Deep Water Culture (with pics)

[Vanda lover]

What about lighting?

[Snerticus]

Originally Posted by Vanda lover

What about lighting?

I normally don't have lighting over my tank because it's in an extremely bright area. However, when I set this up I figured I'd need extra lighting so I set up a CF light about six to eight inches above the Phal.

But what I'd like to know is how long it may take to see distress if the Phal is having problems with this? I know it can vary, but if two weeks goes by and the Phal starts to get new growth and/or I see no stress, can I assume it's okay? Or should I wait longer?

[phearamedusa]

possible option, so you can adjust ph without harming your fish, use the water that you remove and replace every once in a while, instead of actually submerging plant in your tank. If you don't see any signs of distress within a month or two, and you're seeing positive signs (new growth) then its a good bet its happy & healthy.

[Vanda lover]

Originally Posted by phearamedusa

possible option, so you can adjust ph without harming your fish, use the water that you remove and replace every once in a while, instead of actually submerging plant in your tank. If you don't see any signs of distress within a month or two, and you're seeing positive signs (new growth) then its a good bet its happy & healthy.

I think that sounds like a good idea, but there wouldn't be as much fertilzer as there would be in the filter box. But that's easy to fix.

[Snerticus]

Okay, so this is what happened. I tried two things. One with the sorry looking Phal that had nothing to lose due to underwatering. The other two small orchids I have (a mini oncidium and the miltoniopsis) I repotted into net pots and have them basically about 1/2 to 1" under water in the tank, which varies based on how much water evaporates and how much I replace. And another 'Sharry Baby' orchid I had repotted into a larger pot with a 1 1/2 inch tall saucer underneath that gets filled regularly with tank water... kind of like a semi-hydro pot. The repotted plants all have the clay pebbles as the medium. They have shown no signs of stress. The Phal that I put in the filter box, however IS showing stress. It is losing all of it's leaves, which is not a good sign. However, the spike has developed three new buds. The old fower finally fell off just a few days ago, but after the old one fell off the oldest bud bloomed. Now the other two buds are getting fat.

So because of this I have mixed feelings. Theoretically since the leaves are all falling off that's a bad sign, but there are three new buds that were not there when I got it and the spike has grown longer, and the one bud that has flowered points to the fact it has gotten enough nutrients at least to flower. There is only one plump green root in the filter box, the others had rotted. But it still seems to be doing well.

Anybody want to give their opinions? Is it in it's last stages or will new growth start to appear if I cut off the spike? I'm afraid to cut it off, however with new buds and flowers actively forming.

I'm going to take some pics of what I'm talking about and post them in my next post.

Snert

[Snerticus]

Here are the pics:

Whole setup:



Phal leaves:



Phal buds/flower:

[Vanda lover]

The one in the filter box is dying, but the others are looking pretty good. With s/h, I'm not sure what will happen if the media never dries out a little. Normally you would wait until the water was gone before watering again. But then, if deep water culture works, why not this?

[silken]

To me the Phal looks like it's last attempt to propagate itself before it dies. I hope the others do well.

[Snerticus]

Yeah, that's why I chose the Phal to put in the filter box. The poor thing was on it's last legs at Home Depot. I wasn't sure if it was giving it's 'last hurrah' or if it would bounce back. I've been diligently watching to see if any new growth would appear - but unfortunately...

I wish it would have thrown a keiki instead of buds, though.

The two on the top of the fish tank have been there approx a month - almost as long as the Phal - and they seem to be doing pretty well. I tried to play it safe with them by repotting in hydro medium and not totally submerging the roots. I haven't seen any die back yet but the only growth I've seen is on the oncidium on the right - one leaf has appeared on some new growth. I think the 'Sharry Baby' seems to be doing the best, but it's also the newest and hasn't been here quite as long as the others.

Snert

[silken]

Could you remove the Phal and do a sphag and bag or some other attempt at rescue? After all it still has one good root!