Collection going to S/H (13 of 36 so far)

[slide1475]

Hello everyone! I am thrilled to see so many S/H threads - the forum has kept me busy soaking up S/H knowledge for days. It convinced me to go forward and transition the bulk of my collection to S/H.

I recently completed construction of my gorgeous new orchidarium the "Orchid Haus" which is 48" tall, 48" wide, and 19"deep. Sitting on top is a 6-bulb T5 fixture. I moved all my orchids, nearly 40, into the Haus as well as a bromeliad and two staghorns a month and a half ago and turned on the lights. (I live in Manhattan with a bank of drafty windows facing north - not ideal orchid conditions!)

After a month and a half in the new enclosure (they were horribly overcrowded before and all catching rot, etc.) I am watching tremendous new growth - it is so exciting after all that disease trouble that I started getting addicted to the idea of S/H. I read Ray's site "cover to cover", then the orchid board's incredible depth of information, and realized that the timing was ideal with all these new roots popping out all over.

To date, (one week ago) I have changed over:
2 Cirrhopetalum Buckleberry "Lovely Elizabeth", each with a new growth and flush of roots
3 Bulbophylum cornu-cervi, each with a new growth and flush of roots
1 Bulbophylum ramosii aka flavescens with one new growth and the start of roots
1 Bulb. scaberulum with a new growth (I repotted a little too early here, maybe - no new roots as yet!)
1 Bulb. saurocephalum with a new growth and fantastic roots - the roots here are visibly reaching for the PrimeAgra
1 Bulb. lilacinum which was struggling to put on new roots in the old enclosure and is putting out terrific root growth from both new bulbs in the new Haus and new S/H medium
1 Bulb. falcatum which has put out new roots like crazy from one established growth and has decided to add two new growths as well since moving to the Haus!

and now the interesting stuff:
1 Neofinetia falcata - was DYING in the old enclosure and since the move has started putting out wonderful new, thick, heavy roots. I switched it to S/H and hope to see the new growth continue. After this first week things are looking great with new roots reaching for the medium.
1 Bulb. macrei which was suffering terribly from leaf-rot in the old enclosure. I dowsed it with Physan, cut off leaves, and moved it to S/H. It is down to one bulb and one new, young growth with two delicate, but growing, roots.
1 Brassavola little stars - perhaps the most desperate situation in my entire collection right now. I debated repotting to S/H since I hadnt seen any evidence of new growth since moving to the Haus but the medium it was in (sphag moss) was saturated week after week. When I unpotted - all the roots were rotted away! It is in S/H now, and I have my fingers crossed. I cut off as much of the rot as I could get to and dowsed with Physan.

So, any advice anyone can give will be much appreciated - particularly if you have transferred these beasties to S/H before. A side question - should I treat my rotted root stumps with cinnamon? ALSO, and perhaps most importantly, I want to transfer the following to S/H, but cant find any references:

Staurochilus loheriana
Anguloa eburnea
Jumellea arachnathe
Sarcoglottis sceptrodes
(non-orchid) Pineapple Kona Sugarloaf

Thank you everybody and keep up the wonderful growing!!!!!

[Ray]

First I'll throw out my standard caveat to NOT do a wholesale changeover. It is often better to pick one or two orchids that are putting out new roots and try them. (Switching to s/h culture requires a bit of a shift in your thinking, not just a change of medium and watering.) But as you've already jumped in, I encourage you to wait and see how they do before proceeding.

I don't bother with the cinnamon treatment of rotted roots, I cut them off and am done with it. Remember, the bacteria and fungi that rot roots won't affect living tissue. Death - usually caused by suffocation - occurs first, then the critters can attack the tissue.