How often water or flush plants in s/h?

[NYCorchidman]

I am getting tired of spending too much time watering my plants so I've been thinking of trying a few plants on s/h, then eventually all of them if successful.

I thought it was more like sitting plants in water at the bottom and fill that up when dry, which will take roughly about one week, thus reducing the frequency of watering, but I keep reading about this frequent washing of the medium to avoid salt build up and bla bla bla.

If I have to wash the pot so often, then there's no point for me to switch to s/h.

Help me!!!

Also, recommend me some good vendor to buy kits from.

[camille1585]

I run some water through the pot each time I water. As for the supplies, no need to waste money on shipping. Get some large deli containers, drill holes, and fill with leca (which you should be able to find locally)
I'm also trying a modified version of S/H on my Howeara Lava Burst. I have it in a normal pot, that I sit in a dish with an inch of water. Makes for a bigger reservoir, so less watering. Don't know what Ray has to say about that, I'm afraid to know, lol. Seems to be fine judging by how well the plant is doing!

[Ray]

Here's the bottom line:

If you allow ANY medium to dry out between waterings, you accelerate mineral buildup.

If they stay moist, the minerals don't precipitate, or only do so a little, so rewatering flushes them away easily.

Most media do not last well staying constantly wet, so that's why LECA has an advantage.

I invented semi-hydroponics, and sell starter kits, but that may not be the right way for you to go.

[Ray]

Let me add that if you water properly with S/H culture, you are flushing every time you water, so it's no issue.

[Bud]

Every other week I flush the pots on S/H culture for 5 min under the sink with fucet at continuos full throttle displacing some LECA balls out with the over flow....of which I put back into the pot after....if its in a tall container(water wicking is harder) I make sure to spray the surface clay every other day....otherwise I water/fertilizer all my S/H pots every two weeks

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by Bud

Every other week I flush the pots on S/H culture for 5 min under the sink with fucet at continuos full throttle displacing some LECA balls out with the over flow....of which I put back into the pot after....if its in a tall container(water wicking is harder) I make sure to spray the surface clay every other day....otherwise I water/fertilizer all my S/H pots every two weeks

watering every two weeks? Wow~ I would love that! What type of s/h set up are you using??

Running water for 5 min for all the pots (say I switched all my plants to s/h) would be crazy even if I had to do it once every other week. hmmmm

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by camille1585

I run some water through the pot each time I water. As for the supplies, no need to waste money on shipping. Get some large deli containers, drill holes, and fill with leca (which you should be able to find locally)
I'm also trying a modified version of S/H on my Howeara Lava Burst. I have it in a normal pot, that I sit in a dish with an inch of water. Makes for a bigger reservoir, so less watering. Don't know what Ray has to say about that, I'm afraid to know, lol. Seems to be fine judging by how well the plant is doing!

I love to use clear plastic containers found at the Whole Foods Market as a saucer. They fit most of the pots I have. I don't know how to make neat holes. How do you make holes???

Also, when you have your pot sit in water, do you just add more water everytime the bottom one inch reservoir dry out?? I think that would be easy for me to try.

I was thinking of buying a type of kits with inner & outer pot plus water gauge that indicate when to refill the water.

[camille1585]

I don't think you need to run water through that long, and that often, if you don't let the leca get completely dry (= mineral deposits).
For my 2 plants in 'normal' S/H the reservoir is empty in less than a week when it's warm, and i let water run through the pot for maybe 15-20 seconds each time I refill. For the one in the dish I think it could last at least 2 weeks, but I still change the water and flush the pot at the same time as the others. But when I go on vacation for 3 weeks in August I'll put all of them in a large dish of water.

I wouldn't use those hydroponic kits with inner + outer pot, there is no way to flush out the pots.

[DelawareJim]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

I love to use clear plastic containers found at the Whole Foods Market as a saucer. They fit most of the pots I have. I don't know how to make neat holes. How do you make holes???

Also, when you have your pot sit in water, do you just add more water everytime the bottom one inch reservoir dry out?? I think that would be easy for me to try.

I was thinking of buying a type of kits with inner & outer pot plus water gauge that indicate when to refill the water.

I use the hydroponic kits you're referring to for my regular house plants but not for my orchids anymore. The regular houseplants seem to be more tolerant of the mineral accumulation than my orchids.

For my orchids, I use deli containers or Ray's kits and grow S/H. They are much happier now.

Cheers.
Jim

[RosieC]

I do something similar to Camille, although I use the outer cache pots I cover the plastic pots with anyway, and just leave an inch or so of water in the bottom for the S/H ones.

As I understand it, watering for S/H is best done by filling the pot with water, then letting it flow out to the level of the resevoir. As it flows out (the size of holes Ray recommends allow it to flow quite fast) it should carry away the salts, this is why Ray says that if you water 'properly' and don't allow it to dry out you don't need to keep washing out the salts.

I do mine slightly differently, hoping my understanding of the principle is right and it will have the same affect as Ray's method. I fill the outer cache pot and let it soak a couple of minutes, then lift the inner pot out and all the water rushes fast out the inner pot. I then pour away most of the water from the cache pot and leave just enough in the bottom to provide a 1inch (roughly) reservoir. I water again when the top is seeming to be drying too much.

My lecca doesn't 'wick' as well as the stuff Ray sells as that's all that's available here, so I have to water more often than those people using that.

Hopefully I've got the principle right. I didn't get on with pots with holes in the sides like Ray's because most of mine are inside and I found problems with water getting everywhere. The Cache pot method I use seems to work well for me. If I was growing this way in my greenhouse year round I would think Ray's method much much easier as I could then just poor water in and let it drain out onto the floor without having to pick anything up.