how much water do u leave in the pot - Orchid Board

daniel · #1 10-02-2011, 01:50 PM

i have been doing s/h for 2 year now
and i have better result by leaving min. water in bottom
of the pot after watering. my hole where 3/4 from the bottom in a 10 inch hight pot and got roots root .so now i drain all the water out since a year now and that work better for me.
can u share with me the way u water?

Eyebabe · #2 10-02-2011, 02:50 PM

I leave the recommended amount of water in the bottom of the pot.
I use the s/h pots from Firstrays and I think the hole are up about 1-2 inches from the bottom of the pot.
There is always a well of water and I usually water before it is empty.

If you are leaving your water wells dry after each watering, I'm not sure you are technically doing s/h.
Many people pot up with Hydroton in regular pots that drain normally and have excellent results.
But the main premise of s/h is that there is constant water in the base that is wicking upward.

daniel · #3 10-02-2011, 09:50 PM

the problem that i see is when the roots grow to bottom of the pot where there is water they rot. i have seen this with phal and den and catt

Wjs2nd · #4 10-02-2011, 11:32 PM

From what I know of, with s/h, your roots are use to all of that water by the time they get down there.

Oscarman · #5 10-03-2011, 02:42 AM

Daniel, I have most of my plants in S/H and there are drainage holes approx 1/2-3/4" from the bottom of the pot.

Have not had problems with root rot, but I do let most of the pots dry out before watering again. Maybe you are keeping your plants too well watered?

Also have some catts in a standard regular clear pot with only LECA and no water reservoir and they are growing really well.

Ray · #6 10-03-2011, 10:00 AM

Good responses above; let me add a few thoughts:

If the rot you're seeing is up in the medium, it simply means that your plants have not grown roots tailored to S/H conditions, and as Eyebabe said, buy draining the reservoir - implying allowing the medium to dry some - they never will.

It's also true that if roots grow into the liquid in the reservoir, they will be tailored for that environment, so should be fine. Planting with the existing roots in the reservoir will suffocate and kill them.

If, on the other hand, you are seeing rot occurring with roots that do grow, by themselves, into the reservoir, I can think of two things that might be happening:

1) Too cold
2) Poisoning - i.e., you're not watering frequently enough or properly, and the chemistry of the liquid in the reservoir has become toxic.

DelawareJim · #7 10-03-2011, 10:16 AM

To add to what Ray says at the end of his post, I found I actually had fewer root problems when I watered more frequently. It seems counter intuitive, but now I try to water my plants every other day and I've gotten much better results.

Cheers.
Jim

daniel · #8 10-03-2011, 05:24 PM

i always flush the pot before watering this is done once a week and i control the ph to 6
all my orchid are growing in my house
my phal grow in a temp of 22c under T8 and catt temp is 27c and my den 27c under T5 HO and usually the roots grow to the bottom of the pot except for the Catt new roots. and with the bottom 2 hole at 3/4 inch from the bottom the water does not evaporated fast enough .so empty most of the water out of the pot after watering but there always the water at the bottom the next day from the dripping, so i leave that there. and I'm talking about also that some new roots do not adapt to water at the bottom. i do not think there is enough air vent to help, the roots to dry fast enough . if the water stay there for 2 week or more. that to long for me.
so u do not think the water level should not be adjusted not to last more than a week to give a chance for the roots to dry out ?

camille1585 · #9 10-03-2011, 05:58 PM

If S/H is done properly, there is supposed to be water in the reservoir nearly all the time. As Ray states above, roots that grow into the water at the bottom are tailored to the water and will not rot by being constantly immersed. (and as long as the pot is flushed regularily).

By letting the reservoir dry out or emptying you are 'encouraging' roots to grow more adapted to air, so when they do get submerged again when you water they are not adapted to it, so rot.

Right now what you are doing is something halfway between S/H and growing in Leca.

daniel · #10 10-03-2011, 09:41 PM

well they do better in this condition for me.

when i get new leave now there are bigger on my phal .and on my Den now and they have roots that are filling the pot this way and are taller also. i am happy that i went to hydro tron but i will not go back to tree bark. and i will not leave as much water in the pot as they say is does not work here for me. i think that higher level of water work maybe better in warmer area than here. hydro tron is colder than tree bark so the roots do not like that chill here . so when the hydro tron is dry it is warmer than wet and i also get to water this way the higher roots at least once a week.