[HELP!] Paph without roots

[polyantha]

I guys,

Almost three months have passed, since i got my Paph. randsii. Two days after my first post, i decided to try a completely new technique:

I wraped some kind of tissue around the leaves and soaked it with water. Then i covered the tissue with a plastic bag to minimize evaporation. With a little piece of adhesive tape i closed the opening.

Ater three months, my plant is still in a quite good condition. A little bit dehydrated, but it is not very serious:



Yesterday i controlled the base of the plant. I was very happy when i noticed that a root started to grow:



I think that the most important step to intorduce root growth is to heat the pot up to around 30-35°C.
I never let the bark become totally dry. With this two things and my technique with the plastic bag and the tissue, i also saved a Paph adductum and a Paph adductum var. anitum. Infections on the leaves did not occur.

cheers polyantha

[Paphi]

so nice

[Paul B]

now thats very interesting!!! success!

[jtrmd]

Is it really worth all the hassle to save?I personally wouldnt go through all of that,and then wait forever till it gets back to its full potential.Thats just me though.

[casey]

Looks like your technique seems to be working. I know this species is a difficult and rare plant so probably well worth the time and energy saving it. Good luck!

[polyantha]

Hi everyone

After 3 months without any root and 4 months with one single root, my randsii seems to recover nicely:



This is the first root and the one that saved the plant. For almost three months it was the only source for food. It is around 20 cm (7,9 in) long so far.



This root comes out of the new growth and appeared two weeks ago.



Here you can see that the plant is on a good way.



That's how the plant look like at the moment. As you can see, it lost the two lower leafs for nutrition of the parts that must stay alive.

My culture:
Warm during the day, especially the roots: heating the pot up to around 30°C (86°F) seems to be good.
The bark mix has to be wet. A very short period of dryness and the roottips will die (also applies to adducum and anitum). My sprinkler waters the plant eight times a day.
Good air movement is required.

Yanik

[Slipperguy]

Fantastic job...looking very good at the moment!

[Mocchaccino]

You did a great job and I learnt a great lesson :]

[polyantha]

Here is an update for you guys:

The story so far:

P. randsii received: Feb 20th 2011



The plant had no roots. To avoid dehydration i wrapped wet tissue paper around the leaves and heated the pot up to 30°C:




May 16th 2011 (3 months later) : First root starting to grow:




This was the only root for more than 3 months:



Aug 28th 2011 (3.5 months later / 6 months since the beginning) : Two new roots starting to grow:



In December 2011 the leaves started to grow. That´s almost one year after i received the plant. Here you can see how long it takes for a plant to recover from a shock like this. For plants the loose of roots is a dilemma: they have to do photosynthesis to get energy, but if they do so, they also loose water because they have to open the stomata (leaf-pores). They have to manage the problem not to starve and at the same time keeping the evaporation low.

Thats how the plant looked like in Aug 28 2011:



And this is how it looks now:



Lots of new roots:




The new growth has developed in quite a short time for a plant that was so weak. I treat this plant like all the others now. Same fertilizer, light and temperature.
Thank you all for your support and your tips!!!

Yanik

[Dido]

I am not an expert, but I saw a few Randsii at different german nurserys but they all looked very different from yours.
They all had shorter leaves and more Phaleanopsis like ones.
So maybe I am wrong, but it is really interesting what you did with your plants and congrats on saveing it.

Regards Christoph