cattleya with unhealthy roots

[NancyG]

Hi,

Some of the roots of a rather sickly cattleya look light brown and flat. Should I prune them away. This plant has had scale and has new growth slowly coming back. Would it get better faster if I cut the old roots away.

Thanks,
NancyG

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

No, unless there are so many that it displaces the mix that your plant needs to grow in. A few of these dead roots, with the lose collapsing velamin removed can act as an anchor for the plant until it grows new roots. One thing very important to roots is that the plant remain rigid in the pot so that the new roots are not actively rubbing against anything while growing, or they will terminate that roots growth. Staking the upper part of the plant will help with this problem. Ridgid, ridgid, ridgid is the mantra for repotted plants.

Get Bayer Advance Rose and Flower Insect Killer ready mix and treat the plant for the scale. I just picked up Bayer Advance ... Soil & Turf which has the same ingredients, but in a different balance. I will be experimenting with this next time I get a plant with scale, which is generally a new plant and is pretty obvious that it has scale. The product will be a better value for a large collection, but the hose end attachment of the bottle may not put enough product on the plants. Hoping this does a better job than neem oil that seems to need many repeat spraying to rid the plant of the scale, and seems to set back some plants, even with the cool, low light treatment for a couple of days. Cynthia

[jerrymeola]

You want actively growing roots. The old brown roots do not do much for the plant.

My Taiwan shipper this week mentioned that he cuts all the roots off on Cattleyas he is re-potting. This is with healthy plants.

It is not necessary to go to that extreme but it indicates that Cattleyas (and many others) do not depend on the roots as much as we might think.

I am in the process of re-potting about 100 Cattleyas half at least are overgrown 5-6 inch pots. I am removing every root that is soft and squishy. This is a must all the time. Then I am removing all old useless roots. This I do by holding the roots and pulling with a twist. Maybe half the roots will break off easily. Then I cut off every root that is cracked, any amount of rot, any with the root cover missing, basically anything that does not look perfect. When I am done 80-90% of the roots on an overgrown 5 inch pot are gone. The plant usually fits easily in the original pot, occasionally I even downsize.

It is necessary to use a pot clip to hold the plant after re-potting.

I have had plants treated like this fill a pot in as little as six months and re-bloom.

[NancyG]

Thanks, that helps alot
Nancy