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orchid root rot & probs with root growth

15 years ago

I inherited 90 orchids from a friend who moved out of state.they were not taken care of & almost all have had to be repot but I'm still having a major problem with getting roots to grow on these. Some suffered from root rot & when I repot I removed as much as possible then treated with physan &/or cinnamon solution. Please help me. How do I encourage root growth.

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Comments (2)

mehitabel
15 years ago
Hi, lara. Root hormones work, they really do. You can get them in powders, gels and liquid forms. I've used them on tropicals and houseplants for many years, and on orchids successfully for about five years.

You paint the gel or powder or rootless pieces, or can paint the gel on existing poor roots or root nubs.

The liquid (eg Dyna Grow KLN, or Hormex) can be used as a watering solution each time you water, and encourage root growth.

Check out the websites of Charlie's Greenhouse or Worms' Way to see the different kinds available, and the prices. They are sometimes called "cloning" or "propagation" solutions.

This time of year, plus the root hormones, you should be able to get good roots started and maintained on your orchids.

There have been a number of threads here on re-rooting rootless orchids. If you do a search, you may be able to find some of them. Search for "root", "rootless" or "re-rooting", see what you get. One useful thread was entitled something like "don't give up on your rootless phals".

Sphagnum moss around the area where roots would form helps maintain a humid and slightly moist environment that encourages roots.

Good luck.
pcan-z9
15 years ago
Hi Lara,
What kinds of orchids do you have there? Catts? Phals? Oncids? It may be that different ones need different treatment as to re-rooting....
Can you post pictures?
Pat........
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Regardless of what is thought by many it cannot be a good idea to unpot a beautifully blooming plant like the one pictured. Even if one is careful enough not to damage the roots, what about accidentally knocking off a bud or two on the desk or table while holding the plant upside down? Catching one of the flowers on a sleeve... In another recent thread we are discussing a phal that just may have been the victim of too little watering during bloom. Bloom, especially on a double spike, doubles or trebles the amount of surface area the phal has but the root area remains constant. Overwatering is bad as Jane noted but the reverse is just as bad when an orhcid is blooming. The fine line must be held to and neither exceeded one way nor the other. Its art, technique, science and magic all rolled in one. If it was easy there wouldn't be all the interest. Good luck. H
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The sphagnum you have the Phal growing in is really wet. Any roots in the moss may rot but you have plenty of healthy roots growing out of the pot. Could it be some kind of fungus? I would wipe the healthy roots down with a little alcohol. I'm not sure how you would grow this in the UK. I'm in Florida and my Phals are in fast draining mix because I grow them outside. Hope this helps
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My take? Less water until you get her into more light. The pot should feel light when you pick it up, because the inside is almost dry. That's when you should water. Try a wooden skewer stuck into the mix. Pull it out and when it's barely damp, then water. Maybe post a picture if you can... Andrew
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Hi Calvin. The stunted roots are not necessarily an indication of the condition of roots that are in the medium. Bark can be a challenging medium in certain conditions because the same pot of bark can have several different levels of moisture - so the established roots could very well be perfectly happy. You will need to keep an eye on new flushes of emerging roots on plants in bark. If they continue to stunt, then the next thing I would try is bedding the surface of the bark plants with a quarter inch of sphagnum moss which you would mist daily or so. If you don't like that idea, then you could just repot into something that holds more moisture close to the surface. I do not believe that these short stunted roots are merely dormant. The growing tips have probably died and you won't be able to expect anything from them. Hence the necessity of attending to the problem one way or the other before you lose another set of roots. John
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