Hygrolon ....plastic mesh

[Ray]

Yes, it 's the same technology, only thicker and of a better color for use with plants.

[katsucats]

Holy bump, but it's relevant. Athletic wear spacer mesh is too thin and light to be a close substitute for Hygrolon. Mattress fabric can be closer, but I couldn't find it for sale anywhere besides imported from Alibaba. Other things I found was speaker grill fabric (still too light, but better), upholstery padding (e.g. the stuff they put in seats or bag straps, very close to Hygrolon specs), and designer fabrics (e.g. from Mood Fabrics, also very good candidate).

I want to make a S/H type setup, but with a vertical growing surface. That means the fabric and whatever that's supporting it would sit in water and wick water upwards passively. Pots are a bit space-inefficient for some plants with shallow root systems. Mounting gives more growing surface over the same radius of space, but I'm not willing to sacrifice using inorganic medium.

[Ray]

The 5700 yards of 3D spacer fabric I bought was about 1/4” thick, but it’s not the thickness that controls the wicking as much as it is the tightness of the weave and it’s pattern.

I ended up selling most of it to a guy that made wet walls out of it. He would take a long piece and then fold it back on itself several times, creating a series of horizontal “waves”. Stitched vertically (using an upholstery sewing machine), those “waves“ became pockets in which to insert the plants.

He used a small, submersible pump to trickle nutrient solution down from the top, and the wicking of the fabric spread it evenly.

[DirtyCoconuts]

3D air mesh is also another name for this and it is used to make car seats

[katsucats]

I guess what I think the thickness provides is more or less room for the roots to move through. Your other post puts that into question, Ray, but I still wonder if the roots would grow more proliferous under less constraint. The thickness also has the effect, it seems, that it requires a heavier material to maintain its structure. For example, the ripstopbytheroll.com 1/8" mesh is 320gsm, and the 1/4" is nearly 600gsm. The heavier material may or may not wick better, but it should hold more water, if one was to spray it for example.

I guess the ideal material should have the following properties:

• It should wick water to a reasonable height (in my opinion 1-2 feet, but not more, or it would get too wet near the bottom).
• It should hold a maximum of water per some area that provides enough water to the plant without being too wet.
• Roots should have no problem growing around the fibers and attaching to them (this shouldn't be a problem according to Ray).
• Does the thickness provide a better air to moisture ratio for the roots that grow into them?

Also, because the backing to the fabric samples I bought are more dense, then the roots probably couldn't grow through the back, which is what I'd ideally want, if I put clay behind it, or maybe sandwich Matala mats in between.

If it's not a secret, can I ask where you got the AquaMat material, Ray? Presumably, you stopped selling it, or are you interested in bringing it back in the future?

[Ray]

Originally Posted by katsucats

If it's not a secret, can I ask where you got the AquaMat material, Ray? Presumably, you stopped selling it, or are you interested in bringing it back in the future?

Truthfully, I don't recall for sure, but I think it was Apex Mills.

My first purchase of 5700 yards (x 84" wide, by the way) was an overrun from someone else's order. I stopped selling it because the minimum purchase for new production was 15,000 yards, costing well over $50,000, and requiring lots of warehouse space.

[DirtyCoconuts]

i don't think it matters.

if you are setting the wall up to retain the moisture and will be adding a way to reirrigate it, just use the open one and then reirrigate more often...that is always better than any stale water sitting anywhere

that said, if you get the thick stuff, it is nonorganic and it really is fine always moist in my experience so get the one that's cheaper or more readily available

[katsucats]

Well, maybe I could pretend to be a buyer and ask them for a "sample"

DirtyCoconuts, I guess I'm trying to do something like this, except with the bottom sitting in a reservoir, and the middle filled up with clay instead of moss.



I think ultimately the material might just depend on the plant itself and its requirements. But I would like to find a source for a material with a more open backing layer.

By the way, a little bit of math, if I have a standard shelf, say 2' under the light. With an 8" pot, I have 16pi square inches of growing space. But with a 6" cylinder (leaving some room for foliage overhang), 1' tall, I'd have 72pi square inches of growing space.

So to me, growing plants that spread, especially smaller epidendrums or bulbophyllums, if I could get a mount that behaves like S/H, this could be the next big thing.

The other option is to have a reservoir in the middle, whether by a clay pot, or any material that slowly seeps water out over time, like perhaps those water crystals, or the PET soaker irrigation hoses (but I think those need more pressure to work). I wonder if there are any materials that are "barely" water proof, holding water, but failing over time.

[Ray]

Katsucats, I don’t think your concept will work very well, assuming the “clay” on the inside is LECA.

I suspect that the LECA will absorb the liquid from the reservoir and the mesh, and having all of that free air movement around and through it, the water will evaporate quickly, limiting the vertical “reach” of the wicking.

Vendors will be happy to give you samples, but they’ll be odd colors and only swatches of a few square inches. Once you get one texture you like, you can ask if they have any overrun material.... If the do, they’ll likely want you to take it all.

[Spiffy]

I've also gotten a bit obsessed with using some of this hygrolon material recently and got into a bit of experimenting!

However, no hygrolon was available in Europe, so taking advice on here I just went on ebay and bought quite a large amount of "3D spacer material" for £10 (ie about 13USD). I don't think its even the thickest stuff available.
As I'm a bit of a cheapskate, my current method is:
1) Take one used, empty plastic bottle (eg fruit squash, coke etc.) + saw off the top (say height around 25cm)
2) Take material and cut one continuous piece covering entire inside and out with small amount of overlap + superglue (gorilla glue) on.
3) Glue on some sticks collected from outside (microwaved briefly first to get rid of bugs) to provide support if needed, or give the roots something organic to climb up.
4) Glue/tie with thread on some moss from outside...wait for glue to dry
5) Mount your orchid - more thread
6) Place inside your drip / humidity tray on an windowsill & fill up every 2-4 days.

I've done a few versions with various aerangis so far. The first one was more proof of concept and I'll rearrange next year with something nicer to look at, moss + sticks etc..

Most of the orchids seem to be growing well. You can adjust their height on the tube for dampness (wetter towards the bottom) or add extra moss.

The water wicks from both inside the tube and what is in your humidity tray.

Photo is an angreacum germinyanum that I mounted a couple of weeks ago...since then it's growing new roots + leaves. The earlier version (and rather less aesthetically pleasing tube) has a mystacidii in spike, and a punctata that is growing new leaves...This is on an east facing windowsill, no terrarium etc.

Pretty happy with the results tbh. Obviously your CA climate is likely a bit drier than the UK. (Humidity here today 66%) I imagine a hurricane vase would be sufficient to get the humidity up if needed...hope that helps!