Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray
"Experienced and professional growers" have also said that "orchids have to dry out between waterings" and that "semi-hydroponics won't work", both of which have been proven to be untrue.
At this point I'm not discounting the possibility that they contribute more than just mechanical stability, but I am skeptical.
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Experienced and professional growers also said that juvenile roots of catasetum plants shouldn't be watered too early (when the orchid comes out of dormancy) because they say that it kills the roots or stunts the roots and plant growth - which appears to be
untrue after I had done some tests on a range of catasetum plants this season. The tests are going to continue next season, and the season after that - to draw a solid conclusion on it. At the moment - it appears that as long as the roots and media don't stagnate due to water-logging and good air flow is maintained through the pot and media, then nothing bad will happen to juvenile catasetum roots that are watered for catasetum plants coming out of dormancy.
As for the string roots with velamen gone ----- one test will be to just cut off an aerial root (or any long enough orchid root), then make an accurate note of which end is the 'upper portion' (maybe it doesn't matter - but should do it - just in case), and then carefully strip off the velamen if possible, exposing the 'string'.
Then dip the 'string' (tail end) into a cup of water. And clip the top end of the stripped root to the top edge of the cup - with a paper clip or some other clip.
Then use a coloured blotting paper every once in a while to touch the upper portion of the bare root - which is to see if it stays moist for days or weeks on end.
The test can involve roots of various kinds of orchids, and important details should be included - such as length of cut root, and distance of tail end dipped into the water (below the water surface) and distance of moisture test along the root above the water surface - as it will be interesting to know the height at which the water can be wicked above the water line - that's if it does any wicking at all. And one more all-important condition to find out about is - whether the wicked water (if any) will enter the orchid for hydration.
And back to the 'dry out between watering' for regular orchids. I agree that - as long as the roots are adequately aerated (which can also mean good air flow in media and around the water in the media), then an orchid can survive - assuming other requirements are met too, such as temperature, lighting level etc.
My interpretation of 'drying out between watering' is along the lines of - no need to do this regularly - but doing it sometimes (every once in a while) - could possibly help to keep certain organisms under control or in check, or even prevent them from growing. That is - to give 'unwanted' organisms (eg. algae, bacteria, etc) a hard time, or prevent them from growing or getting out of control.
It's not that algae etc. are immediate threats ----- but maybe rather a chain of events that could occur - eg. growth of algae in media and/or on roots is condition A, which could (possibly, but not necessarily) lead to condition B, C etc over time. Condition B could be say 'death of algae', and condition C could be say rotting or bacteria build-up. So, drying out every once in a while could be beneficial here. And the case of 'drying out between watering' for every watering is really an extreme case of this.
The focus isn't necessarily on algae. Drying out every once a while could possibly cut down on other sorts of unwanted organisms building up in the media (or cut down on chances of them growing).
Cut “dead” roots?
Hybrid Mode
