Need help with S/H
 

After seeing all of the posts here and other forums, I have decided to give S/H a go. Kind of hard after growing the "conventional" way for 30 some years. I have some questions that I am sure that the S/H growers can help me with.

1. TDS - I am some what concerned about my tap water for S/H. The TDS of my tap water will vary from a low of ~150 ppm to 230 ppm. I do not use RO and have no problem with salt build up but have observed in the past where the TDS were much higher that salt build up is usually worse with completely inorganic mediums. With this level of TDS should I be concerned about salt build up?

2. Fertilizer - I will most likely be using Technigro 17-5-24 Plus. This fertilizer does not contain a Calcium source. With the TDS levels mentioned above, do I need to add a Calcium supplement?

3. pH - The pH of my tap water is in the high 8's. At 100-125 ppm of N, the pH after running through the porportioner is 6.7-6.8. I think I would prefer it to be around 6.0 (any comments about this pH?). Does anyone out there adjust the pH down and if so what do you use?

4. My collection is quite mixed (I suffer from "one of" disease) but heavy into Catts, intergeneric Oncidiums, and Phrags.

Any guidance will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Jerry,

I grew "traditionally" for some 25 years before developing s/h culture as a way to keep my plants alive while I traveled (I averaged 13 flights a week for about 3.5 years, at one point).

• I think you need not worry about your water quality.
• Most water supplies do have plenty of calcium and magnesium.
• That fertilizer will be fine.
• That mid-to-upper sixes pH isn't so far off that it would be a strain on the plants, but if you want to lower it further, I have heard of folks using vinegar.
• I have a similar collection. Not all of it is in S/H culture, so don't feel a need to do a "mass conversion". In fact, I recommend against it.

Select a plant that is just breaking new roots, and try that one. Be patient, pay attention to details, and pretty soon you'll understand that it's just different. After that, consider more.

Thanks for the reply Ray. Golly, 13 flights a week! I'm afraid I would have gotten to the point like the old saying, "it's Tuesday so this must be Cleveland"! No Ray, I have no intentions of "converting" a huge number all at once. I will probably convert a few of a number of genera at first and wait & see what happens there. I grow most of the raffle plants for the local society so I have a large number of seedlings ready for 3 & 4 inch pots and will use some of these. Thanks for the advice on the water quality and pH. I will follow your recommendations there. I would rather leave it alone anyway. I will just keep monitoring the TDS and pH to make sure things don't get too far out of line. I will try
and keep a photo documentary of the trial and if you don't mind I may pester you occasionally as to the results. Once again, thanks Ray.