How to bulbos and gongora fair to S/H?
 

I'm getting back into orchids and converting a lot of things over to S/H in the GH. I'm also getting heavy into bulbos. I'm read where Ray said anything can be grown in S/H, but then I have also read certain plants don't do well in S/H. I am wondering if bulbos and gongora will do ok in S/H. I know I am out of luck getting a stanhopea into S/H, but I am curious about the other. Thanks! and I am excited to be getting back into orchids again after being heavy into the nepenthes scene.

JB

Many Gongora send flower spikes downward. The ones that send spikes horizontally or a little upward should do well.

The problem with Bulbos is their roots can be very shallow. I couldn't get it to work with standard S/H pots, holes an inch / 2.54cm from the bottom of the container, but I can make it work with a pot set into a deeper dish that functions as the reservoir. I suppose I also could have drilled holes closer to the top of the 1 quart / liter food container I use for S/H pots.

Thanks for that tidbit on Gongora. I thought they all did horizontal spikes. Which is why I didn't j derstsnd then not doing well. I guess here is to trying it with a seedling! And makes sense with the bulbo. So it so much distance between the surface and the reservoir. I'll have to try it with an extra too!

When you say How short do you mean?

I've just acquired a bulbophyllum and the roots are about 5cm long. Would that be long enough?

The plant's roots need to reach the water. If there is water in your reservoir, the level of sufficiently-moist LECA depends on the distance from the top of your reservoir, rate of evaporation from the top and the wicking ability of your LECA. You could set up an S/H pot, keep it watered and then take it apart to see where is the level of moisture.

I think the plants might send roots deeper if they sense water down there.