Phalaenopsis NOid Saved from Walmart...

[marydaniellesantos]

If you have a chid you don't mind experimenting with, you could give it a try.

[Zoi2]

Some of the reasons pebbles are not used often is the weight and they usually don't have a good surface for roots to attach to. By also using bark your plants should do fine, you may have to increase water and fertilizer as the pebbles will not hold either.
Joann

[RosieC]

I once tried pebbles as crocking in the bottom of a pot that was too large for my needs, and was really suprised to find how much they held the water and didn't dry out as much as I wanted them to.

Water seemed to cling in the gaps between the pebbles and dry out very slowly. With the non-porus pebbles the clinging water held together with water surface tension. With a porus material the water soaks in and so actually empties in those little gaps between rather than clinging there.

I was really suprised to see what happened and actually found I did not get enough air in the there and I had to get smaller pots and repot without the stones.

[marydaniellesantos]

Originally Posted by RosieC

I once tried pebbles as crocking in the bottom of a pot that was too large for my needs, and was really suprised to find how much they held the water and didn't dry out as much as I wanted them to.

Water seemed to cling in the gaps between the pebbles and dry out very slowly. With the non-porus pebbles the clinging water held together with water surface tension. With a porus material the water soaks in and so actually empties in those little gaps between rather than clinging there.

I was really suprised to see what happened and actually found I did not get enough air in the there and I had to get smaller pots and repot without the stones.

That's very interesting, did you mix it with anything else? I knew I wasn't losing my mind! I water less often, but fertalize the same and the roots came out wonderfully... I will attempt to put up pictures at my work computer... Thank you!!!

[marydaniellesantos]

Okay, I have pictures up!

[RosieC]

I actually had problems because it was staying too wet. I had bark at the top of the pot with the stones on their own at the bottom. I had been hoping that the stones would reduce the volume of bark so that it dried quicker with an orchid that did not really have enough roots for the pot. It didn't work and actually dried more slowly.

[marydaniellesantos]

Originally Posted by RosieC

I actually had problems because it was staying too wet. I had bark at the top of the pot with the stones on their own at the bottom. I had been hoping that the stones would reduce the volume of bark so that it dried quicker with an orchid that did not really have enough roots for the pot. It didn't work and actually dried more slowly.

Wow, how often did you water it? I water mine maybe once every 2 weeks, with regular spraying... I will be sure to watch it more carefully.

[RosieC]

It was taking a couple of weeks to dry... that was the problem, I like Phals to dry as quickly as possible because I find they do better if they dry quickly and you can water again quickly (between 5-7 days).

It wasn't so much that I was watering too often, but that I couldn't water as often as I wanted. I had put the stone in with the purpose of speeding up drying (because I didn't think they would hold water) but found the oposite was true!

[marydaniellesantos]

Hmm... It kind of makes you think.

Are you doing the project?

[RosieC]

Yeap, I'm not going to try any of those in stones, but some of them I'll try in either Lecca or mounted (depending on the plant).