Air stones
 

has anyone experimented by doing anything along the lines of sticking an air stone in the bottom of a reservoir in one of their s/h pots? i'm really new to s/h so i'm not sure if this would add anything beneficial or not, maybe some of the more air flow demanding plants would be happier this way? maybe Ray has some insight?

That might work if the stone was oxygenating the standing water at the bottom of the pot, but the spray could also affect the roots above too, keeping the stones more wet than just by normal capillary action. The air percolating up through the rocks would probably be very humid/wet, and might contribute to bacterial growth.

But then ask yourself this. Do I want my plants to look like they're on life support, connected to tubes and pumps, or do I want an attractive display to show off the beauty of the orchids themselves?

The full hydroponic method (water culture) is working very well for me so far, and it has the added advantage of allowing me to place my specimens in nice looking vases, instead of drab, utilitarian plastic pots full of rocks.

http://stafiey.startlogic.com/photog...t_fragrant.jpg

The algae supplies the roots with oxygen (which I am culturing separately in large containers with air stones), effectively taking the "life support" back one step.

If you have lots of orchids, you may need lots of pumps and tubing to connect them all. By consolidating the life support with water culture, you can simplify that a lot.

Just a thought.

after reading the other post on the total aquaculture it seems like a much more hands on method, i really like how easy to upkeep s/h is and i tend to think that the LECA medium is rather attractive in itself...

I totally disagree, but "to each his own".

Perfect example of there being no one set of instructions for growing orchids...we all must do what works best for us individually.

I do agree with that, Susanne!

It also points out the amazing adaptability of orchids to live in diverse environments.

life support for orchids... we could all use that every now and then:coverlaugh:
actually, the air stone sounds like a good idea for thise who have a lower rh and the leca on the surface dries out too quickly. reading this thread has given me a good idea.