Jumping into S/H
 

So being tired of the, what seems like, high maintenance factor of traditional growing medium... the past year or so has been coconut husk... i'm considering going into S/H. It seems like a very simple, yet effective way to keep your plant in top shape. And I read on Ray's site a complaint about cost... but $19 for a kit seems like an incredible bargain. I think I paid $25 for a bag of husk, and I'm on the constant look out for mold, moistness, air flow, etc.


So after spending the afternoon reading a bit on it, I have a few general questions.

I live in southern California and the weather is almost always dry, and lately has been very hot. If I were to repot into S/H now, would these conditions be okay for my phal? It currently has one (visible) root about to come out, and during the last couple months sprouted a handful of new roots. I'm hoping that if I repotted, these relatively new roots would be okay.

Would it help the roots adjust if I kept the resevoir down to a minimum the first few weeks or so?

And lastly, does algae do no harm?

I'm wanting to do this jump right now, b/c after an inspection this morning, I noticed that an older root had a case of mold and was on it's way out. If this was a b/c the root already old and dying, or just a case of mold, I'm not sure. I've kept this plant right by a window that recieves gentle breezes through the day so I'm puzzled that there's mold at all. I've already repotted this plant a handful of times in the last year or so, not wanting to do this every six months.

Keep in mind that your evaporation rate from the medium will be higher with the low humidity levels, and that can lead to cooling. Unless your growing area is reasonably warm, that could be a problem for phals (probably not a problem for you, but you will need to water more often). Go with a larger, squat pot, as it will stay more uniformly moist, overall.

No. You want the plant to grow roots into the environment it will live in routinely. Growing dry at first encourages roots accustomed to dry conditions, which will not do well once you start keeping them wet. Your comment on a new root about to sprout means the timing is perfect.

No.

thanks, Ray. I placed my order last night. I'm pretty stoked.

it's coming out of coconut husk, i hope the phal adjusts okay.

MT-Phal,

I am in San Diego and the heat and lack of humidity is tough but I have taken to giving the orchids a misting in the morning or evening. I have currently about 15 or 20 plants all in S/H. Most of them are doing well. The ones that or not were all rescues with little to no roots. Even these have not died yet which leads me to believe they are putting out new roots.

Also moved to watering a little more often. every 4-5 days vs. 7-8. Also not letting the reservoir get to low helps.

I might look into evaporation trays to see if I can get the humidity up a little more in that area.

S/H is so far a lot easier than wood chips. Watering is a synch and potting is pretty simple.

MT-Phal,

I grow in S/H in Southern Idaho with very low humidity 20-30% most of the time. My group of 45 plants include Phal species, Catt species, Neost, Sarcochilus and a few hybrids. The only ones that have failed for me are Vanda and Ascocenda.

trdyl,

Do you grow in side your house or in a green house of sorts?

thanks for the replies, guys. it's giving me confidence that my phal is going to do well.


hey khozmo, just wondering, what was your experience with losing the old roots of the phals you transferred into S/H?

khozmo,

They are house plants on windowsills.

Do you run your AC during the summer?
How often are you watering?

Any other tricks you can share with me. I always see other people S/H pics and the leca looks all shiny and moist. Mine is always dry on top.

khozmo,

House temp in winter is keep at 62 degrees and summer at 72 degrees with air conditioner.

My temp range in the windows are 38-100 degrees depending on season and amount of direct sun.

The Catts go outside during the summer watering daily and fertilizing weekly. The rest stay in.

I keep the water/fertilizer level between .5-1.5 inches and usually only have to add more once a week for the plants inside.

My smaller pots stay fairly damp on top while the larger are fairly dry on top. But I do cheat little. I use PrimeAgra with an inverted clat pot in the bottom of the container.

khozmo, I see the same thing as you. My phals in s/h always seem dry on top, compared to pictures I see people posting.
Ted, It's still early and I'm still on my 1st cup of coffee, but I can't quite picture what you're saying about inverting the clay pot in the bottom of the container.
MT-Phal, My phals do great in s/h. The dead roots will wash away in time. The algae look will kind of grow on you after a while.(no pun intended:))

Bill

Hey guys, Sleep got the better of me last night. So let me catch up in the replies.

I have been watering the phals and oncids weekly with a weak fertilizer but I was finding that the new roots were turning black the minute they touched the leca. I think it was due to the salt build up and also they were dry as a bone on top. I have been flushing the media weekly with tap water and every other week if I can with fertilizer to keep the salts down. I also try and mist the top of the leca everyday either in the morning or the evening or both.,

So far all the phals are getting new leaves and the original leaves are dropping so I am on the fence as to how well I am doing. I have been seeing that there are roots pressing up against the side s I am sure the roots deep down are spreading.

The new roots that are sprouting about the leca so far none of the have penetrated the leca. I am wondering if maybe I have to repot them a litte lower in the leca as most of these phals and what not were my first attempts at S/H. I hope that some of these new roots break the surface so that I can get new root growth down there to anchor the plants better. Most of my plants are rescues so they had poor or weak roots to start.

So time will tell the most. I think that the heat and super low humidity are my enemies. I have dug down a little way on the leca and found that it is damp and cool.

Some of my plants have some serious algae growing. I think the ones that do not are the ones that I had to dose with a bit of physan. I do think that I will move towards squater pots vs. tall ones.

Tons of plastic containers can can be made into pots if need be.

Ted please explain the clay pot thing. If it could help keep my leca more wet I all for trying.

khozmo,

I did it originally to extend the amount of PrimeAgra I used. By inverting a terracotta pot in each container I would use 30-60% less of the LECA. It worked well for me and I have had good root penetration. The tops are still on the dry side.

I would think that the inverted clay pot would reduce the wicking, which exacerbates the dry top.

In all cases, we are playing a balancing act between the evaporation rate from the top of the medium and the ability of the medium to replace the moisture through wicking.

Let's use an example in which a pellet is capable of transferring 90% of its moisture to the pellets around it (I really have no idea what the actual percentage is, so don't quote me on this).

• The first transfer out of the reservoir, and the pellets that are 100% saturated wet the next ones to 90%. The layer above that 81%, then 73%, 66%, 59% 53%, and 48% at our theoretical top surface. (Add more layers and it gets lower - hence the difference between tall and squat pots.)

• If evaporation - due to temperature, air movement, and ambient humidity - is fast, the 48% wet top surface will lose most of its moisture, the layer below that (because it is somewhat "protected" by the layer above) will lose a bit less, and so-on down into the pot. As those layers have reduced moisture, they transfer less upward.

• Eventually, a balance is achieved, but if any of the ambient conditions change, a new balance has to be established.

Going back to that first bulleted paragraph, now let's put a pot in the reservoir. While a clay pot does wick water, based purely on surface area, it will not do nearly as much as the pellets it displaced, so your transfer upward is reduced right from the start.