Curious about S/H culture

[kimstwin]

Hello. I was reading all the S/H info on Ray's site, and I was a little more curious about how it works. Do the plants sit in saucers of water, or do they just get potted in the media and watered as needed. What is the resevoir? How come the pots are so much taller than typical plastic pots? Sorry, I sound dumb, but the site had me a little intrigued.

[orchidtatter]

I have moved several of my orchids into Ray's S/H system. I think it is great. The "resevoir" is what liquid remains in the bottom of the pot after the excess has drained out of the holes. I found out, by accident, that even though the top of the media will dry out fairly quickly, inside the pot it remains cool and moist. The plants I moved showed new root growth almost immediately. I water when I can see that the liquid in the resevoir is almost gone.

That is my take on it. Hope it helps you understand how it works. I had to have the pots and media in hand before I really understood how it all worked. But so far, so VERY good!!

[Dekejis]

I, too, and just starting to experiment with S/H. I've got one Cattleya hybrid that's just now starting to put out roots into the media and just last week I decided to experiment: I've been compotting out flasks and I planted out about five C. intermedia coerulea aquinii babies and one C. violacea semi-alba into S/H. I had so many plants in the flasks that it seemed like a perfect time to try S/H on fresh out of flask seedlings. I'm especially anxious to try the violacea (and I am going to try a larger violacea 'Muse' in S/H soon too), as cultural requirements seem to call for abundant moisture and lots of air.
So far, they are all doing well!
The way S/H works is that the S/H media sits essentially in a well of water that wicks moisture up through the media so it's always just a bit moist. Roots are thus kept constantly moist but are exposed to lots of air as well from the open inorganic media. There are a bunch of ways to accomplish this, but the special pots that Ray sells for this purpose are really good. Basically, it's a plastic cup/tub with two holes punched in the sides about an inch up from the bottom.
When you water the pots, the water will drain out down to the holes in the sides, so there's about an inch of water left in the bottom at all times which will wick up and keep the rest of the pot nice and wet. You want the media to be wet at all times. I mist mine with a spritzer when the top of the media starts to dry out. The roots of the plants stay green all the time. I think most folks use PrimeAgra and that is what I am using. I am also considering trying straight diatomite, and i have an empty container going with it to see how well it wicks and holds moisture. So far it's looking good.
I read somewhere about why the pots are taller than they normally would be, I just can't recall what that reason was, but I want to say it helps keep the media moist longer or facilitates with the wicking. I'm sure someone more knowledgable will pipe in.

[DelawareJim]

I like the s/h culture. With too many interests and too many irons in the fire, I'm a sporadic waterer and I find it helps protect my plants better from my irratic flood/drought care. I think it's the perfect mix of moisture and air circulation, and with the clear/opaque pots I have a better reminder of when to water.

I use both hydroton and primeagra and I'm happy with either one. The primeagra stays moist longer which I like for smaller pots.

Dana-

I don't know about the diatomite. I looks to me like it will compact too much and limit the pore spaces for adequate air circulation.

Keep us posted how it performs.

Cheers.
Jim

[Dekejis]

We'll see.. I've had very good luck growing stuff the normal way in diatomite - I'm not sure about compaction though; I use fairly large pieces.
Anyway, I just potted a C. violacea 'Muse' into S/H in diatomite. I'll post my results when I have them.

[Ranchnanny]

Kimstwin, I agree with the others. I recently repotted all my orchids into the S/H medium. I had orchids in bark mixtures and it didn't work well for me I either didn't water enough or I waterd to much. With the S/H medium its much easier to determine when to water. Sometimes like every third day I run water through. New roots and new stalks are showing on most of the orchids and that is just about one month since I changed over. I even repotted Phals. in bloom and no bud blast or flower loss. I Like IT!

TTFN - Sheridan