Thank you Ray! My first S/H potting :)

[Eyebabe]

I purchased my first S/H "kit" from firstray.com and did up two of my smaller Phals this morning.
I have ONLY about 6-7 Phals as I tend to have issues with the roots...I love them to death
Catts are more forgiving for me and I have several dozen of those that are happy.

Anywho! I prepared the media overnight as instructed and trimmed up the two plants that were in 3-4 inch pots and got to business.
I thought the media was just great to work with. I had to do very little to get the nooks and crevices of the root systems filled. The little pebble shaped material rolled in very nicely.
And if I wasn't happy with how the plant sat after I was done, it was a piece of cake to just dump and re-do!

Any tips from here?
If the plants do well, I'll be converting my whole collection and Ray can finally take that trip to Bermuda or wherever

[KHaze]

Hi D! I change two phals over to s/h about three months ago, and two more last month.

I agree...it is very easy repot with it!

I like that I can water without worrying about over watering.

The only tip I can offer with my limited experience is that if your phals aren't adjusting well, put them on a seedling mat. From what I was told, they really like the bottom heat. It encourages them to grow new roots.

The first two phals that I repotted in s/h were suffering from root rot. The frist one was pretty bad and it didn't make it. The second one was not quite as sick but it seemed to be just hanging on and not really improving at all. I got a seedling mat for the the first one...hoping that it would help...and put all four of them on it figuring that it couldn't hurt. The first one still died but after about a month, the second one is starting to put out a new leaf! and the other two phals that I repotted last month seem to have taken to it s/h without missing a beat!

Good luck to you! I'm really happy with s/h and I'm planning on using it with all my orchids from now on.

[Eyebabe]

Karen,

Thanks for the tips. I will look into a mat and try to work an outlet spot for it (between the lights, humidifiers and fan...lol)
How often are you watering plants that you first start with S/H? The same as an established plant or less often?

[KHaze]

I've been watering whenever the reservoir gets a little low. That happens more often with the chids on the seedling mat...evaporation...good source of humidity BTW!

My orchid that had the root rot doesn't have many long roots so I tend to water sooner with that one. The prime agra seems to dry out from the top down (makes sense I guess ) so I want to make sure that it's getting enough moisture.

Ray says in his info that you really can't over water with s/h so I tend to water when I think it needs it and not worry about over doing it.