S/H conversion ready? Other ?'s

[seancasa]

Hi all,

I'm a new member that has been lurking for a little while, and have some questions about converting a grocery store Phal to s/h.

It's roots look pretty crappy from the top, but are better now than originally. It is showing nice growth with a new root 1 1/2" long and a new leaf coming out, and is just now starting to lose the flowers from the 2nd spike (1st spike's flowers dropped a month ago).

While the surface roots look pretty questionable and there is no doubt rotted material in there, it appears that they are doing something and have healed slightly.

From my readings here and elsewhere it is showing positive signs for a conversion, but given the root situation I guess I'm not totally sure.

Secondly, how should I handle the roots if I do convert now? Should I remove anything showing rot, only the really bad stuff, or what exactly?

I've included some pics of the growth and top of medium. Also, I've been using hydroculture (2-stage pot with LECA) for all my houseplants so I have some familiarity in the area.

thanks,
Sean

[Zoi2]

Hello and welcome to the OB.
I usually prefer to have a couple of new roots growing before I transfer to s/h.
When you do transfer, cut off all dead roots.
Joann

[billc]

You're going to have to take it out of the pot, no matter what, to see what the roots are doing. If that new root is the only good root you have, you might as well give it a shot and put it in s/h. If you have roots growing that we can't see, even better. If you have live roots but no new growth on them you may want to wait and put it in a bark mix till your roots are good.

Bill

[DelawareJim]

I agree with Bill.

You might as well trim off both flower spikes also to reduce the strain on the plant.

Tell me more about your hydroculture for your other plants; who's your source, what plants, etc. My wife and I are looking into it for our other house plants after a trip to Europe where that's pretty much all you see anymore.

Cheers.
Jim

[seancasa]

Thanks for all the responses...will pull it out of the pot tonight and have a looksee and go from there.

In response to your questions about hydroculture Jim, I have been slowly converting my smallish collection of houseplants over the past year or so.

In a nutshell - hydroculture rocks for tropical houseplants. I have not seen this level of growth with any medium I've ever used. I also really like how clean it is (no more potting mix indoors), no fungus gnats, etc.

My biggest problem is salt accumulation and I still have some work to do in that area. I've moved in the past year and it appears my new tap water is pretty salty (observing remaining plants in mix), so I'm still in the process of elimination and experimentation. The good news is with this method it is very easy to flush the medium to reduce the buildup, and if flushing isn't enough, repotting is so easy, and the medium can be washed and reused.

I also am fairly new to water soluble fertilizer treatment so I may have to try a few things there, as well as probably an RO system to eliminate more variables.

So far I've converted:

Ficus Benjamina (several)
Ficus Elastica (several)
Homalomena Emerald Gem
Dracaena Deremensis 'Janet Craig'
Dracaena Sanderiana (several)
Epipremnum Aureum (Pothos)
Strobilanthes Dyerianus (Persian Shield)
Aphelandra Squarrosa (Zebra Plant - several)

I have a few others that haven't converted yet, was waiting on new pots. I've purchased all the pots I have from Kelly's Korner Orchid Supplies (www.kkorchid.com). They have cheap kits (culture pot, outer pot, water gauge) and are a great way to start out.

I tried to place a large order with Purlec Hydroculture which is (was?) a Canadian mfg/seller of what I understood to be high quality stuff. The problem is I still have not received my stuff (a month or so) yet they have most of my money still. I'd hold on buying from them.

Lastly, here are a few more places that sell kits and parts:

www.hydro-orchids-store.com (good variety)
www.hydrowholesale.com (carry Luwasa stuff, good prices)
interiorwatergardens.com (a bit more expensive)

My next order will probably be with Hydro-Orchids, though I'm curious about the Luwasa stuff from Hydro-wholesale (thinking name-brand maybe higher quality?). The cheap stuff feels cheap but does seem to work OK. The main concern I have is the consistency of the water gauges with the cheaper options...they tend to stick when watering.

Any other questions please let me know.

Sean

[TylerK]

Very interesting. I was wondering if s/h would work for other types of plants. I wonder how well it would work without buying any of the specialty equipment shown on those sites....ie: cut slits in a cheap plastic pot and set it inside a decorative one.

[Ray]

I have essentially all of my houseplants in S/H, mostly in the 3-component "Luwassa" pots (those with inner pot with gauge that holds the medium and plant, and outer pot that is decorative and serves to hold the reservoir.

The primary issue with those pots is they are not self-flushing, so mineral buildup can be an issue, but there are two ways around that:

1. Periodically remove the inner pot, flush it with plain water, dump the reservoir and start fresh, or with larger pots (I have some that contain a whole 45L bag of medium),
2. Feed a lot less frequently. My big pots get fed my standard 125 ppm N solution about every other month, and they grow great with no mineral buildup. (The plants extract the buildup from the moist medium).

I have a friend whose business is providing foliage plants for offices, malls, rich-folks' homes, etc., and he converted all of their stock to S/H in those pots. The lady that manages their service staff tells me they were able to double their installations without adding a single person, as that reduced their maintenance so much.

Tomatoes do pretty well, too.

[DelawareJim]

Thanks Ray and Sean.

I got 2 starter kits from Jerre Harms from Creative Hydroponics/Hydro-Orchids, whom I think you may know Ray, last weekend at OrchidFest to try on houseplants. Not sure I want to try it on my orchids though. Ray's semi-hydro is working too well for me with them.

I've been reading up since to try and find cheaper sources for the materials and was seriously looking at Purlec. Thanks for the headsup Sean.

2 other interesting sites I ran across in my surfing was "Water Roots" at
Water Roots - About and Houseplant Hydroculture at
Houseplant Hydroculture

Hydroculture...
It's amazing what you can find when you know what to look for!

Cheers.
Jim

[seancasa]

Originally Posted by Ray

The primary issue with those pots is they are not self-flushing, so mineral buildup can be an issue, but there are two ways around that:

1. Periodically remove the inner pot, flush it with plain water, dump the reservoir and start fresh, or with larger pots (I have some that contain a whole 45L bag of medium),
2. Feed a lot less frequently. My big pots get fed my standard 125 ppm N solution about every other month, and they grow great with no mineral buildup. (The plants extract the buildup from the moist medium).

Thanks for the info Ray, a few more questions:

Are you letting the pots dry completely between waterings or are you keeping some water in there most of the time?

Are you using just straight RO water for the non-feeding waterings?

How often are you feeding your smaller pots? My plants are all pretty small and my largest pot is 9". The most significant buildup I have is on the smallest pots (3-4" starters mostly).

Do you flush your large pots (45L?) at all? I've seen some large planters that have drainage ports, are you using something like that?

Originally Posted by DelawareJim

Not sure I want to try it on my orchids though. Ray's semi-hydro is working too well for me with them.

Hydroculture...
It's amazing what you can find when you know what to look for!

Cheers.
Jim

I'm just getting into orchids and am planning to use Ray's method for them.

Regarding the name, "hydroculture" does seem the most prolific in search results, and is the most common name used in Europe. I've also seen it referred to as "passive hydroponics", while most of the US dealers of these products are improperly calling it "hydroponics". Those I've found mostly through links from other sites.

Those names all refer to pretty much the same technique, but Ray's S/H method I'd classify separately.

Sean

[seancasa]

Originally Posted by TylerK

Very interesting. I was wondering if s/h would work for other types of plants. I wonder how well it would work without buying any of the specialty equipment shown on those sites....ie: cut slits in a cheap plastic pot and set it inside a decorative one.

Meant to reply to you too...

You can certainly use cheap plastic pots inside decorative outer pots, pretty similar except the culture pots designed for hydroculture have an air-cone type structure in center of pot. As in S/H, the primary benefit is good air flow AND even moisture...the cone supports that.

The other thing is the water gauge. If the outer pot is opaque, the only way to know if water is needed is to remove the inner pot. Not a huge deal I guess, but with a gauge you know water status with a passing glance. With a lot of plants this is huge.

The pots designed specifically for this purpose are molded such to accept the water gauge without it being in the culture. Obviously you can fashion your own water gauge and attach to the bottom somehow, but for me this gets into a time vs. cost debate. The culture pots and water gauges are not that pricey, and when I consider how much time I would spend making them (and maintaining no doubt), its an easy choice with my lack of free time these days.

Save money on the decorative pot (Luwasa decorative pots are pricey but culture pots/gauges are not too bad) and just spend a little time matching up purchased culture pots with decorative pots you like. Or just buy the cheaper kits with generic outer pot, probably all together less than most decorative pots a homemade culture pot would go into.

Sean