Are they suppose to do that?

[Brenda0458]

I am brand new to caring for orchids and I now have two... and love them!
I don't know what type they are. The one that I do have the question about has larger purple flowers. The root system is crazy I have never seen anything quite like it... the roots are everywhere. and I don't know if they are suppose to be outside the pot or not it is the way it came it was a gift... do I need a larger planter or what
please help me!!!

[janet_a]

can you post a pic? short answer: the roots go where they want. i have a den at the moment that grew one spike near the edge of the pot and *all* its roots are outside the pot.

go here

http://aos.org/aos/orchids/page01.aspx

and see if you can find out what type of plant you have...
in general, no, roots outside the pot is not a bad thing, nor is it necessarily indicative of a need to repot.

[jerrymeola]

Since it was a gift and already had roots out of the pot, It is probably a phalaenopsis. They comonly develope air roots. They would be very thick almost a quarter of an inch. The leaves would be very wide and long with alternating leaves on a single growing stem.

If it is anything else please come back and ask for more infomation. There is usually a name tag in the pot when a nursery sells it. That will give us the family. Phalaenopsis often do not have name tags, other orchids usually do have tags.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Jerry, you should have said, a very short and completely hidden stem. Other wise, the plant could be confused with Dendrobiums. Cynthia