Quote:
Originally Posted by Dante1709
While I do agree that moss can be a great media for those with the right conditions and those who don't overwater, I wouldn't recommend it for someone who is just starting out with 100% moss. I think it's easier to use it in mixes and see how it works with your environment, and when to rewater it.
However, I'm interested by your potting method. Do you think it adds more humidity to the air? Do your roots grow better?
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Hi, Dante!
I agree with the maybe the moss is not right in the beginning for someone with the propensity to overwater, but perhaps still for the tiny Phals.
Again, so many variables indigenous to the grower, the growing environment, etc.
Now, What I shared re potting media, only applies to my Phals. Most of my Catt alliance plants are potted in coarse tree fern. Depending on the plant, the size of the pot, I either cut the “twigs” in half, en mass in big clumps....or reduce their length even further for the small ones.
Now, my strategy re 2/3 bark mix and 1/3 NA moss topper has nothing to do with humidity; when potting a large Phal using fresh bark mix, I find the moss topper helps retain just the right amount of moisture after watering, but still not too much.
Early on, I evolved a way to not have to worry about humidity. In winter, I exploit the prewar fabulous engineering of this Landmark building, using the heat emanating from our enclosed radiators whose broad tops comprise our windowsills.
In my living room growing area, I use huge, deep, clear plastic storage containers I find in the garbage to cover the entire radiator top. I put each pot into its own deep container inside the containers. I then fill the bins with water.....and, that the heat form the radiator heats the water and supplies all the humidity to what I grow in that area (and beyond) any plant could want. Course, I need to keep replenishing I all winter, and also, when the algae gets too disgusting, remove everything, siphon out the gallons of water, take the containers to the kitchen and clean them.
I evolved a similar solution in my smaller growing area, also employing trays I repurposed from what they started out as. These trays have coated wire grids sitting on the tops of the shallow trays I cut with a hacksaw, and those trays are also filled with water; no need for individual deep plastic saucer in this area, given the plants sit on top of the grids.
Plus, in that area, I grow the majority of my Phals hanging from ceiling hooks I installed--- I use masonry bits, lead anchors, special hooks with collars; each one holds a ton, our ceilings are concrete under plaster. I use lengths of coat hangers and anything I find which I can use for multi Phal hangers from individual hooks.
The increased humidity from the trays also supplies them...forget all my houseplants...
I factor in the changing light, including the angle, and move each plant around in response to those changes.
My only humidity issue presents around this time of year, when it is necessary to turn on the air conditioning.
My entire essence/sensibility, you could say, is unconventional…meaning, I learn the basics in any given endeavor first and fast…..then,observe acutely, then discard what I find anachronistic/doctrinaire or not viable, factor in every observable element, and invent things.
So, know that what I do is right for me as an individual, and, factoring in every element of the reality of my growing conditions; it may not be right for others! Well perhaps, cept for how I increase air movement to Phil roots in plastic using hot knives top open triangles around the lower perimeter. I only pot most of my Phals in plastic simply to be able to hang them easily using commercial 3 wire hangers (I burn 3 equidistant holes the tops of those pots with a hot skewer)…..everything else, I pot in clay. Well, except for my Paphs.
I also make giant plastic hanging containers for some of my ginormous specimen houseplants I have to grow hanging, all far bigger and deeper than anything commercially available, using the burn three equidistant holes around the tops trick. Hold on, it’s dark out, but perhaps I can make a pic of only one example of the latter and put it up here.
I hope you didn’t fall asleep!