The common question: Root? Leaf? Flower spike?
 

I've looked at many posts here like this, but I still don't know what it is that my plant is doing (Okay, so it's not a leaf, that I've determined). Since y'all seem such lovely and kind folks, I'm encouraged to ask...

Root? Flower spike? Something else I don't know about?

Background: Phalaenopsis (as far as I remember, hee!). Converted to s/h (Switzerland is s/h crazy and I've jumped on the wagon).

Thank you for any help!

Root. The way you can tell on most (not all) orchids is the nice white layer that absorbs water and transfers to the root in the middle and the green end. Some orchids, especially thos in high light, may have reddish ends.

A very nice healthy root!! And nice green tip - which shows its in active growth. :D

Cool, I didn't know those things. Green end -- what color end does a flower spike have? Interesting about the high light comment -- I wouldn't have guessed it, maybe I should see about getting a light meter (a used one on Ebay or some such; would be helpful for my other plants, too).

*blush* But, will it ever flower again? That's the question...

I don't need to try to stick this into the s/h pellets, do I? How is it getting moisture, exactly? I have the orchids in a "vitrine", a glass-enclosed shelf, so there's about 63% humidity, according to the simple room thermometer device we have that I popped in there. Is that enough?

Thanks again!

THAT is a root. . .this I well know. I always get roots. :evil:

you think so!? :shock: I had quite hard time in Thun convincing people my orchids were doing great in S/H... One of the ladies from one of the swiss regional Orchid Societies even said "that's a S--- she would never accept in a show or agree for growing in it to receive a price" I had to laugh...

which LECA do you use for your S/H? I've had best results with LamstedtTon and the more iregular shaped Luwasa.

Flower spikes on Phals are green as well, but when you look closely they are not smooth like root ends. The have sort of layers. But there won't be any white (hopefully :biggrin: ). A light meter is a big help. I use a calibrated one that measures both lux and foot-candles (you wouldn't need foot-candles, necessarily). Phals are typically grown at 10,000 to 15,000 lux, maybe as high as 20,000 lux. I rarely see reddish ends on Phal roots. I get them on several others though, like Sedirea, Brassavola, and Pleurothallis.

Oh dear! That's sort of what I fear will be the fate of mine as well.

It's true that I don't see orchids in s/h, but I do think it was a Swiss woman's blog where I first got the idea (as far as my web searches go) for it. I just can't find that blog anymore, will have to keep looking. I was more referring to the houseplants-in-hydro aspect...

I'm no LECA snob, and I also don't look after my plants well enough - sorry- to see which they prefer (got cats for that!) I've bought Luwasa, and also Migros- or Coop- house brands. Is that bad???

No, that's not bad... I just tried different LECAs at the beginning before starting to move my orchids to S/H. the main problems I had to deal with were to avoid the pellets floating when I was watering the plants and find some that could transport the water quite good to the top of the pots. I grow in-house, and have low air humidity...