Rootless laelia medium

[happy go lucky]

My laelia anceps' roots died. Would sphagnum moss or coir or some other medium be best to initiate root growth? Would spraying B1 or Superthrive or rooting hormone help?

Wouldn't placing a rootless orchid into a closed plastic bag suffocate it?

[fred]

I would recommend sphag in a bag http://www.orchidgeeks.com/forum/orc...tructions.html

[happy go lucky]

Fred, thanks for the link but I cannot open it. Could you write out the link and I will conduct a search for it?

[fred]

Sphag and bag is simply putting the rootless plant into a ziplock bag with a little mostly wrung out sphagnum moss, with or without touching the moss, and zipping it up. This should be kept in bright light but never in direct light (about 70%-80% shade). Then it is a waiting game. With 100% humidity, the plant can survive in nearly perfect condition for a vary long time. You are basically waiting for the plant to feel the need to continue root growth for monopodials, or for the correct season to produce a new growth for sympodials with roots on the new growth to follow. The plant is removed from the bag when new rooting is noted and potted up. If the plant has been in the bag for a very long time, some sort of fungicide should be used as the plant is very tender like a seedling coming out of flask. I generally open the bag every week or two to inspect the plant. This is not for plants with any amount of viable root. Those should be potted up, maybe temporarily in moss, and a baggy over the plant with an opening around the bottom to raise the humidity, but not to 100%, for awhile if the amount of root is very small. With roots, the plant needs a wet dry(or mostly dry) cycle to maintain root health.