Easy care setup for present
 

I am considering getting my girlfriend a Paphiopedilum fairrieanum for her birthday. She really likes orchids but is intimidated by them. To give you an idea of how "green" her thumb is, she nearly killed "lucky bamboo.":lol:

I'm trying to come up with a way to minimize what she needs to do to care for the plant. But I know very little about orchids myself. I was thinking of putting together a self feeding pot system with a wick system to keep the potting mix moist but not wet. This way she would just need to occasionally fill the water reservoir and add the nutrients. I would also add a meter to show when the water is getting low. Would this work? Like I said I know little about orchids.

My other concern is temperature. We live in New England and her room is in the basement of a house. It can get kind of cold down there in the winter. This is why I picked a winter blooming orchid. But I am still concerned it may get too cold. I think the coldest it gets in the room is around 50°F, unless they lose power. What is a minimum temperature I can expect the orchid to thrive at?

If I have to is there a way to heat the plant during the winter? Maybe turn a 10g fish tank into a temporary vivarium for the colder months?

Thirdly, I was planning on using artificial light because her room is not well lit. What type of lighting should I use? I was thinking a compact flourescent full spectrum, but I'm not sure what intensity it would need to be.

I wasn't sure which section to post this in since it could easily go in a few different ones.

Thanks

Can Paphiopedilum fairrieanum be mounted succesfully?

And could a wick system be used to keep the moss moist?

Edit: Nevermind, I'm not mounting it.

I'm afraid I'm not familiar enough with this species to give much advice. Just bumping your thread in the hope someone else will be able to help :bump:

Well I ordered the orchid. Its shipping monday and should be here on wednesday.

Any suggestions on what sort of sytstem I could setup that would make upkeep minimal?

Would a wick system work to keep the potting medium cnostantly moist but not wet?

Hi tokyo, the kind of system you want is called semi-hydroponics, there's a whole part of the forum here dedicated to the subject. You get a pot that has no drainage holes except for a single hole on the side of the pot about an inch from the bottom.

You use a growing mix (media) called Hydroton, aka LECA (Light Expanded Clay Aggregate) - little balls of clay.

You fill up the pot with water up until the level of the drainage hole, leaving an inch or so of water constantly in the bottom of the pot.

The LECA wicks up the water to the root zone. It's basically automatic, you just refill the pot occasionally. There is no such thing as 'too wet' in semi-hydroponics (S/H). The roots can take a while to adapt, and it's possible to get shocked roots and some die back if the old root system is used to very dry conditions. But any new growth will love the medium and even grow completely underwater.

First Rays' "Semi-Hydroponic - TM" Culture

Long-term, this is the solution, the only problem is that orchids put in S/H for the first time often go backwards for a while before stabilising and then thriving. This might be a bit stressful on you for a plant that obviously means a lot!

Didn't I post in the S/H section? Why is it called semi hydroponics? It sounds like full hydroponics to me, just a simpler version than what alot of people are accustomed to. Maybe if you used regular potting mix instead of LECA I could see why it would be called semi-hydroponics, but even then it would be a stretch. Sorry, I'm just not getting how the line is being distinguished.

What does the drainage hole drain into? Wouldn't the roots grow through the hole? Why is the hole necessary? If the goal is to keep a max of one inch at the bottom of the pot why couldn't you just only fill it up to about an inch?

Would it be possible to keep more than just an inch on the bottom? Or maybe use an automatic refilling system(upside down 2liter bottle or something similar) so that refilling would only be needed once every couple months?

Is there a reason a wick system into regular orchid potting mix wouldn't work?

Thanks!

I don't mean to nitpick, I know S/H is an established and effective method. I'm just trying to understand the reasoning behind it.

Ok, here's a crude drawing of what I am thinking of doing.

This is if I went the route of using LECA instead of standard potting medium and a wick system.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/...e9393303_z.jpg

The ball valve is for easy refilling. All you need to do to refill it is close the ball valve and take the entire water reservoir over to the sink, unscrew top then fill it up, add nutrients, and put it back.

I would prefer to use the wick system in which the culture pot would be raised above the water line and a series of wicks would travel through the potting medium and down into the water. I still am hoping someone can tell me if there is any reason this wouldn't work for orchids(Paph.). I know it works for regular houseplants, but since I don't know alot about orchids there could be something I am missing.

It's called S/H because it is not a linked system with a shared reservoir/water source, as in hydroponics. Think passive hydroponics on a single pot scale.

The hole is for two reasons: 1. to make sure you don't over-fill the reservoir. Ray recommends refilling the pot by filling it with water to the top and letting it flood/drain out the hole. This limits salt buildup which can otherwise affect S/H if you only fill to a certain height each time.

2. If you don't have the hole you have no way of flushing the pot, which is very necessary.

The wick isn't necessary because the LECA wicks. Ordinary organic potting media would break down under constant moisture introducing rot and suffocating the roots. Hence the requirement for an inert, inorganic media with all hydro/semi-hydro systems.

I think your idea is a great one and in theory should work well with adjustments.

I have a couple of years experience using a system that is identical, except that i hadn't used the upturned bottle for automated re-filling, and i use many pots instead of just a single one. I had used decives called the Smart Valves Mk II refilling separate trays via a gravity fed reservoir.

This is an old picture of my shelf system, you can see the black trays that hold the water and the individual white pots. I use perlite instead of LECA but the two are interchangable. The reservoir is out the window.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/1860/systemsmall.jpg

As you can see root growth is very good, especially the roots that form completely under-water. There is no need whatsoever to keep the root zone above the water line, in fact for good culture i recommend keeping part of the root zone submerged. You will be amazed how well an orchid root takes to life underwater (once it adapts!!)

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/8228/4small.jpg

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/3917/underwaterw.jpg

I faced a few problems with the system though:

1. You will want to use pots without drainage holes, or at least only a single small hole at the base to allow the water to seep in. If you use a normal pot, the roots will grow straight through the holes and into the shared reservoir and potentially into other pots if you put more pots in there. At the very least it's a major pain to repot because the escaped roots will not fit back into a pot shape and need to be cut off.

2. The shared reservoir will get bad algae growth everywhere that is moist and exposed to light. The area in the tray not covered by the pot or feeder bottle in particular will become an algae pond. You can get around this by minimising the parts exposed to light - square pots work particularly well if you use more than one pot.

3. You MAY have a real problem with virus and disease transmission if you use more than one pot. There is conflicting evidence on this, but certainly it has been shown in many studies that all the major viruses are spread within hydroponic systems within a week of a single infection. Jury is out whether it would be a major problem in a system that limits flow and recirculation, like this one. There are studies suggesting it wouldn't, but i think it's definitely possible. I have not had any problems after about 3 years.

The above 3 reasons are why S/H is preferred by most people over this sytem. The roots are always contained within a single pot, algae growth is limited to the pots themselves and disease cannot spread.

Basically if you have tonnes of pots (and willing to risk the threat of virus spread - which most people aren't), I think your (my) system is a good option. It saves a HELL of a lot of time watering. But If you just have one pot or a small collection, Ray's S/H method is simpler and just as effective.

Thanks for the input!

There is only going to be one planter. The only reason I am going this route rather than a standard S/H planter is that I want watering to be few and far between. If it was for me it wouldn't be an issue. But my girlfriend is forgetful and I don't want the plant dying on her. At least this way she will have plenty of time to refill the water reservoir before it becomes an issue.

The drawing was a crude example of the idea I am working with. The actual system will be contained and not quite so bulky, so it will look nice.

I understand that the wick isn't necessary if your using the LECA. I'm talking about in standard orchid potting mix.

Why would the organic potting media break down any faster than if just keeping it constantly moist(requirement of Paph.s) through regular waterings?

In general, constant moisture and organic media are to be avoided if you can. Any kind of break down of the media is going to be bad. I wouldn't actually recommend keeping Paph mix constantly moist, but Paphs aren't my thing anyway. If you want to use a constant moisture system, go as inorganic as you can.

P.S. I actually use both systems. For my larger plants, introduced plants and breeding plants i use the S/H system with a modified double pot setup. This is to contain potential virus, which is more prevalent in older plants.

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/5025/84781952.jpg