So, I finally took the plunge (sort of) and moved one of my orchids into s/h. Being that I am rather broke, I stuck with an "on the cheap" approach. I found a local seller that carried 3lb bags of Hydroton for $4.50 and also pick up an 8oz bottle of K-L-N for $12.99 (ouch!) My high-tech s/h pot is an empty and washed two liter soda bottle, cut to the appropriate height, and with two holes roughly an inch up from the bottom. Here is a picture of the finished product. Sorry I didn't take any pictures of the process.
The lucky 'chid is a Mtdm."Red Brick Road". It's had a rough last year. The oldest pbulb dropped its' leaves, turned brown and mushy, and eventually I cut it off at the base. After that trauma, it was re-potted into a bark mix, and proceeded to put out a new growth.
The new growth is looking very healthy. The leaves have no pleating on them, it's almost as tall as the back bulb, and the roots are green, and growing quickly.
The debate I was having while re-potting to the s/h was whether or not I should separate the new growth from the back bulb. The roots on the old growth were a tangled mess of brown, dead and rotting roots. You can see in the first picture the dark brown mass of ugliness just to the right of center in the pot. I couldn't find a single green root coming from the back bulb. Which certainly explains the shriveled, wrinkled old pbulb.
I trimmed all of the dead roots back as far as I could. But I am still worried that I might be asking for problems with rot. Should I re-pot again, and this time remove the old growth along with its dead roots? Or does it stand a chance of putting out new roots?
Also, any comments or suggestions on the s/h set-up would be appreciated. Pot height, size, ect....
Dead roots on old growth
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