RHIZOMES? do i NEED them!??

[ashley89]

ok i am repotting my orchid and i bought the fir bark. on instructions it tells me to use this rhizome hook thing. but my plant doesnt have one on it now. no nursery is open right now to get one. do i really need one? shoud i wait until i have one or can i repot without one?
thanks, ashley89

[berniep]

G'day Ashley 89

Not sure what they are talking about, maybe these Hangers, Holders & Rhizome Clips
I don't use them so go ahead and pot it.

Cheers
Bernie

[Fishmom]

The idea is to keep the plant stable in its pot, not wiggling, so that the roots can settle in to their new home. This can be done in several ways, including using a bamboo skewer or two at stabilizing stakes or a strip of masking tape across the top of the pot, trapping the plant in place. Anything that supports it will work just fine.

[kmarch]

Ashley, the mot important question here is: What kind of orchid do you have? Some orchids have rhizomes, some do not. It sounds like oyu might have one without but it's impossible to say for certain without knowing what kind you have. Does it have a tag in the pot?

[ashley89]

I have a phala. it came with two bambo stick that hold the plant up. i repotted my phal. and it seems pretty sturdy.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by ashley89

I have a phala.

A Phalaenopsis? You did mention phal. That would be a Phalaenopsis. If that's what you have, ignore everything you read about rhizomes. Phals dont' have them. Are the sticks in your pot for the purposes of holding up inflorescences or the plant itself. Usually you don't need help keeping phal in a pot unless it has no roots. Are the roots good?

[Ray]

There are two classifications in orchid growth habit, monopodial ("one foot"), and sympodial (loosely "many footed").

A monopodial plant exists as a single growth, like your phalaenopsis, and therefore has no need of a rhizome. Plants with sympodial growth habit ALL have rhizomes that connect the growths into a "colony", as it were,, although the length of the rhizome can vary all over the place.

Some bulbophyllums, for example, have very long rhizomes, sometimes spacing out the growths as far apart as they are tall, while others, notably dendrobiums, have rhizomes that are so short, they don't appear to exist at all.

[Phalcycle]

For a phalaenopsis, you won't need a rhizome clip, simply because they don't have a rhizome.
But if you had them, criss cross them to stabilize the plant in the center. Sometimes phals are wobly when freshly repotted. Either use stakes, clips, or another method, because wobbly orchids don't situate well