Removing Rotted Roots In S/H?

[NiNiDazzle]

It it necessary to remove rotted roots from S/H? Normally when I change a plant into S/H it stays in it's pot until it gets too big for the container. I noticed about two weeks ago with two of my plants that they had a funky smell and bugs coming out so I upended them and ALL of the old roots were dead. I pulled all the dead roots out and repotted and they seem to have taken off. Now I'm wondering if I should upend all of orchids and remove the dead roots.

I had assumed that when it died and rotted, it would flow out with the flushings. Now I'm not so sure.

[Ray]

It will, if you flush thoroughly and more often, but if the extent of the old root system is massive, it won't hurt to trim any that are even moderately "iffy" before moving a plant to S/H. if it isn't, I don't bother.

If you want to unpot, trim, and repot, it shouldn't hurt the plant unless your clumsy.

[NiNiDazzle]

These two that I unpotted did have massive root systems. They were all in great condition when I repotted into S/H. After two months though, that was when the funky smell and bugs started. Every single old root was dead and only new roots from new growth were alive.

I read through most of the S/H forum last night and someone suggested trimming all the old root down to 2-3 inches when changing from traditional media to S/H. What are your thoughts on that?

[Ray]

I have never done that intentionally, but if I was to do so, I'd let the cut tips dry overnight before potting it up.

[Rivka]

i usually do trimming on both stages.

i trim medium aggressively when first repotting in s/h, but stick to the oldest roots and any ones with any damage, making sure to leave the most recent roots and enough for the plant to have something to anchor with. this of course is contingent to repotting at the proper time when the new roots are starting to shoot out.



then i tend to take the plant back out the next season after it has had a lot of good growth and not as much trim, but run the whole root ball under pretty big amounts of water to flush away those roots at that point. taking care not to pull the leca off new roots and then put it back in. only cutting or removing more roots if there is a way too tight of mass of them in the center.


and actually when i have less than a full amount of roots i leave the centers of any roots that are dead and mushy in either time, i tend to just strip the outer mush off my my fingers and leave the inner hard root for the plant to use as a anchor. this stops becoming necessary after the first year but it is a nice in between helper


does that all make sense i hope?