Phal above medium roots brown and hard - Orchid Board

Watertiger · #1 03-24-2018, 01:55 PM

Most older roots above the medium (fir bark) of my a four-years old pal have turned brown but are hard. Otherwise, the plant goes through its habitual growing routine (nine flowers from January till June, a couple or so of new aerial roots, shedding of one old leaf followed by a new leaf always larger than the previous one). New root growth sometimes stalls with dried tips. I was told that the plant is nevertheless in globally good health and the roots' discolouration possibly due to any or a combination of the following: tannin staining, fertilizer burn, dry air, sun burn. The plant is mounted over a small plate with water and located several feet from a south-facing window with some morning sun reaching it for a maximum of around 20 minutes; watering is every five to ten days depending on seasonal requirements, misting is at least every couple of days, fertilizing will be modified - hitherto I fertilized it once per month with PlantProd orchid fertilizer according to manufacturer's direction but will switch to MSU fertilizer and a weekly-weakly routine of once every week for three weeks followed by a flush in the fourth week. A new and younger phal introduced about three weeks ago to the same location is slowly developing the same root issue. In winter, the ambient air is dry (20-30) but I cannot do better than misting and providing the plate with water (a humidifier is out of question). Please, have a look and let me know what you think.

greenpassion · #2 03-25-2018, 05:53 PM

Welcome to the OB

Others will chime in here, but the roots look fine to me. The plant looks healthy as well. Low humidity will often effect air roots but as I said, I can't see a problem. Do you know what condition the ones inside the pot are in?

chantrelle · #3 03-25-2018, 06:48 PM

Well I have the same issue here on relative new Phal.

When I reppoted them I was unable to stuck those parts of the roots in the bark as they were before. Futhermore, when I got the Phal. the potting mix had some Sphaignum moss in it.

I don’t know much about Orchids, but I believed it could have been damaged due to the change in the growing environment as roots don’t realy adapt to environment changes, the plant trows adapted roots instead, and the old ones usually dye. Any ways that it is what I got from doing some semi-hydro culture. I was wondering if small environment changes were enough to make that process happen ?

Or I believed it might have been spider mites but all the leaves are very nice.

I actually repotted on of the 3 Phal. that had that in a larger pot to cover the roots and left the others like that. (experimenting here

)

I also wonder if maybe I was not watering my Phal. enough, I too water about every 5 to 10 days mostly every 7 days and I allow the bark to get realy dry.

P.S. Watertiger hope your are ok with me adding questions to yours about this issue.

rbarata · #4 03-25-2018, 06:48 PM

I don't see anything wrong. It's perfectly normal for the aerial roots to become like that, especially near the base of the plant.
Also, the plant looks healthy.

Watertiger · #5 03-25-2018, 07:49 PM

Thank you for your reply, rbarata, your comment is reassuring. I figure with "normal" you mean normal for an older plant. The common online images of phals mostly show plants with green aerial roots, so I got doubts.

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 PM ----------

Thank you for your input and reassurance, greenpassion. I'll see the general state of the roots when I take the plant out after blooming is done in June.

---------- Post added at 07:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:45 PM ----------

It's all good, chantrelle. I'd stay away from phals that come commercially potted in moss. As I use clear plastic pots I can easily judge by the absence of any inside condensation when it's time to water and it falls as indicated in my above message.