Aerial roots

[Nic100]

Hi everyone,

Just looking for some opinions on a aerial root growth. I have a Phals that is growing a lot of aerial roots and I'm not sure it it's just its habit or whether it's the environment. Or both. It seems perfectly happy otherwise; it has grown lots of new leaves on the main body of the plant and on the basal keiki.

It had a repot well over a year ago, when I moved it from moss into bark. It's been in a fairly humid environment all summer, with good light and decent air circulation. And it's gets fertilized weekly, weakly.

It's a lot cooler now, and I've moved it out of its summer spot which is arctic over winter, into the living room which is warmer but a lot dryer.

I've no real objection to the aerial roots, but I'm just wondering if a change in environment could change the growth habit and encourage more roots in the potting mix?

I've got a couple of other orchids who were doing something similar but I've been able to encourage new roots down into the bark. With this plant they seem to want to grow directly up!

I'd be interested to hear what people have to say!

[Jennyfleur]

Hello - Generally, lots of aerial roots mean a happy plant If you've had it in a more humid spot over the summer, they've been taking advantage of the moisture in the air. One thing you can do to help maintain them over the winter (now that they're in a less humid spot) is regular misting in the mornings. A fine mist is ideal (since you don't want the main plant to get too wet).

You say that it was last repotted well over a year ago? Well *Perhaps* another reason for aerials is that they don't like the medium so they grow roots up instead of down. However, I say 'perhaps' here because your Phal looks pretty healthy (whch it wouldn't be if the media had turned), so I don't think this is likely to be the case.

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[Nic100]

I'd wondered the same about the medium, but as it's been growing so many new leaves that are bigger than the last I didn't think it seemed particularly unhappy. I haven't been misting the roots - I was kind of hoping that if it wasn't so reliant on the aerial roots it might grow more into the bark. But maybe that's false logic. Thanks for your thoughts!!

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[tucker85]

Your phal looks healthy and seems to be growing very well. I have some orchids that just tend to grow more aerial roots than others for some unknown reason. It is possible that humid conditions would encourage more aerial roots. Misting is a good idea or maybe a humidity tray. I especially like those humidity trays that bonsai growers use. Good luck.

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[RosieC]

I think it looks happy. I have some that just seem to grow arial roots a lot (some of them straight up, on one I didn't spot a spike for a while because there were other arial roots growing at the same upwards angle).

From what I can see of the medium it looks OK, the two where I can see it both have nice green roots down in the medium as well as the arial ones. An if the leaves are also growing well then I would think it's just happy.

I tend to heavily mist arial roots when I water, but on the one with the roots growing straight up I tend not to in an attempt to not encorage them.

[camille1585]

I have 2 phals that refuse to have aerial roots grow down into the medium. I can get them to grow into it, but after a while they make a u-turn and come right back out! Even some roots already in the pot head upwards to poke out. Has nothing to do with the state of the medium, the phal just has picky roots. Then on the other hand I have phals with well behaved roots, and hardly any aerial roots.

[Nic100]

Thanks everyone. It's interesting to hear what everyone else's phals do, and while I've had a suspician that on this phal it is as much habit as environment. Well, I'll keep doing what I'm doing because it seems to be ok... of course flowers would be nice!

[quiltergal]

I had one that did this pretty consistently. It was a huge plant (12 leaves) and it was growing aerials from all over the plant. Even near the top. I say "was" because I gave it to a friend. I asked about it at a society meeting and was assured by someone who is an AOS judge that it was genetic and that was what that clone always does. Most of the rest of mine are more well behaved and stay down in the media.

[Nic100]

That's reassuring to hear. They just want what they want

[phalaephila]

To a phal, well-behaved roots are aerial - they are searching for support for growing on trees, etc. They don't grow down into any kind of medium in the wild. Mist if you feel you must, but be very careful not to let water get into the leaf axils, which will lead to rot quite quickly, especially in cooler temperatures.

P.S. I live in a dry climate, and have loads of aerial roots. Attached is a photo of a plant from a few years ago, always happy and growing and spiking....