My water culture blooms & buds!

[Buds!]

Here they are:

Chocolate smelling Onc. Sharry Baby, it only took 3 months in water culture for this one to bloom! I am amazed!


This catt is about to bloom!


Big bunch of catt, this one took the plunge last September, with the sophisticated 'chop stick' support! There are THREE buds! I can wait for the blooms!



Little buds coming!


A big 'thank you' to Sun rm N.E for sharing his water culture method:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...r-culture.html

[Tindomul]

I'm so amazed!! How come this doesn't rot them?? I don't get it!

[calvin_orchidL]

I'm amazed too! They look like they have very few roots and YET they are flourishing. How do you do it?

[Buds!]

Originally Posted by calvin_orchidL

I'm amazed too! They look like they have very few roots and YET they are flourishing. How do you do it?

Hi calvin,
Did you have a read of the thread listed above? It has all the info on water culture.

These orchids are sitting next to a east facing window with plenty of morning sun, so it is very warm. I've had to move the Onc. Sharry Baby a little further away because it was getting sun burnt, but the catts are tough and they love lots of sunshine.

The culture conditions are the same as with any other potting medium. I have a fan going 24/7. Having said that, I could never bloom Oncidiums!

This is my routine: I pre- mix a bottle of fertilizer at 125ppm (sometimes with a few drops of KLN), and top the vase up nearly daily.

The vases are cleaned nearly every week, or when it is looking too green and dirty with algae.

My lastes guinea pig is a $5 phal in water culture. So far so good, it is putting out new roots, I will take pics later on.

Juliet

[Buds!]

Originally Posted by Tindomul

I'm so amazed!! How come this doesn't rot them?? I don't get it!

I was expecting rot when I first started water culture, I figured that my Sharry Baby was going to die anyway, so I had nothing to lose.

I cannot explain fully how water culture works, but for me the high temps next to my window is the key.

I notice the roots blackened and stopped growing when they were moved away into the shade. I think Ray mentioned before about keeping an optimum water temperature of 20C(?).

It will be interesting to see how these orchids will perform over winter.

[Lagoon]

Juli, I like the idea of not having to bother with any media at all, Thats a bonus
They look like they're doing really well.
I always thought that sharry baby belong in jello anyways - total water hogs.

This is very cool, so glad to see you having success with this method

[Sun rm.N.E.]

Hi Buds

Thanks for the credit. I just came back from a trip to the tropics into a snowy environment and it was such a delight to read your post.

When I am away anyone can take care of my plants. Just show them the level they would have to maintain. I would have them use tap water to top off as needed (most tap water with buffering capacity maintains pH better) The tiny ones that take daily attention I just took to a friend's house without the solution in the containers and filled up when I get there.

Did you see the update of the post in the SH forum by Orchids who is growing Phals successfully for about 6 months? The difference in method is that he seems to keep the water level low enough to avoid keeping the crown wet. In contrast, keeping the rhizome under water worked better for me in getting rid of black rot in Catts.

I am also interested in your experiments with Phals.

[camille1585]

That is so cool! Becky showed me pics of her catt in water culture, and I just tried a Den last week as a last resort to try to save it. I can't wait to see what will happen!