Brown root tips in Laelia
 

Hi, newbie here! I got a lovely little laelia orchid last week, it had happy healthy green roots that went over the pot but now the tips are turning brown. Room is 63 - 68 degree F, 55 - 65 % humidity, good light (E window + growlight). I have been watering with rainwater since bringing it home but I had to take it in my car/in a hotel for a few days so it might have been stressed by that, also I watered with bottled water en route so maybe too salty?
Should I repot it, flush with more rain/distilled water, or just leave it alone and send healing vibes??

What does the media look like? Could easily just be stress from moving from one culture to another. A picture or two maybe?

Definitely good vibes are in order, regardless of the rest. ;)

Hi, I m also a newbie with cattleyas and on the forum, the one I have also sent some roots outward, then they browned, i deciced it was due to the sun exposure, also on an east window. Some time later these seemingly dried up roots sent out a bunch of side roots.

Laelia brown root tips
 

Thanks for your thoughts! Here are some pics. As you can see the roots have grown over the slightly larger pot that the inside pot was put in (for some reason). The root on the outside of the black pot was green and plump when I got the orchid. Not sure if you can tell anything about the medium from the pics? I'm hesitant to extract the orchid because the roots have so overgrown the outside pot.

Thanks for any tips!!

since this orchid is now in your house it's likely experiencing lower humidity. those roots have browned because you are likely watering based on the media IN the pot. I have this happen all the time with my cattleyas because I have my watering on point and then I get lazy. With my lazy watering schedule and the humidity in my house it just doesn't support those roots going outside the pot as well and sometimes they brown and die.

Thanks for your message, so in summary, what should I do? 1) Put the plant right next to the humidifier? 2) Spray with a bottle instead of watering the medium? 3) Repot? 4) Water less? 5) Something else (light, temps, fertilizer...?)

Thanks so much for your advice!

the plant looks pretty healthy I don't think you need to worry about it. just keep your watering consistent and the plant will adapt to your conditions. since you have it slipped into another pot you could repot in fresh media in the larger slip because eventually the roots will tangle in and around the slip and make it more difficult to repot in the future without damaging the roots. occasional root loss is nothing to worry about if the majority of the roots are healthy.

Thank you! I am worried about repotting because I've heard warnings that you should leave plants unrepotted after they move... But you have given me the courage I need :)! Thanks!!

There's a very large nursery in southern California (Santa Barbara Orchid Estate) that pots all their Cattleyas this way, quite successfully. Once the plant is established, when the plant outgrows its pot like this, they just drop it into the next size larger pot. Apparently the air space between the pots holds humidity well enough that the roots just love the arrangement. After all, if there were enough humidity, Catts would prefer to be bare root altogether. they seem to like this compromise. So don't worry about repotting this very happy plant... if you have low humidity you may want to add some bark to the outer pot when you up-pot it, but don't even worry about what's in the inside pot. (You could turn it upside down and see what you could shake out, but don't try to remove it until that oldest part dies, which it eventually will in a few years.

(I have bought plants from Santa Barbara Orchid Estate with 5 nested pots, bark only in the first one)

PS So should I just cut the roots from the larger pot, or can I soak them or do something else to let them go from the outer pot without damaging them? Thanks!

No, just leave it... our messages crossed, note above.

repotting allows you to assess the whole plant for health right when you receive it. there is minimal danger in re-potting if the plant is healthy and you do not over-pot it (too big of a pot) so that slip you have it in will be the perfect size. the media its in looks a little broken down as well. take care to reduce root damage (wetting them thoroughly will make them more pliable) and the plant will be just fine.

the plant may dry out faster or slower when you repot so pick the pot up before and after you water the new media to get an idea of what dry feels like and what wet feels like this will help you hone in on your watering schedule. rainwater is good but you should consider using a complete fertilizer like, MSU, K-lite or dyna-gro foliage pro at 1/4 strength every time you water.

Oh ok -- in that case I will just leave it as it is :)! And try to keep the roots more moist, by putting it closer to the humidifier.

(Boy, I just have so much to learn...)

Thanks for the pictures. I agree with thefish1337. You have a healthy plant with new growth, there is no need to worry about a few outside root tips. Keep researching, but if it was mine I would repot it in a single pot, give it a good soak prior to repotting to loosen up roots. There is a lot info on repotting cattleyas, main "trick" is to repot it so old growth is closer to the rim and new are facing cente, so you wont have to repot for next few years.

I have been growing orchids for about the last 25 years, and I'm still learning all the time. That's the fun of it!

You could just drop the plant, nested pots and all, into a slightly larger pot, add some bark into the space between the new outer pot and the nested pots, to help maintain a bit more moisture in the root zone. These do like to dry out between waterings, so that bark in the outer area will give you the "humid air" that the roots really want.

just to clarify my post- you *could* repot if you want to

i ran into a lot of problems keeping my orchids potted the way santa barbara orchid estate does their thing- eventually the roots just tangled everywhere and when I needed to do anything with the plant there was 3 pots with a tangle of unruly roots and decaying media at the center- there was a lot of damage and a huge PITA when I finally divided and repotted the plant a couple years later. the roots love the slip but I wish I would have started with fresh bark or leca or granite chips and used the technique with a solid foundation. just my $0.02

I eventually repot those plants into a single container also (I have better luck with baskets than pots, but that's my climate and watering practice) but there's no rush. At the very least, wait to repot until new roots start to appear.

I think I finally get it...
 

In summary: I could repot, advantages: see how the plant is *really* doing, less trouble later on, disadvantages: might stress the plant more... Or not: disadvantages: might be a tangled mess soon, no idea what's happening under the hood; advantages: less stress.

I think I will repot and take some pictures of the roots, just in case anyone's interested :)!

This orchid business is really quite something. I've been gardening & had houseplants for all my life but suddenly am completely fascinated/addicted to these odd weird tropical epiphytes... I had no idea...

Thank you all so much!

What I ended up doing...
 

So, in case it's of interest to anyone (but remarkably, y'all seem to care :)!), the little Laelia's roots seemed to have grown all over the outside of the inside pot and the inside of the outside pot (see pix 1 & 2) and I figured that with the travel etc it would just be too traumatic to rip them all off, so I ended up going with Roberta's suggestion and stick (yet another) pot all around the whole thing, just to give the roots a place to go. (Not sure if that's even necessary since none of my other houseplant instincts seem to make any sense with orchids, but oh well...) Flushed it all with rainwater, will now give it some rest... We'll see! Thanks again for all the advice!

looks good!

I think you'll be glad you waited... When you see new root growth (so that any old roots that get damaged will be quickly replaced), that would be the time to repot if you still want to.

Epiphytic orchids (which describes nearly all that you are likely to be be growing) definitely play by a different set of rules. Because they have evolved to grow on trees and tree branches with their roots exposed - in places where humidity is high and it rains a lot - they really want "humid air" more than "wet" around their roots. The "air" part is really important. But if you visualize these plants growing on a tree, their behavior makes more sense. It rains, then the sun comes out. Roots go where they want - to hang on, or to capture the water and air that they need. Also, since they grow slowly, they need very little fertilizer, too little might slow the growth a little but too much can be deadly.

Thanks again Roberta, that does help me to understand these interesting creatures! I set up a humidifier and a fan, but I see how the humid air doesn't necessarily get into the roots if they are in pots... I'll keep an eye on them and move into the open air if they don't seem to be thriving.

They actually do get humid air in the pots... that's why one uses bark rather than dirt. There are lots of air spaces. When you water, the water flows through (pulling air behind it) and wets the surface of the bark. As that water evaporates, there's plenty of humidity in the pot. That's why the ''pot within a pot" allows root growth - the roots get wet (they have a spongy coating called velamin that holds some water) the space between the pots provides air, and bingo, humid air and happy roots.

The humidifier really isn't necessary. The fan... creating gentle air movement is helpful, helps that evaporation process and also tends to reduce problems with insects like scale and mealybugs.

Orchids that need more moisture can be potted in small bark, those (like the Cattleya group) that need to dry out, larger bark. That way, with a mixed collection, all can be watered the same and each gets the effect that they want.