| I'm no expert; quite the novice for sure. But in my short experience with orchids I am formulating the opinion that some of them, I'm thinking catts here, really don't mind losing roots. I've seen several cases where plants I've purchased have lost their roots (nearly all) and recovered with new growth and blooms in less than a year. It seems that when I mount a catt there is a period of time when most of the existing roots die off and new roots grow conforming to the mount.
Certainly not arguing against all the aforementioned information. Just adding that if any course of action leads to (or you find yourself with a big root die-off situation) it isn't the end of the world. These plants have a remarkable ability to recover.
I'm going to experiment with a fairly mature (healthy) plant soon by nipping the roots way back and moving from a pot to a mount. Skipping the few years of folliage growth in lieu of a few months of root regrowth. |