Just finish my Disa setup. Need some last minute clarification.

[Kevin_PR]

Hello forum. I have a Disa uniflora coming in soon and I just finished the setup, so I wanted to ask a few questions to clarify. Well, let me explain the setup first. sorry no camera you gotta visualize

Materials:
Large 24" clay pot
Small plastic 5L bucket
Shallow 12" clay pot
Course river rock (random sizes/ shapes)
Miracle grow potting soil
Old pump from a protein skimmer

Setup
In the large clay pot I place the plastic bucket and filled in the space with soil to keep it fro moving.

I then placed the pump inside the bucket, and cut a hole in the rim of the bucket so tubing will can come out of the bucket.

I placed the smaller pot on top of the plastic bucket and put the tubing so it will spillinto the small clay pot. I then filled it with the gravel

I planted low growing fern in the area between the 2 pots that has soil.

My hopes is that this will keep the water cooler than just leave the plants soaking. I can leave the pump on all day because I adjusted the flow so that water level will reach the rim of the small pot but not exceed it. Also since the medium has perfect drainage and am using a pump from a protein skimmer the area around the roots, including the water, is going to be super oxygenated.

Ok so what I need clarified is can they grow with their roots submerged in the moving water or should I put it in intervals. I read they grow near rivers and seeps and have seen the pics of them posted by "King", but I just wanted to reassure myself from someone who knows.

I guess it was more of a question than questions.

[Andrew]

They're fine with a wet medium but if the flow rate is so high that the pot can't drain fast enough, I'd put the pump on intermittantly. The other concern with leaving the pump on for long periods is whether the pump will heat up the water too much, especially with such a small reservoir.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I don't recommend using potting soil. The soils they naturally come from are largely inorganic - it's mostly a type of metamorphosed sandstone/granitic type of rocks/sands. The organic materials they are found growing in are either mosses or fibrous (i.e. roots of reeds and grasses), and there is not much of it.

If I'd have to use approximate, arbitrary percentages to get the point home, I'd say that the mix would have to be anywhere on the order of 90% inorganic, (give or take approximately 5%), and the rest is fibrous organic matter.

Moss or fibrous materials such as coconut coir or coconut fiber is more acceptable to use than potting soil.

I've tried growing them with their roots fully submerged in water and added aeration to the water. It did not work. There was rapid damping off of shoots. The roots looked pretty good though. Without the shoots, having decent looking roots don't count for squat with Disas.

Both shoots and roots have to be in good order to successfully grow something like Disa uniflora.

Because I've never observed a streamside Disa's growing environment and how the Disa interacts within its environment, I cannot give you a definitive answer as to whether the orchid has its roots growing into the water or not.

I do know that there are photos that confirm that the roots do not enter into the running streams at all. Of the photos I've seen, the roots are growing in between rock crevices in some fibrous organic material not in running water - if this makes sense.

This is all I know, and my knowledge could be fairly limited on this subject matter.

[Kevin_PR]

Thanks

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I haven't tried aeroponics, though. It's like hydroponics, but different.

You could try the little aeroponics systems for sale, such as the Aerogarden, and see if that works for you.

[stonedragonfarms]

Give this site a look; it's pretty much how I grew the few plants that I had when I grew uniflora; the water needs to be super pure/low in dissolved solids.
Good Luck,
Adam