LECA surrounded by Sphagnum

[jarjarb52]

Question -
I have a couple orchids (oncidium heaven scent - has not flowered, SVO black pearl - has not flowered, Asconopsis Irene Dobkin - multiple spikes/flowers) growing in a typical S/H setup with LECA and 2x drainage holes roughly 1.5" above the bottom. They're thriving, but I'm thinking of either changing them to a different medium because I find S/H to be MORE work than I had thought it would be.

Would a S/H setup with LECA in a net pot, surrounded by sphagnum moss along the walls to retain water, and a bottom drainage hole (with no sphagnum around the area of the drainage hole) work? My thought process is that the sphagnum moss would retain water, the LECA would wick it to the roots, and yet everything would still be very open for good aeration.

Any thoughts?

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

What you describe would work, but I'm not sure it would be any less work than what you're doing now. Plants in LECA need to be watered frequently.

[jarjarb52]

Btw, I transplanted my oncidium from a traditional S/H to the S/H I described above with less water sitting at the bottom and moreso water retained within sphagnum moss today.....the healthy roots on the oncidium were amazing!! I had no idea there were so many healthy roots embedded within all the Hydroton.

Who knows, maybe I will switch back eventually to a traditional S/H, but I prefer having this setup where the drainage hole can be on the bottom with the water retained in the sphagnum moss evaporating/increasing humidity within the LECA. I'm not certain it will work...but fingers crossed.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by jarjarb52

Who knows, maybe I will switch back eventually to a traditional S/H...

Switching back and forth will do your plants a disservice.

As roots grow, they “tailor” their cells to function optimally in the environment in which they are growing. Once they have grown, they cannot change. If you move them into a different environment, the existing roots are immediately sub-optimal, so will start to fail and must be replaced with an entirely different set of roots.

I suspect that unless you water very frequently, your new LECA-surrounded-by-sphagnum environment will be considerably drier than the S/H pot was, resulting in root loss and they will be replaced by roots attuned for that. Then, if you move it back to S/H, that replacement process - and use of resources - will have to happen again.

[katsucats]

Originally Posted by Ray

If you move them into a different environment, the existing roots are immediately sub-optimal, so will start to fail and must be replaced with an entirely different set of roots.

Originally Posted by Ray

Interestingly enough, aerial roots seem to adapt nicely when submerged in media.

Just wondering. Aren't these two ideas in conflict?

[Ray]

Originally Posted by katsucats

Just wondering. Aren't these two ideas in conflict?

Not if the first example is one medium to another, while the second is from air to a medium.

Read the sticky about “Be Faithful to Your Roots” - most of that explanation is from PhD students at Texas A&M

[Shadeflower]

Originally Posted by jarjarb52

Btw, I transplanted my oncidium from a traditional S/H to the S/H I described above with less water sitting at the bottom and moreso water retained within sphagnum moss today.....the healthy roots on the oncidium were amazing!! I had no idea there were so many healthy roots embedded within all the Hydroton.

Who knows, maybe I will switch back eventually to a traditional S/H, but I prefer having this setup where the drainage hole can be on the bottom with the water retained in the sphagnum moss evaporating/increasing humidity within the LECA. I'm not certain it will work...but fingers crossed.

I've seen MissOrchidGirl use exactly this method for her self watering pots. She adds a bit of moss which I think is strange as she mentions that things go off faster in self watering than any other pot - but she used moss and it seems to work till it degreades.

As a disclaimer: Moss will only last 6 months in a self watering pot..

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Ray

Not if the first example is one medium to another, while the second is from air to a medium.

So when the medium is air ....... then transferring roots from an air medium to a different medium might be ok?

It's possible that an air-medium could be equivalent to a regular medium, such as course bark, or course scoria ----- for the condition that we don't water the bark or scoria (or at least not water most of the times, except for fertilising or mag-cal time), and maybe it will then depend on adequate humidity for getting water into the orchid.

It will be interesting to see if regular roots that drop down or droop down from air, and then dip their roots into water ----- gradually and slow, and have best of both worlds. As in part in air, and part in water.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

So when the medium is air ....... then transferring roots from an air medium to a different medium might be ok?

It's possible that an air-medium could be equivalent to a regular medium, such as course bark, or course scoria ----- for the condition that we don't water the bark or scoria (or at least not water most of the times, except for fertilising or mag-cal time), and maybe it will then depend on adequate humidity for getting water into the orchid.

It will be interesting to see if regular roots that drop down or droop down from air, and then dip their roots into water ----- gradually and slow, and have best of both worlds. As in part in air, and part in water.

Some aerial roots take to being submerged in media or water well; others do not. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by Shadeflower

I've seen MissOrchidGirl use exactly this method for her self watering pots. She adds a bit of moss which I think is strange as she mentions that things go off faster in self watering than any other pot - but she used moss and it seems to work till it degreades.

As a disclaimer: Moss will only last 6 months in a self watering pot..

I'd agree with that one... using sphag along with LECA, even if you keep it sort of divided (like sphag along the perimeter of pot and LECA in the middle, would end up needing repotting way more rapidly. When I first read about this, all I could think was what a yucky mess that would be a year down the line. Sort of ruins the idea of not having to repot often.