Frequency of pot flushing in S/H

[DavTom]

Hi Ray, hi all,

I fully understand the ease/cosines to flash the pot at every watering/feeding when the logistics allow for it (e.g. in a green house).

But I have my orchids in the living room (ground floor) and in my third floor, where I move around buckets of RO water and I do not have easy access to a sink (the kitchen sink and the bathroom sinks are off limits!).

In addition, I have very directive artificial light and putting back the pots in the right position for the light is often time consuming, especially when a lot of blooming is in the way of the light rays.

So, is flushing a must at every watering/feeding or one could often water/feed just to re-fill the reservoir and only now-and-then (e.g. once per month) do an energic flushing?

I fully understand the need to avoid waste build up and salts build-up, no doubts about that. But I am not sure if waste and salts build up so quickly to require flushing at every watering/feeding.

Anything that would reduce the frequency of flushing would save me quite some work.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Dav

[Ray]

Almost nothing in orchid-growing is black and white; there is often a lot of gray area…

Ideally, the pot should be thoroughly flushed frequently, and kept wet, top-to-bottom, at all times, as that combination leads to the minimum rate of mineral and waste buildup in the medium.

The opposite end of the spectrum is only topping-up the reservoir, never flushing, and letting the medium substantially dry out between waterings. Based upon anecdotal evidence, if you do that, the buildup will reach toxic levels in maybe 18-24 months, depending upon the water used and fertilizer contained.

One just needs to find a balance that works for you, and face the fact that your circumstances may not favor growing in semi-hydro culture, whether that be due to one of more cultural parameters, or to inconvenience.

When I moved and started growing indoors after 35 years of greenhouse growing, there were some plants that did better if grown more traditionally, and for the ones still in S/H, I had to add deep trays with a drain that poured the excess water into a bucket, to be hauled away and dumped later, allowing me to continue to flush regularly, in place.

In my mind, preventing the drying of the medium is more important than is flushing, per se. Minerals that have precipitated do not re-dissolve immediately upon being wetted.

[DavTom]

Originally Posted by Ray

Almost nothing in orchid-growing is black and white; there is often a lot of gray area…

Ideally, the pot should be thoroughly flushed frequently, and kept wet, top-to-bottom, at all times, as that combination leads to the minimum rate of mineral and waste buildup in the medium.

The opposite end of the spectrum is only topping-up the reservoir, never flushing, and letting the medium substantially dry out between waterings. Based upon anecdotal evidence, if you do that, the buildup will reach toxic levels in maybe 18-24 months, depending upon the water used and fertilizer contained.

One just needs to find a balance that works for you, and face the fact that your circumstances may not favor growing in semi-hydro culture, whether that be due to one of more cultural parameters, or to inconvenience.

When I moved and started growing indoors after 35 years of greenhouse growing, there were some plants that did better if grown more traditionally, and for the ones still in S/H, I had to add deep trays with a drain that poured the excess water into a bucket, to be hauled away and dumped later, allowing me to continue to flush regularly, in place.

In my mind, preventing the drying of the medium is more important than is flushing, per se. Minerals that have precipitated do not re-dissolve immediately upon being wetted.

Thanks Ray,

Excellent info as usual. I will digest it and come-up with some trade-off that hopefully will work for my logistics.

Dav

[estación seca]

You may find a large plastic basin at a Chinese market.

[DavTom]

Originally Posted by estación seca

You may find a large plastic basin at a Chinese market.

thx