the last word on SH and roots in general

[DirtyCoconuts]

I see a bunch of really misunderstood questions all over the internet and even here about why different cultures do or do not work and how this plant died when someone tried SH and therefore it is garbage.

here is the thing, and Ray has said this and so have tons of other experts, roots grow to suit their conditions. if you change them, the roots will make new adaptations but the old ones will either be compatible with the new conditions or not and then they will die.

I want to illustrate this in the simplest way so here is a plant, philodendron thai sunrise, that i had growing in a pot of leca with a long stick to support the growth. it had a few super long aerial roots and was becoming top heavy so i knew it was due for a repot.

i repotted her into this cool giant glass vase and just placed, not forced, just placed the tip of the longest aerial root on the leca.

this is what the plant did in two days.

Untitled by J Solo, on Flickr


new root, different entirely from the one it grew from and THRIVING in the SH conditions.


here is the plant, it is a cutting from a huge specimen at my neighbors house. you can see the other roots here

Untitled by J Solo, on Flickr


the vessel

Untitled by J Solo, on Flickr


so, while there are some plants and some conditions where it is not ideal i am tired of people not understanding roots and blaming the culture......







rant over.... sorry

[Ray]

FWIW, I find tropical houseplants to be far more forgiving about the switch than are orchids. It probably has to do with the speedier growth rate allowing them to make significant progress toward adapting before significant setback can occur.