So here's the lowdown:
Over the past year I've repotted maybe 20 orchids into SH. These have been a mix of catts, phal, oncidium, alcra, odontocidium, a few other variety I forget.
I've experienced about 75% success rate. I want this to be much higher... I notice on almost all of the new transplants the existing roots are becoming soggy, brown, and have small patches of white fluff.
When I repot, I pre-soak the hydroton in RO water with a little cal mag and superthrive. Then, I fill one of ray's pots or similar 1/3 full of the hydroton, place the plant in, full the rest while tapping the pot etc.
I let the plant rest for a couple days and then fill the container 80% full with RO water + 3/4 tsp MSU orchid fertilizer + 2 drops superthrive per gallon and let drain. The cattleyas, which are repotted from just rocks, I even dump the reservoir after watering so just the moist hydroton remains.
My grow room is about 65 degrees at night and 75ish during the day. The plants are located on a bookshelf against a West window. The ones in SH are sitting on a HydroFarm heatmat to provide underwarmth. I just started using the heatmat a month ago to try and speed up root growth. The top shelf of the bookshelf has a 200W compact fluero which is properly cooled. A desk fan flows directly on all plants all day as well as an oscillating fan 5 feet away. Humidity between 30%-65%.
I also repot everything with new growth only. It seems like it's always a race between rot and root growth. Worse case scenario the plant abandons all new green root tips and everything becomes soggy, etc.
I've saved most of them by cutting everything away, spraying it with organicide, and repotting into sphagnum.
Heres a couple pics. The first one you can see on the top of the bookshelf is where the fluorescent light is located:
Problems with SH- grow room details inside. PLEASE HELP!
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