Vanda broken roots

[Raimisx9]

Hello all! Inrecently purchased this beutiful Vanda “Jeff Leatham” from Ansu here in Europe.

Sadly I hanged her in the balcony and due to wind from opened window it fell down while I was at work... It ended up lossing one third of the end of the 3 thick roots. Some other has cracks in them.

It has still quite a few roots left and even two thirds of the 3 broken root parts left has a lot of branchings.

Does it mean that roots with broken end parts will die all the way up to the main stem or they will continue branching growth?

[camille1585]

Dont't worry about the cracked roots, they're still fully functional and will continue to grow. The cracks are in the velamen part of the root, and the actual root (the thin wire like strand in the middle) will continue to do its job.

The broken roots won't die, but they just won't continue to grow from the tip. It's possible for them to make new branches above the cut however. Luckily for you the root damage seems to be rather minimal.

That's a gorgeous Vanda by the way!

[Raimisx9]

Thank You so much for the information Camille! It will let me sleep well at noght not worrying that I can loose this gorgeos Vanda.
The 3 broken roots parts that is still left intact has around 25 branchings left on all three with green tips. Just the tip of the mother roots are missing.

[camille1585]

It really is a super healthy plant, and I was surprised to see that the vendor is in the Netherlands.

[Raimisx9]

Thank You, the quality of the plant is really exeptional!
I always buy from Ansu and they always selects me with best quality plants. Actually I was never dissapointed with their quality

[Mr.Fakename]

That's a great looking Vanda and I second what Camille said!

It seems really healthy, it will "recover" just fine and grow new tips in no time.

[Raimisx9]

Thank You so much for info! It really helps! It is very strong plant with more than 25 branchings from roots that are still intact and most of them has green tips. Also she is growing new thick root from the stem!

[Ray]

I am in a picky mood, so will disagree with Camille's comment that "The cracks are in the velamen part of the root, and the actual root (the thin wire like strand in the middle) will continue to do its job."

The entire thing is the "actual root". Is skin not part of your "actual arm"?

Sorry, Camille. Got it off my chest.

[SouthPark]

I know what Ray is saying. Ray you bully hahahaha.

Only kidding hehe.

Anyway ------ true. It's a matter of definition. As in ----- if we had the technology to replace the skin of our arms and/or the velamen of roots of orchid, then we would probably still call the modified result 'arms' and 'roots'.

We can just define the component as being 'root' ..... the entire element for the plant to get water into it.

If the root does happen to have the velamen removed --- we then have to decide on what to call it ..... eg. a stele strand? etc.

I will cover for Camille here a little bit heheh.

According to this link here (link), there is a sentence that says:

"In epiphytic orchids, the velamen covering the roots instantly absorbs whatever water it comes in contact with."

[Raimisx9]

Hello Ray and SouthPark, so if I understood correctly the cracks is a problem on my orchid? Will the root continue to grow below the crack or it is doomed? Thank You all for your insights!!!