New Roots Growing Up Not Down - Orchid Board

quiltergal · #1 12-15-2007, 11:57 AM

My Slc. Lakeland that nearly croaked after moving to s/h in June has turned around and is putting out new roots and has two new leaves and two more leads on the way. There are no old roots, well maybe one. My question is the new roots are pointing straight up away from the media, and I'm not sure why they aren't growing down into the media in search of water.

I pulled the plant out of the pot it was in last weekend as I had a problem with a little white crawley bugs living down in the media. I soaked the media in soapy water and rinsed the plant off in soapy water, and repotted it into a smaller pot. I placed the plant a little lower in the pot and covered most of the new roots with media in the hopes I can get them to grow down. Does this seem strange to anyone else? My fear is the plant will never fully recover if it doesn't figure out how to grow in LECA.

masda · #2 12-15-2007, 12:28 PM

Some orchids will send out aerial roots no matter what they are potted in. Sometimes it's a sign that it dos'nt like the potting media, I would not wash any mix in soapy water due to the minerals in the soap that will burn the tender new roots.
If useing pine bark as a media, it needs to be soaked in water for at least a week or more to remove the the tannin which is a acid in all bark, it will turn the water brown and will damage all roots, aged bark is best to use. Recently I devided my slc with aerial roots and mounted them on rafts they seem to like the idea as they are sending out new growths and one is in spike.

Ray · #3 12-15-2007, 03:43 PM

I theorize (and we all know how reliable theories are...) that orchids, unlike terrestrial plants, are looking to reach out and grab hold, as much as they are seeking water and nutrition.

Roots moving up and out are not an aversion to anything, but a move to get a better "stance".

quiltergal · #4 12-16-2007, 01:03 PM

Ray, I understand the grasping response from orchids. It just seems strange to me that a plant with no other roots would grow aerials first. This is a plant that most people would have thrown in the trash a long time ago. It looked dead for months. Do you think it was OK to move it to a smaller s/h pot and set it a bit deeper in the PrimeAgra? I'd really like to come out on the winning end of this project.

Masda, I just rinsed the plant in soapy water and then rinsed in clean water. I let the PrimeAgra sit in a bowl of soapy water for about 10 minutes and then also rinsed it well in clean water. It seemed to get rid of the bugs and a week later the plant and roots seems fine.

masda · #5 12-17-2007, 01:41 AM

Well if it works don't knock it,iI say, the rinse would have cleansed the roots of any soap residue. Good luck with your orchid and I wish you a Merry Xmas from down under.

Ray · #6 12-17-2007, 09:05 AM

I'd be concerned about using soapy water on the medium.

If it was fairly dry when you started, the soap would be very thoroughly absorbed, well into the interior of the pellets. "Rinsing" would only remove the stuff near the surface - a very thorough, long soak would be needed to get the soap in the interior to work its way out.

Royal · #7 03-31-2008, 11:57 AM

No old roots? Are you an over-waterer? It's ok, I am too.

I try to resist "playing" with my plants, but sometimes I cant help it and I baby it to death.

What I'm saying is, backing off the watering a bit may cause the roots to seek out the moisture in the LECA. Frequent misting and/or watering provides the aerial roots everything it needs to stay aerial. Letting it get dryer might coax the roots to grow down. Sometimes dry-looking prime agra is still providing plenty of moisture, especially for a SLC.

quiltergal · #8 03-31-2008, 10:30 PM

Funny this thread should pop up to the top today. I did a bunch of repotting yesterday. I looked at this Slc. and pulled up a few LECA and pretty much all it was growing was black hairy mold. Yuck! Sooooo, this experiment is over. I pulled it out of S/H and repotted in coco. It has 1 viable root. The new roots that grew have started to dry up. I'll keep an eye on it for awhile and see what happens. It may end up in the dumpster after all.

Royal, I may have been an overwaterer at one time, but not anymore. I honestly think this one came with root rot.

Ray · #9 04-01-2008, 09:28 AM

Terri, quit torturing your plants!

Roots that grew in one environment - and it appears to be especially true with cattleya types - will not do well in a different root environment, especially when it is as big of a difference as you get in a s/h pot.

Because of that we expect the old roots to fail and die (as you observed), but if you timed the repotting to coincide with the growth of brand new roots, it should be OK (assuming the rest of your culture, and the health of the plant is good to begin with).

And now you can see it happening again - the roots that started growing in semi-hydroponics is drying up in the new environment because they had "tailored themselves" to grow wetter!

quiltergal · #10 04-01-2008, 02:06 PM

The new roots were drying up in the s/h Ray. Actually they were growing up and away from the LECA, like they didn't like it. It has been in that medium for nearly a full year. It was not in good health or actively growing when I put it in s/h initially a year ago. In fact it for all intents and purposes had no old roots at all. The only thing growing in the s/h pot was black furry mold. I believe the dead part of the rhizome was molding. Parts of the new growth were showing signs of black rot. I don't mist, water once a week only. I just don't think this plant was a good fit for s/h. It may very well die, but I think it would have died in s/h as well.