What Do Roots Look like without Repot for 5 Years?

[Happypaphy7]

This Fanaticum seedling purchased from Windy Hill Gardens was repotted just last month after having spent five years in its 2in shallow pot.
It was a small seedling (freebie) barely at 2.5in wide tip to tip.
I would have left it alone but the roots were lifting the plant up over the pot and the plant started a spike too, so I decided to repot it into a larger pot for more room.
I knew it was growing well but not this well. I count at least 7-8 active root tips on such a young plant.

 

[Paphman910]

Wow those are some nice roots!

 

[cnycharles]

 

[abax]

Excellent root development.

 

[southernbelle]

This Fanaticum seedling purchased from Windy Hill Gardens was repotted just last month after having spent five years in its 2in shallow pot.
It was a small seedling (freebie) barely at 2.5in wide tip to tip.
I would have left it alone but the roots were lifting the plant up over the pot and the plant started a spike too, so I decided to repot it into a larger pot for more room.
I knew it was growing well but not this well. I count at least 7-8 active root tips on such a young plant. View attachment 29310

You might lose the spike. Hadley Cash says you can repot a Paph anytime, even in flower, but if in spike it will likely blast. Keep us posted.

 

[Happypaphy7]

You might lose the spike. Hadley Cash says you can repot a Paph anytime, even in flower, but if in spike it will likely blast. Keep us posted.

I would never repot Parvis in spike since they can take a long time to develop and last thing I want is adding more stress on the plant in any ways. This plant had to be transplanted though as the roots were lifting the plant up and quite a bit of roots were exposed to the air. Not to mention the pot was way to small to withstand the weight of a plant with a growing spike that who knows how tall eventually it would get. Toppling over can easily be expected and I would really hate to see that happen.
So it was very much necessary for practical reasons.
I usually don’t repot anything unless they are walking out the pot.
Photo update will follow separately.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Happy to report that the hairy bract (?) popped open and I can see the actual spike emerging now.
There also is a fast growing pup under the mama’s leaves.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Wow those are some nice roots!

Wish everything was this strong!!

 

[JimNJ]

This Fanaticum seedling purchased from Windy Hill Gardens was repotted just last month after having spent five years in its 2in shallow pot.
It was a small seedling (freebie) barely at 2.5in wide tip to tip.
I would have left it alone but the roots were lifting the plant up over the pot and the plant started a spike too, so I decided to repot it into a larger pot for more room.
I knew it was growing well but not this well. I count at least 7-8 active root tips on such a young plant. View attachment 29310

Very impressive! Can you share how frequently you water and under what growing conditions?

 

[Happypaphy7]

Very impressive! Can you share how frequently you water and under what growing conditions?

I pretty much water everything (I have mostly paphs but a bunch of other orchids and plants also) once they are dry.
Now, things dry out at different rate depending on the size of the pot, root mass, type and age of potting material etc.
So for this particular plant, I would water every 2-3 days plus mist the exposed top roots daily.
It was potted in bark (Orchiata), perlite and some charcoal and what appears to be rice hulls in 2inch shallow pot. It came this way from the nursery years ago. I have been growing it under T8 light (two tubes per shelf) with about 16in over the plant in the last four years.
Since this plant was moved to a larger pot (3.75 or 4inch wide)last month, I've been watering it about every 4-5 days. I also took the plant out of the artificial light and to a cooler room. I need to change to LED since my current light generates way too much heat.
I try and keep any spiking parvis as cool as possible. So when I see any plants in low sheath, I move them to natural light source and away from too much warmth.
I water using my tap water which has about 50ppm TDS. I fertilize about once or twice a month. Sometimes even more spaced out than that. No additives of any kind.
My temperature range is mid 60s to low 80s. Most of them time it is between low 70s and high 70s.
I think I covered just about everything. Hope this helps.

 

[Djthomp28]

I wish I found these types of roots when I repot my parvis.

 

[Happypaphy7]

I wish I found these types of roots when I repot my parvis.

Not all and not everytime, but I find that parvis in general are fairly strong root growers.
I can't say the same for Maudiae type hybrids that are easier to grow & bloom but rarely develops strong big root systems.

 

[JimNJ]

I pretty much water everything (I have mostly paphs but a bunch of other orchids and plants also) once they are dry.
Now, things dry out at different rate depending on the size of the pot, root mass, type and age of potting material etc.
So for this particular plant, I would water every 2-3 days plus mist the exposed top roots daily.
It was potted in bark (Orchiata), perlite and some charcoal and what appears to be rice hulls in 2inch shallow pot. It came this way from the nursery years ago. I have been growing it under T8 light (two tubes per shelf) with about 16in over the plant in the last four years.
Since this plant was moved to a larger pot (3.75 or 4inch wide)last month, I've been watering it about every 4-5 days. I also took the plant out of the artificial light and to a cooler room. I need to change to LED since my current light generates way too much heat.
I try and keep any spiking parvis as cool as possible. So when I see any plants in low sheath, I move them to natural light source and away from too much warmth.
I water using my tap water which has about 50ppm TDS. I fertilize about once or twice a month. Sometimes even more spaced out than that. No additives of any kind.
My temperature range is mid 60s to low 80s. Most of them time it is between low 70s and high 70s.
I think I covered just about everything. Hope this helps.

Thanks for sharing this. It sounds like watering them when they’re dry but keeping the humidity high around the roots with misting are the key points. Will try that out. Thanks again.

 

[Happypaphy7]

No problem!
The key is not to leave them bone dry for long. Over time, I figured out which ones dry out how fast.
Paphs seem surprisingly forgiving of drought here and there for the most part, but smaller young plants or those in active growths not as much so. Then there are others that will fall prey to mites if mishaps repeat too much.
I do get lazy and mess up every now and then, but I try my best to keep up.
So as soon as the pot contents become dry, that's when they get watered.