Clivia miniata
 

Here's a non-orchid example of a "dry-growing" plants that does well in S/H culture:

http://www.firstrays.com/Pictures/Clivia_miniata.jpg

I also recently repotted some seedlings that I germinated in S/H:


Took the mature seeds from that plant and did the following:

1) Peel off outer (red) skin, exposing light brown seed below.
2) Wash in tepid water to remove any traces of skin.
3) Place seeds, into top layer of medium in a shallow s/h pot. Top of seeds should be even with top of LECA. (I cut down a pot so that the reservoir took up 1/3 the entire depth, so the LECA would be sure to stay uniformly moist.)
4) Cover with plastic wrap, secured with a rubber band.
5) Place in a warm, bright location.

In about 4-6 weeks, the seeds started to germinate, and about a month later looked like this:

http://www.firstrays.com/Pictures/se...germinated.jpg

This is what an individual, extracted from that compot, looks like:

http://www.firstrays.com/Pictures/se...niata_seed.jpg

Ray, I planted my clivi a in sh soon after being exposed to it and seeing how well orchids did in it. My plant has been growing in sh for three years now and was an immature plant at the time of planting. It has since bloomed three times and is threatening to bust its pot, which apparently they enjoy doing.

Clivias do exceptionally well grown this way. What other plants do you grow in sh?

My next try will be with epiphyllum. I currently have some 40 hippeastrum bulbs growing in sh and if you want to compare the good of soil growing vs sh growing, hippeastrum will favor sh hands down.

Hippeastrum are notorious for their enourmous flashy blooms at Christmas time, but that is often the one and only time they will bloom in a years time.

I grow mine in sh and routinely get multiple bloom cycles per year. Some of the strongest bulbs will bloom five to six times a year! Sh is awesome, period. You can control so much about the culture of a plant.

Ryan, I have all sorts of stuff in S/H, from ferns to aglaonemas, to epiphyllums to dracaenas.

I am wary of anything that has an underground "bulb" though, as my experience with Plieone formosana is that it preferred to grow its corms at the surface, rather than submerged, making it an ugly plant.

I've considered growing a dahlia in sh but that wo uld need to be a big pot! Thankfully the hippeastrum though bulbs, gladly sit atop the sh medium.

Very nice Ray. I never tried seeds directly sown into Leca. My whole collection of Clivias have been in S/H for a couple of years and love it.

I'm a bit worried that that's what I'll see with the plants that are pushing themselves up out of the pot. Every week when I go to water I see a couple of pellets lying on the windowsill or table top around the pots.

Matter-of-fact, I was so inspired by you and Jeree that almost everything I have is in S/H or hydroculture; Aglaonema, dieffenbachia, (any of the aroids) ficus, dracena, hippeastrum, poinsettias, ferns, wandering jew, pothos, philodendron, you name it. The only thing I don't have in S/H or hydroculture anymore are plants that I tried and they didn't like it and I just couldn't part with them. Some, like my Ledebouria socialis do better in S/H than they ever did in soil.

At work (USDA) I'm known as "That guy would can grow plants in gravel".

Cheers.
Jim

I also have a clivia miniata that needs to be repotted after summering outside. After seeing how well yours is doing I am really leaning towards potting it s/h. I may also try to pot some amaryllis bulbs in s/h this winter!

Do it!

Cheers.
Jim

Definitely do the amaryllis (which are technically hippeastrum but for commercial reasons, we all know them better as amaryllis!). they love sh.

what is s h?