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The woes of orchid rescue, amiright friends? 😂 My phal has some… | The Orchid Oasis 🇺🇸 | Planta-community

nepenthomancer

The woes of orchid rescue, amiright friends? 😂 My phal has some roots, but not as many as I’d like and instead seems to want to grow leaves. How do I encourage it to grow roots instead. It’s in orchid bark with a leca drainage layer and a fluffy moist spagnum top dressing, and a clear orchid pot. It’s kept under a decent grow light and roots are green one is kind of yellow most of the time they don’t get too silvery I think the bark may be retaining too much moisture for my environment but surely that’s no reason for it not to grow roots right? More info: fertilized foliar-ly bi-weekly with gublers pro, and the temp is kept 60-75f.

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  1. Jen

    In my experience, roots and leaves are both grown in the vegetative growth cycle. Your plant, depending on the season, the temps, and its hormones will either focus on growing flowers or leaves and roots together. I have never read or seen anything to suggest that it’s possible to encourage one over the other. So if it’s growing leaves for you, when it has the energy and inclination, it should grow roots. However- if the roots are staying bright green and never getting to that silvery color, it means the medium isn’t drying out. You’re right in thinking that it’s not going to necessarily prevent new root growth, but you may rot the roots you DO have. I’d suggest waiting to water until the bark dries out. Or potentially repotting into a chunkier bark mix if yours has very small fine pieces. A chunkier bark has bigger air pockets.

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    • MeasomerPi

      👆I agree with Jen. If you are concerned about the media staying too wet, you might consider removing/reducing the sphagnum. I have found some plants are less vigorous root producers (or slow to put on new leaves or reluctant bloomers). I’ve always chalked it up to a genetic trait of that specific plant. The leaves look smooth and firm, their color is good, and it has a lot of them. As long as it retains the roots it has, I wouldn’t worry about the amount.

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