are these roots viable?

[Cinderella]

I am repotting a Sharry Baby/Sweet Fragrance into s/h. It has lots of new root growth, white and some with green tips, some without green tips. The older growth, however, has brown roots. They do not seem entirely hollow but I don't know if they are viable.

If not viable, I will cut them off but some are tangled with the new roots. It must be hard to get all of them untangled and cut without harming the new white roots.

[uncasteeb]

I leave the old roots on with Oncidiums as long as they aren,t stinky.The 3 Oncs i,ve repotted into s/h(which had new growth) have gone nuts in s/h.New roots all over the place

[Cinderella]

uncasteeb, when you repot into s/h do you try to put the roots on the inside of the pot, outside of the pot, all around the pot or does it not really matter?

[OrchidTraci]

As long as the aren't slimy or gooey and they don't come off easily, I'd leave them. I have had new root grow off of old roots that weren't as *perky* as they should be.

[uncasteeb]

uncasteeb, when you repot into s/h do you try to put the roots on the inside of the pot, outside of the pot, all around the pot or does it not really matter?

I do try to spread the roots as much as possible but it,s pretty tricky with LECA
as it keeps rolling about .
Sure with bark mixes the centre of the pot stays wetter/moister than the outside of the pot & it may be beneficial to have the roots away from the centre.With the medium in s/h staying constantly wet/moist @ the inside & outside of pot i don,t think it makes much difference as to where the roots are.

[LJA]

Cinderella, since the roots on those are so fine, you might do more harm than good trying to pick or cut off the ones that look iffy to you. Get rid of as much of the obviously dead stuff as you can without disturbing the healthy ones, and spread the roots out as much as possible when you repot into s/h. If you don't, and they stay in one big clump in a medium that wicks water, the chances that everything will quickly rot are raised significantly.

[Cinderella]

Yikes! Is it ok if they are spread out at the outside edges of the pot?