Are these burned aerial roots?

[GGracieGoodman]

I don't know if its my water or what, and I haven't been giving them fertilizer. The roots in the medium seem fine and don't have any of the odd coloration and the woody type texture that the aerial roots have. Its also on multiple orchids.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Those roots should still function OK, just a little discolored (mineral deposits, or tannins coming from the growing medium).

If you water at the sink, run more tap water through the medium, it will reduce future staining.

[bil]

Roots which grow in the air have a different texture to those that grow in a medium.

[rbarata]

I don't know the cause for it but my phals also have this and they grow fine.
I think: no worries!

[Optimist]

Some are also more sensitive to hard water minerals, although you should never, ever use softener softened water. Sad to say, there are also chemicals in tap water, like chlorine. A few things you might do are leave water out over night to get rid of chlorine, or use a fish tank chlorine eliminator. Use filtered water, like filtered by brita. Run your water through a home made charcoal filter (found in aquarium fish stores, not for cooking), use rain water or bottled water, buy a filtering system.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Chlorine in tap water is not a problem. In fact, chlorine is a plant micronutrient. See: Chlorine

[estación seca]

I think this is often caused by lower humidity in your growing area than the plants previously experienced.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

Chlorine in tap water is not a problem. In fact, chlorine is a plant micronutrient. See: Chlorine

Apocalypse avoided!!!

On face value, the statement is correct. However, that study was on tissue cultures of tomatoes, and noted that optimal "yield" (fruit production) was achieved at a chlorine level of 80 micromoles per culture, making it be about 3ppm. Taking that piece of information, and extrapolating it to chlorine not being damaging to an orchid is questionable, at best.

Just because something is safe, or even beneficial at low levels, has no bearing on its safety at higher levels, not to mention the drastic differences between plants. Pretty much all of the trace elements are important at trace elevens, but toxic at higher levels - some not that high.