New to the forum, new to full orchid water culture

[Spookylady]

Hi everyone, you can call me Spookylady. I live in Southern California. I'm very new to full orchid water culture.

Right now I have 5 phalaenopsis in FWC:

• Two finished blooming a couple of weeks ago and I just put them into FWC today.
• One is doing great in FWC - it's about a year old and has a new leaf and new roots.
• Two are ones I am trying to rescue from being terribly neglected by their previous owner.

I've been reading a lot about orchid water culture and watching LOTS of YouTube videos about it. I'm hoping my other orchids do as well as my year-old with its lovely new leaf!

I'm looking forward to meeting folks who are familiar with full water culture and to get tips on how to make my orchids healthy and happy. Thank you!

Added pictures today! Flickr

The bigger orchids just finished blooming and the spikes have been cut. Two small ones are the rescues. Someone cut the leaves on them. The one with the new leaf is one I've had for a year. It's been in water culture a few months and is obviously happy!

[Leafmite]

It is amazing how many ways that one can grow plants, including orchids.

[camille1585]

Welcome to Orchidboard!

Your plants look very healthy in their vases. I frequently read of people who use water culture to rescue plants in poor shape, but don't hear so much about people using it as a long term culture method. How do you deal with the algae build-up? Just by frequent cleaning and water changes?

[Spookylady]

Hi Camille! I'm so glad you think my orchids' roots look healthy. I hope to keep them that way. I haven't had any algae yet because they haven't been in water culture that long. From what I've seen on YouTube videos from other folks, it can be somewhat beneficial to the plants to have a little algae. One person used aquatic snails to keep it to a minimum. Overall I've read it shouldn't be allowed to get too crazy. The recommendation besides cleaning out the containers is to spray the roots with a little bit of hydrogen peroxide - I've also heard this can kill bugs. As I go along I'll keep the forum updated on how things are going!

[camille1585]

Be careful with hydrogen peroxide on the roots. It's a powerful oxidizer and can lead to severe tissue damage. Since roots are rather sensitive tissue, it's generally advised to avoid hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol (often used to kill insects) and cinnamon (used as an antiseptic, but is also a strong dessicant)

[Spookylady]

I'm assuming if you did use hydrogen peroxide it would be good to wash everything off before putting back in water culture. I haven't used anything on them so far, as they're so new to the water. It's clear right now; I'll clean the containers and change the water regularly.

My biggest concern is fertilizing. I've seen some people soak the roots in fertilizer for 15-20 minutes then return to their containers. Some people don't fertilize at all. Do you have any thoughts on that? Thank you so much for talking with me about this!

[rbarata]

Welcome Spookylady.

[Spookylady]

Hi there, thanks for the welcome!

[Mountaineer370]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

[Spookylady]

Hi, Mountaineer. I'm originally from Ohio