Hydroponics and seedlings

[gdupont]

Can you grow orchid seedlings using hydroponics?

[BettyE]

Yes, I have done so. I used the small LECA, which I understand Ray does not carry any longer. Mine are no longer seedlings, however, and have been transplanted into large LECA and bigger pots. BettyE.

[Fairorchids]

@ Betty,

Did you start with seedlings from flask, or established seedlings 1-2 years out of flask?

Seedlings straight out of flask have very delicate & brittle roots.

[Ray]

I have gone straight from flask into S/H on several occasions.

Sometimes I'll separate and clean the plants and pot them up, and at other times I'll "plop" the agar clump into a pot and fill around it with LECA. As that agar dissolves, you drop a few LECA pellets in place, and after a while, you'll have a well-established compot with no agar.

I have always used coarse-grade LECA when doing that - the root zone environment is plenty airy and moist.