice fat root looking thingy. What is actually there is a thin hard wiry root with a spongy covering over it. The spongy material, velamin, soaks up moisture and fertilizer for the wiry part of the root to absorb over time. There are before and after pics here to show you how quickly mature velamin soaks up water. The after pic was after a quick spray with water about 2 seconds worth. So you don't need to drown the orchid for 2-3-4-10 minutes to water it. There was enough spray that it left drops on the bottom of the root. This is how quickly the velamin soaks up water. In it's normal habitat the rains come along, get everything wet, and then when finished the wind comes along and dries everything out rather quickly. This spongy velamin is the orchids adaption to this type of environment. It holds onto the moisture far longer then the thin wiry root can. So look at the roots and decide carefully which is black/grey and damaged, and which is just brown/creamy and viable. Here is one most of you would probably decide to take off but is actually still very viable.