Tiny plant, lotsa roots - Am I doing something wrong?

[silence882]

So I just potted out an 8-plant compot of Phrag. Eumelia Arias that I thought had been growing pretty slowly for a phrag. These plants had been in this compot for about 11 months, with a total age of about 18 months. However, when I broke it apart I found insane root growth, despite the small plant growth.

Has anyone ever stumbled across this. Is it normal for a kovachii hybrid?

I did have a lighting issue which I estimate robbed me of 4-6 months of good growing time, but I have been assuming it affected the roots as well.

Thoughts?

Small plants, big roots:

The biggest of the plants:

The biggest of the plants in a hilariously over-sized-for-the-plant-but-not-the-roots 5.5" pot:

 

[eteson]

It seems normal to me, Eumelia Arias is a slow grower, at least under my conditions (a little warmer than ideal).
Some kovachii hybrids grow very fast like Phragmipedium Fritz Schomburg, which can flower in 2,5 years after deflasking (and with a single growth).
On the other hand, multigrowts of Eumlia Arias (mine has now at least 4 growths and 2 more coming and a glorious root system) are still reluctant to flower and its development speed is similar to the kovachii plants of the same age.
I can post a picture of my plant later..

 

[ehanes7612]

my guess would be they are adapting to a drier root environment by putting out as many roots to suck up as much water as possible (especially growing in CHC)..they have a wide range of watering conditions they can easily adapt to..i wouldnt worry about it ..seems normal

 

[Heather]

No idea, but interesting for sure!

 

[Ozpaph]

good roots are the key to growing everything.
The leaves are pale - ? too much light.

 

[mrhappyrotter]

What kind of ferts/supplements do you use? Maybe something like Seaweed extract or SuperThrive is affecting the plants in such a way that it's causing them to focus a lot of energy on roots instead of leaves?

 

[Stone]

If you have roots like that, you're not doing much wrong in my view. I notice a few older leaves staring to yellow, are they getting enough nitrogen? maybe a couple of light sprays of Urea will give an indication. If they green up in a few days after that, thats your answer.

 

[SlipperFan]

It would be interesting to know what your fertilizer is.

 

[silence882]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the replies and advice! I guess I will continue what I'm doing and see how things go.

The plant leaves are a little pale because they were getting too much light for a couple months. Once I switched from an HID system to a fluorescent set-up, all my plants were much happier almost overnight. The leaves are greening up and growth has picked up.

I water my phrags every day with rainwater and fertilize with the MSU formulation at less than half strength every week or two. I usually add in a bit of calcium nitrate and magnesium phosphate to the fertilizer. These phrags are in a CHC/perlite/charcoal mix that I heavily top-dress with crushed oyster shell (although i just switched to calcium sand).

I have heard that Phrag. Eumelia Arias is a slow grower and finicky bloomer, but I took a shot in the dark with these. Luckily, I bought another flask a short time later of faster-growing phrags (Rosy Charm) that can keep me sane.

--Stephen

 

[NYEric]

Hideous! Send them to me you Phrag abuser!
Actually looking good. As long as the roots are good and you don't rot the leaves you'll be okay.

 

[papheteer]

Roots look great. As for the leaves looking a little pale, i had/have the same problem. Ive been advised that nitrate is not easily absorbed when you put stuff like crushed oyster shells in the pot. Since switching to a fertilizer that has some ammoniacal/urea nitrogen, my plants have greened up alot. And they seem to be growing faster. I have stopped using oyster shells and started using solely tap water. Its has a ph of 7.7. I do add calcium nitrate once in a while. My plants are so much happier now.

 

[cnycharles]

good roots are the key to growing everything.
The leaves are pale - ? too much light.

exactly right. unless you are somehow watering with something that contains tons of the root-forming hormones and it's keeping the plant from growing, the plant will make a bunch of roots and then grow like crazy. a good plant grower grows roots (and the plant will follow in kind); kill the roots and the plant has nothing left

 

[NYEric]

Yeah but kill the leaves and roots wont become a plant.

 

[papheteer]

I think I got the same "problem" with this brachy. Its been a fast grower for me since I got it in 2010 blooming at least 2 times a year. But it's slowed down a lot since it suffered nitrogen-deficiency. It's greening up well I changed my fertilizer. But I thought of checking the roots today. Here's what I found. A ball of healthy roots with a lot of nice white tips. I potted it in orchiata and put it in a clear pot. Hope it starts growing leaves again.



In bloom back in 2011:

http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23477&highlight=mystic

 

[RNCollins]

Eumelia Arias

Hi Stephen,

I was looking through old posts and I was wondering what has happened to your Eumelia Arias seedlings.

I'm thinking of purchasing one and I am curious as to how long it takes for it to bloom.

 

[NYEric]

Ever since my experience with Paph tranlienam album leaves growing twice as fast with low light I believe that plants need to grow to absorb light when it is restricted. Did you move them to a lower light area?

 

[silence882]

My EAs are growing well, but still haven't bloomed. Unfortunately I can't tell you exactly how fast they should grow as I've had so many lighting issues since I bought the flask that I haven't had a typical experience. What I can say is that I got the light setup sorted out back in March and they've really picked up.

If you're just going for one, I'd say find yourself a large seedling (at least 8" LS). Once they hit that size hopefully they'll have a decent growth rate.

I'm sure others on here can give you better advice.

Here's a new photo:


--Stephen

 

[PaphMadMan]

Yet another variation on the "My plants are too healthy, what's wrong?" meme that seems to be so common among orchid folk. I think the real question should be "What am I doing wrong when I don't get root growth like this?"

 

[paphioboy]

Yet another variation on the "My plants are too healthy, what's wrong?" meme that seems to be so common among orchid folk. I think the real question should be "What am I doing wrong when I don't get root growth like this?"

:rollhappy: :rollhappy: :rollhappy: Orchid people just like being miserable worry-warts even when nothing is wrong...