Well, you have to learn somehow, don't you? never fear to ask!

ANd you shan't have to move anything, they'll find their own course down into the media.

-Ceci

Thank you!

It just felt as if I had asked something wrong and some of the replies made me feel like an idiot. :( I know roots are roots, but when I said "type" I meant aerial or in the soil as that's how I understand them easier. I guess I should have asked, instead, where my orchid's roots would end up...

Thanks again. :)

Think of it like this: a ground plat reaches down into the soil to anchor itself. It digs deeper to seek water. In a tree, for most orchids, they send out roots to cling to the surface on which they grow for an anchor. Even in the wild, this may mean they wander into some leaf litter or moss. Nothing changes really, about that root, other than it has steadier access to water.

-Ceci

There really is no need to "feel like an idiot". It is better to view it as a learning process. :)

The answers you got were true and, as far as I know, nobody belittled you for not knowing.

The term "aerial roots" gets used quite frequently in the hobby, but it's not really used in the "correct" context all the time.

While I do understand that many people in the orchid hobby often refer to the term "aerial roots" as roots that are not in the pot and dangling in mid-air; this is actually not the definition of the term "aerial roots" used in botany.

To explain:

All epiphytic orchids have aerial roots. This is because they grow on trees in the wild and the roots are exposed to the air to some degree or another. This definition is far closer to the definition found in botany textbooks.

Notice that the context of the botanical definition is far broader in scope.

In terms of the cells of the roots and such, the cells of the roots that are attached to the tree trunk or tree branch are the same exact types of cells that make up the roots that are dangling in the middle of the air.

To be more specific...

Basically speaking, both the roots dangling in mid-air and the roots attached to the tree will have:

1. A group of living and non-living cells arranged to form the root's food and water transport system (aka vascular bundle system).

2. A group of cells that make up the root's fleshy parts (aka cortical layer, cortical tissue).

3. A group of cells that make up the root's skin layer, (aka epidermal layer/epidermal tissue).

4. A group of dead skin cells that have a spongy texture, called the velamin.

They both basically perform the same functions, which would be:

A) Water/moisture uptake.

B) Nutrient/mineral uptake.

C) Photosynthesis.

So when you ask "What type of roots is my Phal growing?", you're gonna get the answers you got - which, again, are true! :)

Reading your initial post, perhaps the better question would've been: "Phal roots growing in mid-air. What do I do?" - or something to this effect. It was what you really wanted to know in the first place, after all. ;)

Shikitita and anyone/everyone else who reads this board. Never...ever feel belittled or dumb for asking any question. This is how we all learn. I've been growing orchids for far longer than most of you have been alive and I learn new things all the time. I may argue points but most of the time I am challenging someone to show me. I have no problem being wrong and admitting it. So please bring all your questions and opinions here for discussion. That I what makes this board so interesting, enjoyable, and challenging. The more the merrier. And remember none of us are wrters or linguists(?). Heck I just learned to read.

Apologies if my answer made you feel that way, not my intention :(

I think basically it's very difficult to tell which way they will go. Like others have suggested just let them do what they want. I've sometimes moved bit's of medium to try and encourage them one way or another but it often doesn't make any difference and they still just go the way they feel like :)

Along with others, I apologize if my reply came across in a way that seemed insulting - that was not my intention.

I believe we tried to answer a question we thought you were asking. :)

Thank you all for the help and understanding.

Basically I know what roots are and that there is not more than one type in orchids. However, I think it might have been the fact that I'm Spanish, and there's always a problem when it comes translating to English or from English. For us it would be something like: roots in the air and roots in the soil. "An orchid is growing roots [hanging] in the air and inside the soil."

However, the translation of "aerial" implies as in the air, but used like an adjective for "root", making it that way either aerial or "terrestrial", if this makes sense.

That's why I probably caused a misunderstanding with my question, as what I meant was if they were gonna end up in the air or in the soil.

I am really sorry for all this confusion and I hope I didn't make any of you feel bad. :(

As for the roots: two of them are finding their way down, the other two... We'll see. Best thing is how excited I've been after watering them today, and finding that three of my 6 orchids have roots in the soil with green tips and are obviously growing like mad. (Orchid Myst maybe? xD ) :) Yay!

Again, thanks everybody for all your help.

Shikitita - I've been growing orchids for over 40 years, and I still learn new stuff all the time - a great deal of it from folks here at this forum, and not so rarely from "newbies" who have viewed something with a different mindset that had never occurred to me before, which opens a new direction of thinking.