| Hi Sandra,
Sounds like you did ok on the root thing. From time to time I have encountered some very strange urban myth-type anecdotes for growing orchids, usually coming form florists who sell but do not grow orchids. Examples include things like putting your orchid in the cellar or basement in the winter or putting it in a bag with an apple under the kitchen sink for a month in order to induce blooming. Of course these things are nonsense. A long time ago I heard it said that for other tropical plants (non-orchids) one can induce growth by trimming roots. Of course this is a bad idea too as the plant relies on its roots to take in most of the moisture and nutrients it needs. I was a little concerned that another of those gardening myths had crept into orchid growing.
Anyway, you were right to remove all the rot even if it meant you weren't left with much. Hopefully in its new fresh pot it will start to grow a new set of roots.
I plan to take some orchid pics today so I'll try to remember to take a snap of my growing space and post it. One reason I like Paphs so much is that they don't take up alot of space. I think you'll be suprised to see how many plants I have in a rather small space. Of those 550 only about 200 are blooming size the rest are near blooming size or seedlings of various sizes. Many varieties (especially many of the Brachypetalum crosses) can bloom in 50mm pots.  |