How To Know Which Orchid Roots to Cut? (Focus on Yellow Roots)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- Yellow Roots on Orchids: Cut Off, Nurture, or Ignore them?
When you start repotting for the first time, you can come across roots in several conditions: crackly brown, deathly yellow and pale, plump and green, or slimy black. Yellow roots are on that borderline decision: what are they? How did the orchid roots get this yellow color? And more importantly, what to do with them.
Yellow roots on orchids are not a sign they are sick. The yellow tinge indicates a lack of chlorophyll in the orchid roots since they haven’t had access to sunlight. Most likely, these yellow roots are in the middle of the vase, and not on the outside of the clear plastic pots, where luscious green roots prevail. The pale yellow doesn’t indicate a sign of decomposition and should not be cut off.
Repotting can be quite nerve-wracking experience. After all, orchids are known to be troublesome and panicky, prone to die from anything.
But don’t fret, because that’s not true.
As long as you have the right information, orchids have proven to forgive a lot of mistakes.The first mistake is cutting off all the yellow roots. In this video, I'll explain how I decide whether to cut of the yellow roots or whether to leave them alone.
If you want the full explanation of this video in writing, go to orchideria.com...
On Orchideria.com, you can find more in-depth guides and all the access to our information, tutorials, guides, and much more... all for free!
Happy Cultivating!
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This TH-cam Channel is the by-product of extensive research on how to recreate that environment inside my home.
By no means do I consider myself an expert but I'm an avid learner and willing to share the little I know with others. There are thousands of different ways to care for orchids, and the more we share, the more we learn.
What started out as a hobby has now grown into a passion, producing an online resource of quality information on how to connect with nature.
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Really appreciate the in depth coverage about the yellow roots. Always assumed all yellow roots were bad and was just about to go on a snipping spree - thank you for sparing my orchid the unnecessary slaughter 😅💖
Am delighted I came across this video. You explain things really well and show the viewer exactly what he/she should do. I found this very helpful. Thank you!
You didn’t show any actual cutting of the roots. 😮
This video really helps me as a new beginner with caring for my in home orchids thanks for sharing this video well appreciated ❤
Thank you sooo much!! It is exactly the information I was looking for. I appreciate the details and also to see the roots you are talking about helps a lot!
Hi Amanda! Thank you so so much for this video! I was clipping my orchids' roots as I watched this and you literally answered my exact questions as I did it. I'm so happy I found your video because I couldn't find this info in any other video (and I'm a visual person so seeing the roots and the list of yellows was a godsend!). You were so clear and informative!! 💕
This was exactly what I needed. All those yellows to decide about. Thank you!!!
I'm glad it helped! ;)
You have a wonderful personality, which projects through the screen. Also, I have learned so much about successful reporting of Orchids. Thank you.
Very helpful. Would like to have seen you actually cutting off a few roots in order to know the best place, but thank you for some welcome tips 😊
In the U K , we call the little basket of some sort of medium,as A PLUG. Maybe on of us has misunderstood the word the first time we heard it used. Hay ho!!!! Two nations divided by a common language !!!!!!!!! Love from Wolverhampton in The West Midlands, England.xxxx
Hi Jo! Thanks for the comment! England wow! I had a layover in the London International airport once but never went outside, so I can't really say I've been there. As for plug, I've seen the word plug used both as the basket and as the tight medium packed into it. I'll have to rewatch this video and see what I called it. I get "video nervous" sometimes and say some really weird stuff. Most my goofs don't get by the editing phase, but every once in a while it does. Oops!
Love love love how you explained the process whiles maintaining your bubbly nature❤️
Hi Rendesha, Thank you! 😊
thankyou, very helpful, now i have some clarity on what to do with the roots. Thank you!
You do help a lot to us orchid lovers. Thank you!
You're welcome
Thank you, this was very helpful. I just got my first orchid and it's been dying since it came. It has a back spot in the middle of the biggest leaf that has like a spider web pattern coming out of it. The leaves have been getting more and more wrinkly. They got a little better when I soaked it last week, but today I came home and the new leaf that hadn't even opened yet was flopped to the side and the sheath starting to turn black. I threw up mu hands and said I'm repotting you! All the roots inside the pot were brown. I cut most, except a couple that still have resistance. Amazingly, it had a couple nice air roots. I think I may have been a little conservative with the root cutting though. I got rid of a bunch of papery ones on the top that the person who sold it to me told me not to touch. I asked him about them the day I got it. I should've known him telling me not to get rid of them was a red flag. He also had Styrofoam in the pot... I noticed it about 2 weeks ago and when I asked him he said it wasn't Styrofoam that it was hydro stones. Liar. There were 4 Styrofoam peanuts in the pot- which took up half the pot! Finally, as soon as I tried to peel away the blackening sheath of the new leaf, the leaf seemed to melt off of the pseudobulb. Then, when I tried to trim it back till I saw something that looked normal, I got black ooze coming out. I cut it as close to the rhizome as possible and put some cinnamon on it. Anyway, any advice you can give would be great. I used bark mixed with charcoal and leca. I soaked it on Friday overnight so some of the pieces have some moisture in them. I didn't dare give it anymore water. I'm really tempted to put it in all leca or even water culture but I'm worried I left some unhealthy roots on her and the water culture will do her in. Thanks for the video. Hope to get input from anyone who cares to give it!
Your video was great. I now know which roots to cut & which ones to leave alone. You were very pleasant & warm in your delivery. Great videos!
I have my first orchid so thank you so much for your videos!!! I need lots of help!!! I really want to be successful and be able to have healthy beautiful orchids!!!!
Thank you so much for the great video. I'm learning a lot. Warm greetings from the southern Caribbean 😎🌴☀
Hi Nicole, Thank you. I appreciate it. 🙏Southern Carribean, oh wow! Enjoy the lovely weather!
I am so happy I found your channel. This vid definitely helped me. I have always been afraid to cut the wrong thing.
Thank you for this video! You explained eveything very well as I have often wondered about those yellow roots! I really appreciated that you also explained that the roots that were lighter green almost white are because of the lack of chlorophyll. Makes perfect sense! Thank you again. Very informative!
Repotted my orchid for the first time and this video helped me a tonne!! Also helped me not freak out when I saw all the yellow roots in the middle 😅
Very good information on roots. I need it to know about healthy and unhealthy roots. You clearly explained it. 👍thanks!
Wish i had watched this before taking the scissors instead of after, an excellent video, thank you very much.
I love this video because it helped me keeping a phalaenopsis orchid survive and a new leaf has grown ❤
Thank you! This is amazing since I was searching for some suggestion to what I should do to the partially dead roots and didn't find any videos that covers that niche. Now I feel more confident what I should do here ❤
You just saved my orchid! Your video was perfect for what I needed! Thank you so much.
Yes, your video was definitely helpful. Thanks for sharing it.
As an orchid serial killer, any orchid that comes my way usually dies a slow and frustrating death. I swore no more orchids, just stick to the succulents as we clearly aren't compatible. But hubby came home with yet another one a couple of months ago, now I'm really wanting to turn my life around and be a blessing unto orchids. Thanks for this insightful video, I now have some clarity on what to do with the roots however, I've seen some of the roots on my orchid are wrinkled near the base, but green and fresh at the ends😕. I'm concerned that I'll be cutting off good roots if I make a beeline for all the wrinkles.
Thank you so much I just rescued my first orchid I know it’s in a much bigger pot for room for the roots and it’s healthy with all the dead parts safely cut off!!
Perfect explanation, very helpful thank you!
Hi Amanda. I have learned a lot from your videos. I received a phalaenopsis about six months ago as a gift. The blooms were breathtaking. I just loved it. About a month ago it started to show signs of mealybugs which I diagnosed and treated ( the leaves) after watching one of your videos. Unfortunately, I didn't have the correct materials to repot it at the time so I ordered what you recommended on your repotting a phalaenopsis video. It was in a clear plastic pot without any holes whatsoever. When I went to remove the potting media earlier today, I found that it was packed tightly with peat moss and sphagnum moss. Fortunately, I was able to clear away the material and treat a few white spots on the roots just below the leaves. I decided that I need to do more research to diagnose the condition of the roots and started to watch this video. Well, at only 3:20 into the video, I see that your orchid's roots look very similar to mine. I really appreciate the expertise you have provided to a novice like me. Thanks so much!
What a wonderful explanation :)
I’m so glad you did this video. I was wondering about the different colors of yellow roots and your the only one that described it! This was the most helpful root video to date. One question; where do I cut them off at? The base or just where they’re mush & dead? Do you have a video where you could demonstrate that would be my one and only request. I had a similar problem with peat moss soil & changed it out to Sphagnum Moss but had a lot of root rot from the peat but don’t know where to cut. Thanks and I love your videos! They’re really the most informed out there and glad I found your channel. Thanks Amanda!
This was everything I needed to know about my store bought orchids. I was wondering about the seedling starter and the roots and how I should be cutting them. The explanation on the roots and what parts to remove to let it breathe and color explanation and texture was PERFECT thank you! Looking forward to seeing the other videos. This is coming from someone who also has ADHD so usually 3m videos catch my interest more but as I said everything I was wanting to know was here and I would rather watch this than a quick 3m that could have had me hurting my orchid more than helping it.
super clear which roots to remove :) thanks
I found it very interesting. I have never had an orchid before
Something I haven’t seen addressed anywhere, and I’ve searched high and low for the answer, actually involves the roots (that’s how I came across this video and your channel). I’ve heard that any roots starting to turn black or brown, papery thin roots need to be cut, because that’s rot setting in. But I’ve noticed when I repot, almost every root has these black “spots” (not mushy. Almost like, I’d say a beauty mark on the root, if I could best describe it. The roots were very firm and otherwise healthy looking), so I end up cutting that part of the root off, fearing it’s rot. I’ve also noticed a lot of black on the ends of what seem to be otherwise healthy looking roots, so I ended up cutting a lot of ends off. There were also these “cracks” in the root, where there was black showing between the two cracked pieces, but connecting two otherwise very healthy looking pieces of root. By the time I was done trimming, there was hardly any root left because of all the black that had been showing. I’m not sure if this is just the price you pay for buying orchids from stores or if I went crazy with the cutting and when people say to cut “all black on the roots”, they don’t *actually* mean “all black on the roots”…
Not sure if it is the same thing...I just re-potted one...kept finding these black things on the roots...I rubbed one and it fell off lol it was pieces of the orchid soil that the roots had sort of grown around and had gotten stuck partly in the roots.
The black I did cut off was more spread down the root part way. Most of it was in the middle of what looked like otherwise healthy roots and it was a shame to snip off.
Learn a lot about growing my first orchid
Great job!! You answered all my questions. ❤
Thank you! 😊 I'm glad the video helped.
Just found your site! LOVE all the tips! I feel like an orchid maven!
Thank you! Very helpful 😊
Hi Amanda, this video is very helpful. Especially mention of the “plug”. Or as I call them to my kids “the plug of doom”. I’ve been having a lot of root trimming issues as I’m new into orchids and was given quite a lot of them in a short space of time. I left the plug in because I didn’t know it was there in some of them & my goodness the issues it caused with rotting those poor roots. But we are trimmed and good now & I’ve actually stopped using hydrogen peroxide on them now. After watching your very informative video about it. Thank you
Thank you so much for this video, it saved my orchids!
Very interesting video to the people to watch do not understand what’s going on
Very helpful advice
You really helped me get ready for my first repotting. Thanks!
Thanks you answered my question. Even got my husband watching. lol
Hi thank you! I have long tall roots I’ve been wrapping around sticks thinking they were going to bloom. 😮 I have beautiful big green leaves. I should of watched last year when I got it 😢😢😢
This is SO, SO, SO helpful! Much appreciated! 💕💕💕💕💕💕
Thank you! 😊
@@Orchideria You really are the absolute BEST... and I have been researching for months, as a beginner, and have listened to *so many people* on various channels and it's your wonderful, clear way of expressing this info that keeps me coming back. I am just about to re-pot a min-phal that I just bought and she was over-watered in the store. She looks great except for very limp leaves and there is definitely some root rot/dead roots that i can see even without removing the moss. Say a prayer for her, since she is just gorgeous and I will be using your methods! I have a jungle of very healthy houseplants, yet, this is all new terrain for me! 💞
Wow. I appreciate your words! Thanks. I'm honored
@@Orchideria You are most welcome. I feel truly blessed to have found you and I will also be getting your book on amazon too! I love Midnight too!
Thank you for making this video. I have had my orchid for awhile an i believe it needs repotted. Scary. I appreciate your advice.
I'm glad it helped!
I don’t have any orchids but I thought this was very cool!
Thanks
I would have loved if you went all the way to repot the orchid.
Love your videos x
Love the video! I would love to see what to do with exposed or air roots. Would it be the same? The only thing is that none of these are yellow. I will keep looking around for a video about this specifically, But thanks for your information on this!
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SO HELPFUL TO "SEE "A "BEFORE" AND AFTER OF THE ROOT TRIM JOB. DISPLAYING THE ROOTS LEFT AND THE ROOTS REMOVED. THANKS.
I AM SUCH A VISUAL LEARNER. I ALSO HOPE THE FIND A VIDEO OF THE COMPLETE PROCESS OF "REPOTTING" OR RESTORING GROWING MEDIUM START TO FINISH.
PLEASE FORGIVE ALL CAPS. SINCE THERE IS NOT A FONT SIZE OPTION THIS IS MY SOLUTION FOR POOR VISION. THANKS.
Your video was great answered all my questions. Thank you.😁
Good answers for orchid root care!
Hey! It was a great video.
Thank you so much for that.. what about yellowed roots that are outside the pot? Also, could you do a video on when to cut off flower spikes? I'm afraid to remove the spikes until it has almost completely died back but I'm wondering whether or not that's bad for the plants.
Hi Petri, the yellow roots outside the pot are usually because of 2 reasons: they have been root burned (with an excess of fertilizer) or they have dried out with not enough humidity. As for the yellow spikes, that video is already finished and ready to be released on the 12th. :)
@@Orchideria Nice..! Thank you 😊
Thank you for this informative video. This is very helpful.
Thank you very understandable!!
Thanks Amanda. My aerial roots are shivered and dryed out cut O cut th4
Great job!!! I really love your videos and you answer valid questions without making things complicated (I cant stand that orchid lady girl sorry) i like your videos
Hello . I appreciate this video. Very informative. A question came to mind in your description you referred to bacteria. How can I tell if there’s bacteria on my orchids?
Very helpful!
this is the info that i was looking for. thank you!
I wish you had demonstrated cutting the dead roots- where on the root to cut. But very good info
Awesome video!! What about putting it in water?
Can you make a new plant out of the top air roots??
I pulled my orchid out and just about every root was bad. There was only 2 that were not paper thin, but the roots are both damaged in areas. My plant is still growing, so I don’t want to give up hope, but I would like to see more videos of reviving an almost dead plant. Most people searching videos are having problems so they are looking for answers. So can you address more major issues people may have to give them hope?
Thank you! I didn't know I should repot every two years. My orchids have been in clay pots for at least 7-8 years and the roots are every where.
I noticed that everyone is replanting their plants in plastic containers. Should I transplant mine in plastic containers?
Thank you you answer my question
Okay, I know I am so indecisive, but still researching what medium to use. Now that it's getting hot in north Florida, I'm finding out that maybe stone isn't the media to go with.
Using 7 to 1 mix of Coco Coir with charcoal, my 4" pots dry out in 24 hrs, and the 5" to 6" pots take 48 hrs to go dry. I'd like to get 3 to 4 days out of them, but cant do that without Sphagnum and I'm not going back to that again.
So I mist everything everyday and water small pots daily and large pots 3 times a week. Seems to be working out.
Getting very interested in hormones and lab work to produce Venus Flytraps much quicker, and understand enough about cloning to start with Orchids. Doesnt look hard, but the equipment is very expensive. Learning is my favorite past time.
Doing a similar video on roots of some other types of orchids may be helpful for example bulbos since their roots are so very different than phals or others with larger roots. When I repotted mine I was in doubt over which to keep vs cut because colour snd texture differ from most of the info out there about phals or other more commonly kept types.
Hi Tara, Thank you for this idea. I'll add it to the list of videos to make. I know I freaked out when I repotted my Phrag because I thought all the roots had died. I didn't realize they were so different than Phal roots. I appreciate the comment and the video suggestion. :)
@@Orchideria ha ha. Yeah, the fuzzy paph / phrag roots could be scary ha ha
@@Orchideria &&by 7
This did help a lot. Thank you!
Very helpful thank you very much
Hi Helen, I'm glad it helped.
Thank you so much! This video was so helpful!
Thank you ❤video did help me
Thank u so much I so scared of losing my Orchid so this was helpful but what do I do when the leaves have fallen off
Thank you for the level of detail! I bought a grocery store orchid on clearance to rescue and I wasn’t sure about the roots with only a little squish in the middle but green on either side. Can I just remove the section of vellum (sp?) that’s effected or will leaving open parts cause the rest to rot anyways? I was curious about the peat moss center and center of root strings that seemed fine and you covered those parts nicely. You’re the first person I found who explained yellow roots as just sunlight deficient. Everyone else says to cut them off! I’m glad I didn’t listen to them. Hopefully it’ll rescue well. Thanks!
Thank you it helped I’m a new orchid owner and I think I’m doing good but idk just curious on what to look for on this journey
Hi some years ago I finally had a couple of orchids ( phalaenopsis) survive in my care. I was so excited when they rebloomed and they have been consistent twice a year, I now have four orchids, one from this year.
Well I decided in my wisdom that years and years in the same pot wasn't good, so two of them I repotted in bigger pots, one the same size and one I left alone.
Now they all had soggy sphagnum moss so I dug it all out, and replaced it with orchid soil I bought .
My question is I only saw this video after, I did no fungicide or anything and now I'm worried they won't bloom again because I played with their roots ..............😢
Just saw a Orchid Seminar for mostly Orchid Growers, that made me have second thoughts about organic Orchid media.
This guy holds up an orchid with a root mass the shape of the pot it came from, and said "I don't grow Orchids, I grow root masses. Once you have a health root mass, you have a healthy orchid plant." He also said "I don't Repot, I Uppot." And explained that when you have a root mass like that, you don't have to dig in and remove media, simply slide the plant out of a 6" pot, into a 7" pot, and it doesn't even know it has been moved to a bigger pot. Also suggested that you could shake some of the loose media out, to give the roots more room to fill in.
His media....lava rock, styrofoam peanuts, perlite, charcoal, and some mineral called Mika, I think. His media never gets old, rots or cause's root rot. The media never dictates when he has to repot, only the root mass let's him know.
The biggest problems in growing Orchids, is root rot, if you can prevent it from happening, your plants won't get sick. Preventative medicine, so to speak.
Since it wont hold moister very long, you would probably have to water every 3 to 4 days, and fertilizers would have more effect if you put it, or sprayed t close to the roots, or tea bag dry fertilizer to feed with each watering. Anyway it's given a lot of food for thought, and the goal is to eliminate root rot from ever happening. I'd leave a link to the video, but TH-cam seems to be taking down post with links in them.
I totally agree with this uppoting method when no organic media is used. The ones you cited are perfect for that since they don't degrade. The problem with both sphagnum moss and bark is that once they start to degrade, they raise the pH, which then degrades even faster. I appreciate this comment. 🙏 thanks! It really adds to the community
Oh, and yes, my anti-spam is really harsh on links and pictures. Unfortuneately, I had to set it that way to protect myself from "stuff".
@@Orchideria I am going to start going that way, they sell perfect little 1/2" nuggets of lava rock, would be perfect for orchid media. Will look for the other ingredients, so the next time I make a buy, I can repot in unorganic media.
Root rot will stunt the growth and stresses out an orchid, if you can illuminate the problem altogether, you'll have more time for enjoyment.
@@Orchideria 🙂👍
Hi Tally, I think you mean mica, when treated by heating it expands and is called "vermiculite". Looks like popcorn but very shiny and glittering, a bit like gold on some surfaces. Buy the horticultural sort, not the sort that's meant for isolation. The fine grade is good for sowing and the coarse grade is (in my opinion) good for the orchids because it works like a sponge and can retain water and nutrients. I also use it to grow grass in for my cats. Indoors you have no soil and mess then. I sieve it because the coarse grade contains also smaller particles and when sieving it will get dusty; so sieve it outside when it's not windy and wear a mouthmask. The dust is not good for your lungs. Regards!
Thanks this did help. But what about flat roots and white spots on roots
Thank you!
The video was great and informative. My question is where do you cut? Do you cut from the healthy root, exposing the healthy root at the cut, or do you cut at the the dead root as close to the healthy, leaving a little scab of the dead root to avoid having the healthy root exposed? Hope that made sense.
Hi Jesus, I cut the healthy root. I could be wrong, but I prefer to not have any bacteria in the pot rather than leave a little. To be honest, I'm not sure if that much will make a difference or not. Rather safe than sorry.
I like the video. Good I formation.
This was very helpful, thank you!
I'm glad it helped.
Hi Amanda, This was very helpful to me as I know nothing about plants, let along Orchids. However, I received an Orchid for my birthday and am trying really hard to keep it going. Per this video, I have cut the bad roots off. BUT my question now is do I replant in soil? Do I keep in water? What do I do now? I would love to know. Thank you
Hey Simon, I'm in a similar situation. One thing I hear across the board is don't repott in soil. Use orchid bark, or some kind of mix specifically for them. I repotted with orchid bark and a little spagna moss. Mine just dropped its last blooms, and the leaves have sagged since then, I think because my roots were mostly rotted. Not sure, but now it at least isn't dead! I hope this helps.
Thank you. Helpful one.
But how do you re-assemble it back :)
Great explanation steel velum
Aloha, Thank you for this wonderful information on the roots but I have a Vanda that was in a pot for a while and I took it out to hang it and some roots are white shriveled. Should I cut these off? There are green roots too
Awesome video! Love the help!
I enjoy your videos. I would have liked to see actual footage of trimming of roots and where to trim. Like when one end or branch of a root looks healthy and the other end doesn't. Do you cut the whole thing or just where it's rotting?
I cut just where it's rotting. Thanks for watching
In here people ussually use fungiside and B1 vitamin for cleaning the roots and reduce root stress.
Hi Edwin,
Thank you for watching and leaving a comment. I haven't heard about using vitamin B1. I'll look into it. Thank you for the suggestion. :)
Hi Amanda I just saw a video where someone made some rice water and Alevera does it really work on orchids
Thanks for the useful tips.
Hi Ananda, Thanks again for watching and leaving a comment. I appreciate it!
That was so helpful!
super helpful!!
Thank you! 😊
Helpful👍🏾
Thank you for the video! do you know what should i do if the roots are green on the ends and in the middle they are the firm yellow with some brown damaged parts?
Great video! Thanks!