Beginner Frustrations

[Jo Ann]

This may sound a little silly but one of my most frustrating problems with orchids so far is how to position them in the pot... Now Monopodial plants are a no brainer but when it comes to Sympodial there trickier. I could not always tell which end of the rhizome was the growing end. According to research it said plant the old end against the edge of the pot to allow room for new growth, (sounds simple enough). But a lot of plants I bought baggy were dormant. So until I saw it produce new growth I didn’t know which end was which. Not to mention some rhizomes are so twisted it looks like new growth pops out in all directions. As a pretty experienced house plant grower I also assumed the small growth must be the new growth while the large growth was the old. That too I learned is not always the case. It’s been a really neat learning process though...

[Ray]

There are two things to consider when deciding what might be the new- versus old end of sympodial growth:

1. Quite often, if the plant is a division of another, the "old" end has a horizontal nub where it was separated from the "mother" plant, and the "new" end has unbranched pseudobulbs curving up from the rhizome.
2. If it is a plant raised from seed or meristematic tissue, usually the larger growths are the newer ones.

[Ross]

Also, quite often (not always, but often) the oldest section has the worse looking roots. The newest roots should normally come from the newest pseudobulbs. If there are leaves on the pseudobulbs, the newest ones should be brighter, nicer looking than the oldest (usually). In time you'll develop a knack for recognizing the newest end.

[reinbo15]

Those are all great ways to tell which is the growing end of sympodial orchids. I often plant my orchids in the smallest pot possible for the plant, resulting in a edge-to-edge root system. I have found that when you aren't certain, going for the center isn't a bad idea.