Orchid root stability

[braunna]

Hello
My orchid is growing well. I have a new leaf growing well and what I think is a bloom, pictures attached.

My concern is the the stability of the orchid root. I need to use the flower support sticks to keep the plant upright, you can see this in the pictures. If I remove them, the plant falls severely to one side. Is this normal? The plant is about 1 yr old.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.

[OhioBob]

Nice healthy looking plant. It is all a matter of opinion whether you should allow the plant to lean or leave it as it is. Most of my phal's all are leaning to some extent, some because they grew that way and others because they shifted in the pot after potting. If you want it to stay that way keep the supports in for the next 6 months or so to allow the roots to establish and hold the plant better.
In the wild though phals would be sideways.

[Lani]

Hello,
However you want it (straight or leaning) is fine just make sure it is secure in that position so it doesn't wobble around. That is a nice new root growing so hopefully soon it will be able to hold itself in place. If the flower stakes are working that's fine. I like to use wooden skewers kind of like a pot clip. I've attached some examples of how I use them: 1. newly re-potted Phal. 2. soft cane den that likes to hang 3. cattleya in chunky volcanic rock.

[Optimist]

After repotting, I tie the orchid across the top and bottom (like a present) with soft string. This will allow stability while the roots form and cling to the new medium. If not when you move or when you might water at a sink, the vibrations from moving may cause roots to break. I think the only way to avoid this is never to move them. That is not possible in my circumstances.

[braunna]

Thanks everyone! Appreciate the help!

[james mickelso]

Lani, needs more lava rock. The new pbulb will push roots around the pieces if you give it more on top of the existing. Otherwise the new roots will grow along the top and not give it better stability. Here's one of my lava pottings. The first pic is an oncid that was just flat shrunken pbulbs with but one small new growth. But in lava it has come alive with a nice fat pbulb and a new growth off this shriveled older pbulb. But lava is a good media because you can water more than with most other media and not start root rot.

[Paphluvr]

Have you re-potted it since you bought it? I see very little in the way of roots and, to my eye, the mix looks old. It's also seems to be sitting a bit high in the mix. The lack of roots could account for it flopping over to one side when the sticks are removed.

That being said, the plant looks healthy.

[braunna]

No I haven't repotted. Not sure how....it's still got it's plastic container from the store. If I do repot, do I cut the brown roots off and what do I use for repot mix? Looks like bark.

[Laserbeak]

Look for rhizome clips.