Shriveling root tips

[m.dlny]

Greetings, dear fellow orchid lovers,

Frankly, I write in despair - it seems any magic touch I had for my plants is gone and I am at a loss what to do.

I have a strange thing happening to my orchids (phals, epidendrums, oncidium, cymbidium) - the tips of the roots either brown off or brown off and shrivel. Below are the photos of what it looks like.

It does not happen to all roots of a plant at once - there will be perfectly healthy roots in the pot alongside shriveling ones. It happens to aerial roots as well as the ones inside the pot.

The rest of the root remains perfectly fine, there is nothing of concern on the bulbs, stems or leaves. Such shriveled roots will happily grow new root tips and branch out.

I first noticed this problem last year. At times there were just a few roots with this problem, and I thought it was going away. But then it would come back and sometimes with large numbers of roots being affected. I have not been able to tie it to any changes in the care routine.

I first thought it was because it was too dry, but watering more did not get rid of the issue. Then I thought it might have been a reaction to KelpMax or fertilizers (although I always applied very small concentrations). About two months ago I stopped using any substances. Nothing has changed - the tips continue to shrivel.

Brief chronology of my plant care:

Last year I kept my plants too wet (I had them in double pots, the bark was packed too tightly and remained wet for a long time) - got some root rot and average growth.

I increased breaks between waterings and let the plants dry out really hard in between - roots grew better, but leaves grew very small (tiny in some cases).

I made the substrate a bit more airy by taking out some bark and went back to watering often liberally - the plants got springtails, soppy roots and mediocre growth.

For the last three weeks I have stopped soaking plants and took them out of double pots. Now I moderately shower them from a hose two-three times with 10 minute intervals letting water run through the bark. All roots become wet.

On average, phal roots are dry in 1-2 days with bark being almost dry in 4-5 days. Thin roots of epidendrums, dendrobiums, oncidiums dry out in about 1-1,5 days, with moisture completely gone out of their substrate in about 3 days.

My conditions:

- Not sure of water hardness and mineral content.
- Average humidity for may is about 70-75%
- The plants are located in a easterly - south-easterly window (about 115 degrees SE, to be precise)

I initially thought it was an issue related to a dryness-wetness imbalance. However, since the same thing happens to aerial roots as well as those inside the pot I wonder if it is not a fungal issue of some sort?

Since I am at a complete loss, I will appreciate any input from the community.

Thank you!

UPD: It has been almost a month since my original post (LOL - I feel like a castaway on an uninhabited island writing a diary). My plants are doing much better at the moment.

Having studied some information about fungal afflictions in orchids, I thought it might have been the cause - simply because the problem presented itself in various parts of a plant, without any specific pattern. After two treatments with Benomyl, changing from soaking to letting water run through the medium and increased drying out time, the problem has completely disappeared.

Once I thought all was well, I resumed KelpMax use and fertilizer. After the KelpMax application, one of the plants got a few of such shriveling, browning roots, but it did not seem to go further.

I am not sure why the problem manifested itself more vividly with the use of KelpMax - I believe it is a wonderful product, and all my research points to its many benefits for the plants. Perhaps, it was a freak coincidence - some conflict interaction between fungus and kelp extract (I have used mycorrhizae and trichoderma before)?

For now I continue to observe and am very mindful of not over watering. Hopefully, no orchid grower will ever have to make use of the information in this topic ))))))))