Phalaenopsis in water culture

[Undergrounder]

Originally Posted by orchidsamore

The reason you do not rot the roots in water is that decay is a living organism and requires moisture (water) and air to grow. There is no usable oxygen in water so decay does not grow.

There is dissolved oxygen O2 in water but it is not in a form that can be used by the decaying organisms, similar to the way we can not use the oxygen to survive while fish can.

I don't buy this explanation because there are plenty of anaerobic bacteria that rot roots that also live in water, and even aerobic fungi grow fine in water culture. I've grown mushroom cultures, the same kind you eat in supermarkets, in a mixture of sugar and water many times, it grows very well under water.

And how can it explain that roots grown in a dry environment, and then transferred into water culture rot and die within a matter of weeks?