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  • Phalaenopsis air roots

    From Jeff Layman@Jeff@invalid.invalid to uk.rec.gardening on Wed Nov 12 09:51:25 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.rec.gardening

    A warning...

    I've been growing phalaenopsis for many years in a north-facing
    bathroom. They've always done well in the often damp atmosphere and
    grown loads of aerial roots. These are all over the tiled windowsill and
    PVC of the double-glazed windows, and are fine. However, I hadn't
    noticed that at the end of the sill one plant's roots had grown along
    the painted wall. I've just tried to remove these roots and found
    they're stuck fast - at least as well as ivy roots stick. I finally got
    them off, but they'd damaged the paint and some of the root was left
    stuck to the wall.

    I couldn't find any mention of this on the internet, other than that the plant's roots help it stay on the trees that it grows on naturally. I
    don't know how it sticks to the paint as the aerial roots are covered
    with velamen, a spongy material which helps the roots absorb water from
    the air. It's completely different from ivy roots as they actually
    penetrate the substrate they are resting on. Perhaps they release a sort
    of adhesive.
    --
    Jeff

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  • From Janet@nobody@home.com to uk.rec.gardening on Wed Nov 12 10:52:14 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.rec.gardening


    I only wish my phalaenopsis were as happy and energetic
    as yours :-) They make some new air roots but nothing
    on a scale of travelling around to foreign parts, so zero
    experience of ever sticking to anything.

    At the moment mine all live on the same table in a north
    window, where they've happily flowered for years, but
    recently summat is wrong. John gave me a new one in
    summer and I think it might have brought in some phal
    disease, rather like colonialists taking measles to virgin
    populations that had no immunity.

    They've all got the lurgy. New flower spikes go brown and
    bus fail, and there's a stickiness that was never there
    before.

    Janet
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  • From Jeff Layman@Jeff@invalid.invalid to uk.rec.gardening on Wed Nov 12 13:18:57 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.rec.gardening

    On 12/11/2025 10:52, Janet wrote:

    I only wish my phalaenopsis were as happy and energetic
    as yours :-) They make some new air roots but nothing
    on a scale of travelling around to foreign parts, so zero
    experience of ever sticking to anything.

    At the moment mine all live on the same table in a north
    window, where they've happily flowered for years, but
    recently summat is wrong. John gave me a new one in
    summer and I think it might have brought in some phal
    disease, rather like colonialists taking measles to virgin
    populations that had no immunity.

    They've all got the lurgy. New flower spikes go brown and
    bus fail, and there's a stickiness that was never there
    before.

    The stickiness sounds like some sort of sucking insect. Can't say I've
    ever seen a brown flower spike, but I've seen a couple of plants die
    over the dozen or so years I've been growing them.

    I don't tend to look after them very well - irregular watering (too
    little or too much!), weak fertiliser now and again, and rarely, if
    ever, repot. And I never use orchid compost and sphagnum/bark. I use an ericaceous compost with added peat (when you could get it...), and
    broken up bits of Oasis for drainage/aeration.
    --
    Jeff
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  • From Bob Hobden@hobdens@btinternet.com to uk.rec.gardening on Thu Nov 13 07:52:31 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.rec.gardening

    On 12/11/2025 10:52, Janet wrote:

    I only wish my phalaenopsis were as happy and energetic
    as yours :-) They make some new air roots but nothing
    on a scale of travelling around to foreign parts, so zero
    experience of ever sticking to anything.

    At the moment mine all live on the same table in a north
    window, where they've happily flowered for years, but
    recently summat is wrong. John gave me a new one in
    summer and I think it might have brought in some phal
    disease, rather like colonialists taking measles to virgin
    populations that had no immunity.

    They've all got the lurgy. New flower spikes go brown and
    bus fail, and there's a stickiness that was never there
    before.

    Janet

    Check for small brown scales on the leaves and in any hidden places as
    that sounds like Scale Insect a common problem with Phals. Getting rid
    of them is difficult!
    --
    Regards
    Bob Hobden
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