Mounted phal. Mariae keiki

[topiarybud]

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[james mickelso]

Well having grown 100's of phals through the years, there have been those who have roots growing into open air. If they "always" grew roots adhering to something, then why all the pics here that show roots growing in air in all sorts of positions? They can, and on occasion, grow roots hanging down, growing up, or growing in loops in air. Your mileage may differ.

[topiarybud]

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[james mickelso]

Growers never have plants long enough to care whether there are "aerial" roots or not. There is no difference between "aerial" roots and those under the media. Once these socalled aerial roots mature enough they will absorb water just as well as roots underneath the media. In nature, all roots are aerial. The commercial grower's environment is very warm, humid, and windy. Some growers even manipulate the light levels to help induce flowering in immature plants. These plants are grown just long enough to flower and then they are shipped. Phals on mounts that are too small just continue to grow roots and reach for a darkened area which may or may not be a solid surface on which to attach their roots. The pics of phals you see in books and on the internet are growing on trees and branches so don't have their roots growing unattached. But as you can see on the net and even here, there are numerous pics of phals with roots growing in all directions. looking for somewhere to attach their roots to. Phals mounted on small mounts just grow their roots looking for attachments.

[ilikeorchids]

Originally Posted by topiarybud

It seems that the slab is too small. When the keiki grows up to normal size, there will be insufficient space for it to spread its roots out. The limited growth will bring you less leaves and flowers. I think it’s better to make the slab at least triple in size.

Yes, i agree i'm gonna remount it again on a bigger slab for new roots to grow, as big as it's mother's slab





(Refer to the second pic) there he is! The basal keiki next to the mother is what i just mounted.

[james mickelso]

Another way to mount a keiki is to hang the new mount next to the mother and without cutting the keiki just position it on the new slab and let it attach to the new mount. Then when it has new roots and looks like it is on it's own, then cut the cord.

[topiarybud]

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[james mickelso]

Interesting pics. I see lots of loose roots some of which are not attached and hanging down. When the roots run out of attachments, they keep growing and if that means hanging in mid air, that's what they do. When I get back home I will take a couple pics and post them. I love the pics of those phals growing on the tree fern (?) mounts. They look large to me but that is just my opinion. It's neither right nor wrong. Just that persons pleasure. Most commercial growers don't grow a plant long enough to have them with root balls that circle the pot numerous times. Most of those plants are either parents for hybridizing or plants that are used for divisions. Most of them are NFS. mature "aerial" roots and roots under media absorb moisture and nutrients pretty much at the same rate. Instantly or nearly so. I experience it every time I water. I have posted images of it here on the board. The difference between socalled aerial and non aerial roots is the openness of the velamen. Take one of your plants, remove the media from a new root and watch how long it takes for the root to absorb the moisture you put on it. Take two roots of the same length, one above the media and one below and put some moisture on them. Watch them absorb that moisture at the same rate. It's the maturity of the velamen that makes the difference. In nature, the only difference between the absorption rate of roots is the maturity of the root as they are all essentially aerial (unless you find one that somehow burrowed into the tree). And again, those roots you see in that wonderful expose on phals in Sarawak are all aerial. And they absorb moisture almost instantly. And yes there are some, if you look closely, that are not attached to anything and therefore hanging down. In Sarawak, coastal Vietnam, Borneo, Thailand, northern Australia, The Andaman Islands, Java, Sumatra, and many other very low tropical lands, the temps change little if at all from season to season, and day to night. There are short intervals where the temps might change during a rain event where there is a strong wind blowing but the RH really dampens that effect. There is however a difference between length of day and night during the Summer/winter solstice. In an old (80's) AOS magazine article (I wish I still had all those old mags), a commercial grower demonstrated a technique that showed marked difference between light and dark flowered either laelias or phals. I forgot which. In southeast asia where they grow phals by the millions in 50000+ft2 growing buildings, they don't have the luxury of lowering the temps. I agree there are some who have the capital and electrical capacity to do so but that is a luxury with fuel costs. Do you know how long the cooling interval would be if done strictly with temperature difference? Have you ever been to a large commercial orchid growing concern? And I am very well versed in vegetative and reproductive growth of lots of different types of plants. Enough to get by. And enough to flower reluctant plants. I've written posts about it here. Do you know why roots growing in open air grow toward a solid surface? I don't always "need" or "have to" mount on a larger slab. Or in a bigger pot. All the orchids I grow don't even need a slab/mount/pot/media/certain temperature range/light level to grow successfully or flower successfully. And I grow quite a few different types. And I know lots and lots of commercial growers. And I'm still dumb as a fence post. As you age (that's definitely me) you start to realize that what you thought you knew, wasn't actually all there is to know. That there are many different paths to doing the same thing. And the more you realize this the freer you are to learn even more. Here are a couple phals that I re-potted a few months back and posted the pics in an expose on repotting rescues that are well on their way to re-flowering. I was going to show them in their own post but thought what the heck. Here's as good as any. They are in very small pots and potted in differing medias. They have in the interim grown 1 or two new leaves. What were aerial roots are now under media and the aerial roots that are above the media absorb moisture just about as quickly as those roots within the media. Some of the roots have grown into the media and then back out through the holes and slits on the sides of the pot and underneath the pot. That is the fun of "growing" orchids. Learning that things are not always the same as you might think.

[topiarybud]

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[ilikeorchids]

Hi guys!

So i decided to put it on a new mount. A mount much slightly bigger than it's mother's mount because her roots were growing out of it. Same mounting procedures, and it is doing fine. Glad i remounted it because i saw a little critter-a snail and killed it. It's doing fine now and it is surviving without the help of his mother