paphs don't need roots!

[Stone]

In good conditions for quite a while at least....
I bought a bunch of flasks this time last year and deflasked them into trays. Since then, many are 4 times larger. I pulled a few out yesterday to pot up for a friend. They had no new roots just the original flask roots and are perfectly healthy and great colour. They do appear to be getting ready to put out new roots because the base is swelling but so far they have managed to grow beautifully with just a couple of short stubby old roots - if that. They are foliar fed at almost every watering (very dilute - almost just water) And fed normally as well. Watered when beginning to dry. Kept at 20 to 30C. High humidity.
I suspect when they are brought into drier environment of the glasshouse they will start rooting soon after. Other Paph seedlings deflasked at the same time but in the g/house have rooted into the mix but these have not grown as much.

 

[gego]

Very intresting observations. Ive bought some plants that looked very healthy with hard and shiny leaves. But the roots were minimal and some even had one short root. Ive been monitoring these plants and they seemed to be growing. But one thing all of them had only four leaves, two on each sides of the fan. The smaller and older leaves were gone.

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[Secundino]

Yes, sometimes it seems so. A flowering plant and nearly no roots. How do they make it?
Its just me who feels safer if they grow roots, but the Paphios don't care as much ...

 

[Ozpaph]

I found a similar thing recently - great top growth and poor roots - all 'flask' roots. Im not sure why that's the case. My usual practice was to soak in fungicide when deflasking so I stopped that recently - will see if that makes a difference. Ive always be 'agar off'. I use fine orchiata with some charcoal and perlite. where were the flasks from, Mike?

 

[Ray]

My "flasklings" start growing roots pretty rapidly, but we do have to remember that they are soaked with a KelpMax solution....

 

[naoki]

I guess they know what's best for them! Under high humidity, they don't want to waste carbohydrates to make roots. They try to make a "smart" decision based on what is the limiting factor.

 

[Stone]

I found a similar thing recently - great top growth and poor roots - all 'flask' roots. Im not sure why that's the case. My usual practice was to soak in fungicide when deflasking so I stopped that recently - will see if that makes a difference. Ive always be 'agar off'. I use fine orchiata with some charcoal and perlite. where were the flasks from, Mike?

They were Thai flasks. I'm not worried about them though they are perfectly healthy. Sooner or later they will put out new roots.
They have been given auxins a few times as well but so far no difference.

 

[Tom Reddick]

That seems a long time to wait for new roots, but in my own experience I have sometimes gone up to 3-4 months before new root growth got going.

I tend to grow my seedlings on the drier side, FWIW, and I presume that encourages root growth (though one should not overdo it.)

 

[Happypaphy7]

No new roots for one year does seem very odd!

Some things to consider:

As much as I try to take good care of my seedlings out of flask, there were times when some of them got less attention than needed to be and thus, dried out too much between waterings.
These always did poorly obviously because they didn't get sufficient water, and the little roots seem to easily dry up and die.
I never use kelp mix or any other "root stimulator", just water and sometimes fertilizer on my seedlings just like adult plants. As long as they are watered so that they don't stay bone dry too long between watering, they all seem to grow well, roots and leaves.

In the wild, where humidity is high almost always, and heavy morning dews drenching the entire plant (roots and all, of course) and frequent rainfalls during wet season, paphs still grow quite extensive roots.
All the wild collected specimen seem to have massive root balls compared to cultivated plants.
After all, they have to anchor themselves as well as reach out for moisture and nutrients.

So, I don't think it is just a simple matter of watering/drying when it comes to root development.