As long as you have all those new roots, you're fine. Older roots do just eventually stop growing. If the environment is very humid, they can get really long, but that just isn't practical in the house. Those new ones look great, the plant will have plenty of root surface to keep itself hydrated. As for urea, much of what you hear about how bad it is is baloney....In nature orchids have to break down nitrogen-containing compounds, so they must have the bacteria in their roots to accomplish that. And they really don't need much fertilizer at all. Yours is quite dilute, and that is excellent. One thought... the fertilizer that you're using has a high middle number - phosphorus, which lowers the pH, necessary if you are using tap water that tends to be alkaline. In pure water, it may be making the solution too acidic (as well as not providing calcium and magnesium). You could just mix some tap water in to the "soup" when you fertilize. You might invest in an inexpensive pH meter. Aim for a pH of around 6.
Last edited by Roberta; 02-25-2017 at 11:59 PM..
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