Brown roots? Strange...

[orchidaddict789]

I rescued an onc intergeneric and the roots on the surface all have brown tips. The brownness has even progressed up to half an inch down the root tip (as I observed on many roots). Didn't unpot it, but checked the roots below the bark mix and those roots looked fine. I guess this poor orchid has been fertilizer burned? But if it has been overfertilized, why should the brown
tips occur mostly on roots on the surface of the medium, rather than below the surface as I would have expected? Or is something else wrong with the orchid?

[Diane]

I would venture a guess that the surface roots were damaged by heat or light during their transport to the store. Just a guess...

[jenn]

I don't know for sure if this is true, but I have been told too much fertilizer or a sensitivity to a fertilizer can cause this.

[LJA]

Since it's only the exposed roots that have been affected, I'd have to guess overexposure to heat and light as well, unless the plant got sprayed down (but not soaked) with too much fertilizer or a fertilizer that burns. Otherwise the roots in the medium would have gotten burned too, it seems to me. Hard to say, though. Guesswork, really.