How do I encourage root growth?
 

This is a bit of a continuation the the other threat about the mealybug infestation that I had.

This Schilleriana, a young plant, so it's quite small compared to my regular Phalaenopsis. As I've told in the other stories I bought it end of June. Anyway I think that I've got the mealybug problem under control now. I've sprayed the "insect control" stuff, the poison twice... I keep checking just in case but so far I don't see any more bugs.

Anyway... this is the situation now: most of the roots are completely desiccated, dried out from the top. The outer edges are still green but the upper part dried out. As you can see on the picture. Except for 2 tiny new roots, that are too short, they're not in the medium yet.

So my question is: what can I do to promote root growth?

Short answer: order some Kelpak! (the equivalent of Kelpmax in the USA)

More seriously, I started using it early/mid July and after just one application, the effects were just staggering. I have a few Phals that I'm struggling to encourage root growth on, and 3-4 weeks after soaking in Kelpak, tons of new roots appearied. One started no less than 5 new roots.

Check out the thread here: Kelpmax in Netherlands The EU distributor is Besgrow, conveniently located in Dronten, NL. All you have to do is send an email to info[@]besgrow-europe.com, they'll send you an invoice (I paid 27euros with shipping for a 1L bottle) and then ship the bottle as soon as you pay.


If you don't want to spend that much I've had some success encouraging root growth my misting the surface of the substrate and base of plant daily. For many Phals, it seems to encourage a few brand new roots to grow, but given how slowly it happens I can't completely exclude that they would have produced those roots without misting...

I have on-hand Auxinone and/or ezy-root gel, but rarely use them. I just like keeping things on hand in case I need them.

For an orchid like the one you showed in the photo - in my tropical conditions here, I just pop that one into scoria in a big enough and deep enough pot, and then have nice gentle air-movement - with good temperature and lighting conditions. And I put those good roots down a little bit into the media (scoria pieces, eg. 5 mm average diameter pieces). And then I just mainly water the scoria out toward the outskirts (rim region) of the pot ..... most of the water goes there. And some of that water actually does leak or move toward the centre of the pot (as the water makes its way downward into the depths of the scoria ... and propagates side-ways a bit too).

The humidity here in general is quite ok, and the moisture in the pot (due to wet scoria) keeps the humidity around the roots at satisfactory levels ----- for the roots to get moisture that is. No risk of 'over-watering' too.

Thanks! This is a really great idea. I did not know of this. And although I must say it sounds pricey, and a huge bottle too. But on the other hand I do have a couple of other orchids that I guess I could also use this on. I have an old Phalaenopsis, regular kind, that hardly has any roots because of neglect at one point. But it doesn't seem to want to make any roots into the media, and therefore keeps looking dehydrated, even after some time. I also wonder if I could use this one my Paphiopedilum that's only got one fan (growth) left after the other one rotted and had to be removed?

Actually this got my curiosity going and I googled to see what's available here in the Netherlands. Turns out there are also other brands one can buy from the bol.com website. There is ROOTiT (rooting gel) and also CLONEX. I don't know if they're any good. But I like the idea.

---------- Post added at 02:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:10 AM ----------

Thanks SouthPark. Actually I must say that I did have a similar idea in my mind. I was thinking more in terms like a terrarium. I was anyway thinking about getting a small terrarium with terrestial orchids in the future. But then that idea I've sort of postponed at least for a while, since I had the mealybug infestation.

But then I was thinking in regards to the Schilleriana, it is a young plant so it is still small enough to find in a candy glass jar that I've got. I was just thinking about what to use as medium. But yeah the scoria idea... That is like a rock with holes right? I guess that's something that I could find in a pet store, where they sell aquarium stuff? Hmm...

What I like about this idea is because of the humidity factor and also because of the no risk of medium staying moist for too long. This is something of an issue right now because there are not many roots left, and then it takes longer for the bark in the pot to dry. Unless I'd try something like an inorganic SH, something like that?

Hmmm.... Let me think about what's the best plan of action here. :scratchhead:

Those products are primarily meant to induce roots on cuttings, and I'm not sure if the can be used on whole plants. If you want something cheaper than Kelpak, you can also try other kelp based roots stimulants which can probably be found on Bol.com too.

Be aware that most other kelp products will not work as effectively as Kelpmax/Kelpak. The combination of kelp species and extraction process used is what makes these two products better (different hormone ratios and hormones are better preserved during extraction) at promoting both roots and shoot growth.

Monivik ------ bark should be excellent to try out. I'm thinking bark could be excellent actually ----- as in, just use the same bark you have, and you can still have the orchid potted sort of like the way you do. Just a tad deeper (not too deep at all) could be ok --- just to get the roots into some of that media. Then keep the bark sort of damp ...... and when you water ----- focus most of the watering toward the rim region of the pot. You could certainly also water closer toward the orchid too if you want. Having the bulk of the water on the outskirts can still provide a nice humid air around the roots. And just water around the outskirts each morning, or whenever you want - and the orchid should just do its thing and grow nicely.

Thanks Camille. I've sent an email to Besgrow, I'll see if they reply.

---------- Post added at 03:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:31 AM ----------

Thanks SouthPark, I think that this in combination with a root growth hormone might be a good idea. :Tup:

You know since the problem with the mealybugs started my husband was like: "throw the orchids away" and you can always buy new ones... But I hate throwing away, if they have a chance of recovery. And so far the "insect poison" stuff seems to work, now I'm hoping for a recovery. :pray:

Monavik - you might find this to be of interest.

For orchids, we recommend the product be used in three different ways, depending upon your need, but always at 1 Tablespoon/gallon (4ml/L):

PLANTS WITH NO ROOTS

>Using warm water, immerse the entire plant for an hour or two.
>Without rinsing, pot it up, and water it in with that solution.
For the next two waterings, use the KelpMax solution.

REPOTTING PLANTS WITH DECENT ROOT SYSTEMS

>Pot them up and water them in with the KelpMax solution.
>Repeat the next two waterings.

EXISTING, ESTABLISHED PLANTS (AND THOSE ABOVE, AFTER THE RECOMMENDED TREATMENTS)

>Add to irrigation water or fertilizer solution no more often than once per month.

Absolutely monivik. Absolutely. If an orchid has a chance to survive, and the orchid doesn't have some kind of untreatable contagious disease that could/would harm other orchids, then I'm definitely all for doing what we can to help the orchid survive/recover.

I have seen online some big-time growers even mention things like compost/trash/get-rid-off weak orchids or sickly-looking orchids ----- ones that don't appear to be thriving, or no flowering etc. They probably have seen so many orchids or grown so many (eg. propagation) - that they (some - not all) see the orchid in a different way ----- and just have to compost plants - or else they'd end up with too many - ie. 'practical' reasons too.

But for us home grower orchid fans, I like looking after all orchids that we have in our home growing area - same as you!

Hi. Yeah so I followed your advice and ordered it from Besgrow as you suggested and I've finally got it.

Now my problem is to know what proportions I should use, in regards to water. See the bottle says for "houseplants" now I'm going to go after this, 1:100 or 1:400. Now unfortunately I'm not very good at math :lol:

What exactly is that? I mean a teaspoon per litre of water?

An additional question, I know this has nothing to do with orchids, but... Can I also use this on a Calathea plant? I've got one that's unfortunately in really poor condition. There's not much left of it. During the hot summer temperatures I suspect it was the fact that it was standing next to the fan that affected the plant negatively.