Potting in Hygrolon?

[AlexS]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has any experience using the shredded Hygrolon product, not the sheets, as a potting medium for Orchids. I've seen a lot of posts about mounting on Hygrolon sheets, but can't find any information about using the cut up version in pots. I don't have any experience with synthetic media like Hygrolon so I'm completely clueless as to whether or not this would work. Would this be likely to hold too much moisture to work?

I would be using it for Phalaenopsis. I was originally considering Epiweb, but read that this was far too fast drying for Phal roots, so I was thinking of trying a mixture of the Epiweb and Hygrolon cubes, or straight Hygrolon squares on their own, but haven't been able to find any information from people who have tried this previously. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Kindest regards,
Alex

[No-Pro-mwa]

I will give you a bump as I have no idea about it. I think Ray sells one of these and I was wondering about it but can't remember which one.

[Subrosa]

Hygrolon is no longer available.

[Ray]

...and the AquaMat I carried isn't either.


Ray Barkalow
firstrays.com

[No-Pro-mwa]

Is there a reason for that? Did it not work good or did it work good?

[Ray]

It has nothing to do with performance...

There were at least two businesses that tried to make a "go" of it, importing Hygrolon from its originator in Europe, and I can only speculate that the supply issues that doomed their other product, Epiweb, did the same to it.

In the case of AquaMat, it's simple economics. The initial stock was an overrun of someone else's production for a different application. When that sold out, I looked into getting more, but would have to have purchased an entire $50,000+ production run, and demand just wasn't good enough to support that.

Dev, at Folius.com has a similar product, so I'd look there. It is domestically sourced, so give him your business to keep him going.



Ray Barkalow
firstrays.com

[tarev]

I ordered Hygrolon from Folius before, but what I did is to cut up the sheets and make baggies, added some styro and clay rocks to each baggie, so there is some light weight to hold down the baggies once it is sandwiched around the roots. I had a little excess hygrolon strip so I just put it there in between the roots too. So far it is working quite good for my Phals. Easier to support the plant and lots of air circulation down there. It made me understand how much air they like around those roots. It is easier to see the condition of the roots too.

For me it is better than using sphag moss which really takes quite a long while to dry out, plus I wanted something that I will not need to replace every two years like when you use bark mix. It was an experiment, so far it is working well with this noid Phal.

May 2014


This 2015 - I just added some lava rocks on top, just checking how it goes, the plant finds a way to lean to the side, so far going good, doing new roots too.

[OfLeafandLimb]

From what I'm reading, it looks like I'm going to have a hard time finding this stuff, which is a real shame. It is so attractive, and versatile.