Cutting off roots?

[Brambles]

Hi there,

I'm Brambles, I live in a small appartement in Belgium with my boyfriend and 2 orchids. Recently, my oldest orchid (1.5 - 2 years old) has been causing me some worries. As you can see, the roots have dried out and I can't seem to get them right again. Should I cut them off, repot the plant etc? Any advise would be greatly appreciated, as the problem seems to get worse and worse. Everything the plant makes a new aerial root, it dries out.

My plant also used to give 2 sets of flowers (about every 4 months) and have longer branches...

I'm ashamed to say I haven't really been able to get a good environment for this poor plant. It moved houses 2x in one year and on both occasions I could tell it wasn't taking it well: some leaves dried and the flowers fell off. It never seemed to need too much care.

Both of my plants are on top of a shelf, near a window but away from direct sunlight. My appartment faces west so it gets the evening sun. Watering I did by submerging the plant until all roots were dark green. Sometimes I wasn't able to watch the plant, and it was left in the basin for an entire night, but the plant actually seemed to react well to it. Now I leave an inch of water in the pot under the roots.

Any advise would be greatly welcome! This plant is my first orchid and a gift from my grandmother. It survived well up till now and I'm afraid repotting it might kill it off.

Thank you for your help.

[priz_m]

Hi Brambles, welcome to the OB.

You'll be happy to know that your phal looks healthy and, and those blooms are beautiful.

To repot or not to repot? usually you'd repot when the media the orchid is potted in gets soggy and decomposed. I see a little bit algae on your bark, so you might as well. Phals tend to take repotting less hard even when in bloom.

As for the roots, well, if they are dried up on the top of the media, cut back, the same as if they are rotten beneath the media, you'll spot them easily because they'll be black-ish and mushy.

The following is a very helpful link to repotting phals.

Easy Orchids - Re Potting A Phalaenopsis

Just another thing, whether you pin it on luck or not, you have done good with your orchid. Most of us beginners tend to overwater and rot the orchids, worry not, they will handle lack of water better than they can handle excess of.

You can establish a watering schedule once you repot. That will be up to your growing conditions (temperature, humidity, light, etc)

I can tell you there's nothing apparently wrong with you phal from where I see.

keep us posted!

[Lagoon]

Brambles,

Your orchid looks fine to me, you could try misting the top roots once per day - keep mositure away from the crown area.
As far as repotting goes - if the mix is broken down further down inside the bark mix, then it will need new potting media.
Don't cut any roots that are not brown and soft. Leave all firm roots attached.
I wouldn't leave any water inside the bottom container, but rather water right threw the top or soaking your orchid inside a sink or a water tight container would be fine for an hour or 2. Bark can be a bugger to keep moist.

I think your doing just fine, so don't be alarmed at repotting, many times this will give your orchid a nice boost in growth, besides you'll have to do it one day. we all did and lived

Happy growing

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[quiltergal]

Your plant looks fine just looks like it's climbing out of it's pot. I think a repot is in order. I think you'll see lots of new growth (roots and leaves) after you repot. You might want to move up half a pot size.

I agree with Gloria. It's not good to leave Phals in standing water for extended periods of time.

[Brambles]

Thank you for your advise The guide says to repot once every 12-18 months (it's been 20 months or so since I got it) so I'll take it to my parents house this weekend for repotting. I can't wait to see the result of the afterwards!! I'll definately keep you posted!

Br.

[Royal]

Yup, looks good. Maybe a little high in the pot. When you do repot it, plant it a little deeper.

I don't cut any roots that are not rotted. Dry roots won't cause problems, and may surprise you with new growth when they get a little more moisture.