sympodial vs monopodial

[cakedaddy]

Hi again! I have a problem with phals, but it seems no of my other plants are as much trouble for me. All of my non-phals are sympodial. I got this idea after reading about s/h so i could be completely off the mark here but...is it possible that when I bring my plants home to a completely new environment, I may inevitably(sp?) have root die-off as they adjust to a possibly very different humidity/watering regime/etc? The sympodials almost always give me new growth which seems to do fine. This came directly from the fact that people moving into s/h have root loss, then new root growth adjusted to water culture. Maybe, the sympodials pull through for my situation better because the new growth is putting out roots better adjusted to my conditions whereas the phals flounder because they take longer to put out new roots??? Anyone want to share their thoughts?
Thanks, Jason!

[JoeW]

Jason, look to your watering methods for answers to your phal/sympodial question. The orchids with and without pseudobulbs store moisture in their own ways. Phals have succulent roots which need to dry a little between watering, but don't take to long dry spells. Phal leaves are also succulent and will become weak and wrinkled due to loss of roots, the result of overwatering, and also because of lack of carbon dioxide uptake caused by extended under watering.

Dr. Yin-Tung Wang is a Texas A&M floriculturist at the Weslaco Center and is a consultant to the orchid industry. I have found the following series of articles on Phalaenopsis culture to be quite interesting.

https://sharepoint.agriculture.purdu...20Part%201.pdf
https://sharepoint.agriculture.purdu...20Part%202.pdf
https://sharepoint.agriculture.purdu...20Part%203.pdf
http://www.staugorchidsociety.org/up...sis_Part_4.pdf

The second article specifically speaks to the root of the matter and discusses proper watering.

Joe

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Thanks, Joe!!

Cheers,
BD

[cakedaddy]

Yes! Thanks Joe!! And thank you BD for reminding me of this thread! Those are great informative articles...I think that my impatience gets the best of me sometimes. I was giving my phals a good close look a few days ago and to my surprise, I found that a few that I have had for a couple of years are putting out root growth and one is even spiking! yay

[ischel1]

Thanks so much for this thread Joe. It may take some time to digest all the info, but I'm sure it will be worth the time spent.