What do healthy Phalaenopsis roots look like? Learn to tell roots from flower spikes

I believe many people have grown the "Phalaenopsis" beauty queen at home. It is a perennial flower among orchids. As long as you trim its roots after the flowering period and continue to care for it, next year it will grow back just like the Phalaenopsis you first brought home. If you want to know how to cut and propagate it after flowering, you can look back at what I previously wrote about my experience regrowing Phalaenopsis. Today let's talk about the difference between the roots and flower spikes that Phalaenopsis first grows during cultivation.

Many flower lovers will say, roots grow downward and stems (flower spikes) grow upward, so aren't they easy to recognize? Actually, that's not the case. In some natural hybrids, roots also grow upward, and they do so frequently, so when distinguishing them you can't rely solely on direction. At the same time, when roots and stems are very small they really are quite hard to tell apart, but once they grow larger, the characteristics of roots are still quite obvious. As long as they are about 1 cm long, you can tell at a glance.

Specifically, when a root first emerges, it shows a soft, plump crystal tip, much like the tip of a ballpoint pen. The rear part is green, and between the two there is a very obvious dividing line. However, before that dividing line appears, the root has no other very obvious feature by which to identify it. As for a stem, what grows out is very short, and afterward it develops a segmented, jointed structure, whereas a root will not have joints. This is also the easiest way to distinguish roots from stems later on.

Looking at how roots and stems grow out, a stem generally grows from the place where the center lines of the leaves converge, while a root can grow almost anywhere, whether at the center of the leaves or wherever a root must grow. Therefore, the way a stem grows can also be used for elimination.

Finally, the position used to distinguish roots and stems actually has no reference value. If your plant has not yet produced a spike, don't worry either. As long as you take good care of it in daily care, placing it in bright, indirect light in a well-ventilated spot, with a growing temperature of around 18-28°C, and its soil feels comfortable within that range, then sprouting and sending up shoots is only a matter of time.