How often water or flush plants in s/h?

[DelawareJim]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

I don't think that is hydroponic since he didn't mention the plant is completely immersed in the solution. He said he leaves one or two inch reservoir at the bottom. sounds like s/h like anyone else is doing except he uses slightly different set up with type of pots involved.

A plant doesn't have to be completely immersed in solution to be hydroponic. The Europeans have been growing houseplants hydroponically for over 25 years in a setup exactly as emmastone describes. Luwasa and Leni are the two largest companies any have a system that looks like this:




As you can see, it is a perforated inner culture pot inside the decorative outer reservoir pot with a water level indicator for an inch or two of nutrient solution.

This style of hydroponics is referred to as "hydroculture" or "hydrokultur" depending which side of the pond you live on. I have several from each company and they are truly hydroponic.

Ray's method technically is hydroculture but I suspect he chooses to call it "Semi-Hydro" mainly to differentiate it from regular hydroculture. Where hydroculture is static or passive because the solution is simply topped-up to the appropriate level, Ray's technique is more active in that you are exchanging the solution each time you top-up and flush the system. He could have just as easily called it "Active-Hydro" instead of "Semi-Hydro".

Cheers.
Jim

[Ray]

Actually, I'd say it was "passive" hydro, considering there are no pumps, ebb and flow, etc. that applies to both the 3-component pots and mine.


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[Findish]

My life with orchids began 3 months ago.
All I think I know comes from reading Orchid Board.

I only have a dozen Phals. All are small NoID. All are in s/h.
Most of my "pots" are cups from Starbucks with the two drain holes placed together about 1" up from the bottom.
When watering, I wrap netting around the base of the plant and over the edge of the cup to contain the hydroton while I tip the cup to drain all the water remaining in the reservoir. Then I remove the netting, nest the cup in one of the same size sans holes and fill to the top with slightly above room temperature RO water containing DynaGro 7-8-6 @ 1.5 tsp/gal.
Following a few minutes' soaking, the cupped Phal is slowly lifted from the outer cup, which catches the draining excess water. I then place the "pot" in a square clear glass vase from the dollar store.
After three months of this. . .nothing has died.

p.s.
To stabilize the plants during the "tipping", I punched holes around the rim of the cup before potting. Then anchored with long twist ties.

[Rivka]

i think it is a misnomer that S/H is less work for the most part. it can be but depends a lot of your set up. what i do think it is is a lot more uniform work, nearly every plant gets the same treatment once it adjusts to the s/H and in that it saves me a lot of time. i also do think that it is easier once you are SH to set things up for the occasional vacation away from them.

[Ray]

You're absolutely correct, Rivka.

"Semi-Hydroponics" only defines the medium and delivery of water and nutrients to the plant. It says NOTHING about the rest of you cultural regimen.

What's nice is that it allows you to avoid paying specific attention to certain plants. Once they're all acclimated, they can be treated the same - based upon the "least common denominator" factor.

[Rivka]

Originally Posted by Ray

What's nice is that it allows you to avoid paying specific attention to certain plants. Once they're all acclimated, they can be treated the same - based upon the "least common denominator" factor.

at the end of the day this is what DOES save you time, its not that you have to water less, its that things like watering or figuring out when you need to become more streamlined.

i also personally am drawn to the "transparency" of the system, literally and figuratively. Most of it is happening is out in the open for you to see, that is of course depending on the pots you use and determination of your algae control.
This is why i choose to use crystal clear pots and basically the main reason to do algae control at all. The other reason for both is an offshoot from this, it's that i also use clear glass "cache pots" when displaying a blooming plant; because well done s/h IMHO is gorgeous to look at!
(its also one reason why i stick with the perfectly round hydroton, despite round media being a PITA to handle)

[karategirl73]

Before the semi hydro I had to use little stickers on the pots, so I would remember which ones I had fertilized, and which ones I did not based on watering schedules. Some needed to be watered sooner than others because of pot sizes. Now I have a regimen where they can all be fertilized and watered at the same time, so it's not necessarily less work for me, but yes much more streamlined.

[katsucats]

Not trying to be the bad role model, but unless the effects of mineral build-up are subtle (which I doubt), I haven't had any problem with it at all. I've often watered my plants by spraying with fertilizer directly on the roots. The roots near the top of the container always dry before the next watering. The only thing I've noticed is that this seems to encourage algae growth (maybe algae takes care of the hardness?), but has no obvious negative effects.

As for S/H being easier, I believe it's a matter of habit. People who have their system down, whatever it is that they're using, will probably spend about the same effort. It depends. While S/H keeps the pot moist from the bottom, some organic medium retains water better. The end result, if done right, is the same regarding watering frequency in my opinion. The real advantage, if there are any, is not having to worry about the media breaking down, and more air to the roots.

[Rivka]

I had nearly zero mineral buildup when I lived in the NW , but when I moved out east the problem was bad from day one, didn't help that the winters here are also dryer air than out west. So I do think water quality does vary this a lot.

[Roger Horman]

I do the following with extremely good results with everything I have tried so far except for some paphs, which need to be watered more often.

My plastic translucent pots are of various sizes but all use the same principles. Thre are two 1/4 to 3/8 inch holes about an inch from the bottom (1 1/2 inch for 10 inch pots, 3/4 inch for 3 inch pots). I use Hydroton since many of the alternatives are just to expensive to purchase around here in the country.

Waterings/fertilizer occur at about weekly intervals, less often in the winter. First I fill the container to the top with plain water and let it drain out to the level of the two holes. About 1/2 hour to an hour later I repeat the process using a weak Cal-Mag Fertilizer solution. This is repeated (about) weekly for three times. The fourth time I use plain water both times. The idea here is to dissolve out most of the salts each time you water and fertilize with the first plain water rinse and to get as much of the salts out as possible the fourth week by doing a double rinse with no fertilizer. For those plants that do not require or which do not tolerate fertilization outside of their active growth period, I taper off the fertilizer to zero.

I have everything from Cattleyas to Phalaenopsis in SH culture and they do very well. Phrags do very well.