Afterdark growing roots on a growing flowerspike. I dont know whether or not to repot

[K.O.]

Hello Guys! My Afterdark is growing two beautiful flower spikes (This would be the first orchid that i have managed to bloom!). However, I have never seen the roots grow off of the flower spikes for these guys so I am a little confused as to what I should do. Normally ive read to repot when the roots start to grow in on the new forming pseudobulbs but this is not the case at all and i dont want to loose the flowers. Does anyone know what I should do or has this happened to someone before? Please help.

[Roberta]

I would suggest leaving it alone. These don't have a problem if they have new pseudobulbs that don't quite fit the pot... wait until after it has gone dormant next winter. I am surprised that it is blooming at the same time it is rooting... mine usually blooms in the fall. But it will do what it will do. Just looking at the roots, they are too far along to disturb.

When I have a plant that really should go into a larger pot, but it is the wrong time, I will cut the pot on two sides (leaving the bottom intact) and then put the whole thing (including pot) into a larger pot with more medium. If the roots really want to escape, they can get out from openings in the sides of the pot but they aren't disturbed.

[fishmom]

I think those roots are associated with the big pseudobulb from last year. At some point you will find a new growth sprouting, and the roots that come with the new growth are the ones that you need to be careful to preserve. Even if the blooms are still there, you can slip the plant out of its pot and put it in a slightly larger one, filling in with new medium, if you want to. But I agree with Roberta, you could also leave it alone and it will probably be fine.

[K.O.]

@Roberta heh that caught me off guard too. Mine is a late bloomer so i had to force this one into dormancy. The interesting thing is that there are two pseudobulbs that I had to force into dormancy but only the biggest one shot out spikes. the other one is just chilling. But in terms of the pot its in the plastic container that i bought it in, but i put it inside the pink pot in the picture. I left the medium bone dry and only recently the previous bulbs started shrinking so i gave it a tad of water recently. Ill do what you suggested and see how that goes, Thank you!

---------- Post added at 12:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 PM ----------

@fishmom, Ill do what Roberta suggested for now because those roots are right on the cusp of the bulb and the flower spike. I dont trust that the flower spike will hold up while i repot so for now ill leave it and maybe put fresh sphagnum moss around it. Theres not way, I believe, that the roots will penetrate the old medium because it bone dry and very hard. I only watered a tad near the back bulbs because the new ones cant absorb water yet. Thank you for your input!

[DirtyCoconuts]

KO, for what it is worth, these plants push their roots down into lava rock, charcoal and perlite at my house....they are tough when they are moving at their speed, they just don't like to be touched or moved or looked at too hard

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by K.O.

Hello Guys! My Afterdark is growing two beautiful flower spikes (This would be the first orchid that i have managed to bloom!). However, I have never seen the roots grow off of the flower spikes for these guys

Catasetum type plants can exhibit various lengths of time for their 'dormancy' state. Some may be just go dormant for a week or two weeks and then get back in action again (ie. growing new roots etc).

The other thing is that many of these orchids are usually growing in conditions that are different from where they grow in the wild. So there can be more uncertainty in their behaviours when these orchids are grown at home.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Catasetum type plants can exhibit various lengths of time for their 'dormancy' state. Some may be just go dormant for a week or two weeks and then get back in action again (ie. growing new roots etc).

The other thing is that many of these orchids are usually growing in conditions that are different from where they grow in the wild. So there can be more uncertainty in their behaviours when these orchids are grown at home.

Remember also that complex intergeneric hybrids like Fredcarleara (which don't exist in nature at all) can have dormancy shifted depending on which ancestor(s) are dominant in a particular cultivar (or have different ancestors pop up at more than one time during the year)

[My Green Pets]

I would leave it alone, it'll put out a ton of new roots when the new growths emerge.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Remember also that complex intergeneric hybrids like Fredcarleara (which don't exist in nature at all) can have dormancy shifted depending on which ancestor(s) are dominant in a particular cultivar (or have different ancestors pop up at more than one time during the year)

That's true Roberta! Although, if even Fdk were to hypothetically exist in nature, the variations in growing conditions they would experience when taken away from the natural habitat would be quite wide range, leading to various sorts of behaviours that might deviate a lot from the way they might behave (in general) in a general natural habitat.

But - I totally agree - that these organisms can do unforeseen things, just like us humans haha.

[K.O.]

@DirtyCoconuts they so cute though thats tough O_O!! LOL jk but thats interesting and they stay hydrated enough in the charcoal?

@SouthPark, I read that but i never thought it would grow in such an odd way lol. I didn't know roots could even grow from flower spikes. I was prepared for it to come out of dormancy in a few weeks.

---------- Post added at 06:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:47 PM ----------

Yeah thats a good way to look at it!