So I finally decided to repot my Oncidium; it looked too crowded in the small pot. It was hard to get it out; but when I finally did, the roots just looked odd to me. I'm used to green roots; do these look healthy? Maybe now that they are in a bigger pot, it'll do better.
That is a normal color for oncidium roots to be. They start out white, but the potting media can stain them and make them light brown.
Soak them for a while in water.
Do they feel firm, or do they feel mushy/papery?
Do they seem to pull off and leave "strings" behind?
The dead roots have that papery feeling and will pull right off with gentle pressure when wet. These ones you can and should cut away. I see a few "stringy" ones in the second picture you posted. The outer velamen just slips off the root cortex (? proper term, idk??) and that means it's a goner.
The rest, so long as they are firm, should be just fine.
Coincidentally, I just uploaded a repotting/rescue video for oncidium type orchids to my youtube channel!
Thanks. It was in soil. And it outgrew the pot ll. The roots were really tight so it took me awhile to get them sorted.
Cool; thank you so much.
I've been told that the "soil" is actually something special called promix. I have left orchids in it for a few months after bringing them home sometimes, and it's nice because you don't have to water as much (but it's really easy to overwater if you aren't familiar with more moisture-retentive mixes).
However I never trust someone else's potting and I always have to repot as soon as I can! :P
And I'll bet as well that 'soil' is actually Promix which is a mostly peat moss mixture mixed with some perlite, mycorrhizae, and more. I recently repotted an Oncid intergeneric from Promix and I so wish I had just drop potted it, the roots were perfect. If you under water chronically like me Promix could be great... but that's besides the point...
Do these roots look healthy??
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