My oldest plant is an Epiphyllum Oxypetalum cactus. The mother plant belonged to my great grandmother and would be over 150 years old today. I have no idea who has the original plant. Parts of that plant has been clipped, given away and propagated over many years. I got a palm size leaf in the 80s. I initially grew it in soil. I mostly grew it in a large spaghetti jar of water for years when I couldn’t care for plants due to extensive business travel. I put it permanently into a tiny bit of soil in a heavy glazed clay pot over 15 years ago. I add a little cow manure every few years. The plant is about 6 feet tall. High winds knocked over my large plants including two Epiphyllum Oxypetalums and my monstera. It broke the pot. But, this exposed the roots. This shows 15 year root growth of an epiphyte plant which is almost nothing! It is not even root bound!Epiphytes like orchids don’t heavily rely on putting roots in soil. So, they don’t grow a lot of roots.
