Growing Phalaenopsis in Water Gel Beads

[Ray]

KS - I absolutely agree that we tend to dismiss stuff that we see as being outside of what we consider to be "normal".

All I can say is..."we had better not!"

[Stray59]

crucifix:
How is your plant doing now? How long has it been out of gel beads now? I hope that it is recovering well and rewards you with abundant blooms!

kultureshock
Exactly how do you grow your phalae' in beads? It sounds like you move it in and out of the beads in order to re-hydrate. Do the roots ever attach to the sides of the container, and if so, doesn't it cause damage to remove the plant entirely? And you talk about the beads shrinking and cracking; I have never used the beads, so is that a sign of dehydration or the beads wearing out?
And does anyone know what the name of the stuff is? Is it the same crystals that you add to the soil to keep it hydrated?

I find this an interesting post, more for what other uses we could find for this than anything else. It could provide better humidity than other materials that don't totally absorb water, so maybe mixed in with other materials in a humidity tray.
I think growing an orchid in this way, in a clear container, would be a great project so that kids (and adults alike) could watch the roots grow and such.

Also, I know that Miltonias like water, as do Masdevallias, but fungus is always an issue. Do you think you could re-hydrate these with fungicide solution perhaps? That along with almost direct air flow may make this feasible - I have a few of both varieties that I could play with - they are not doing that well now, soooo........
I bet that several posts in the Semi-Hydro area would flesh this out a little, because I bet that someone has played with this stuff before!
Thanks for the tidbit to think about -
Steve
Happy New Year!!!

[Vanda lover]

This product is a polymer gel. Sometimes it is sold in dollar stores or craft stores for putting into jars or vases with candles or cut flowers. When I bought mine on ebay, it was a product that doesn't break down as quickly and contains slow release fertilizer. I think it was called Magic soil, or mud. Moisture loving houseplants so well in it, but it needs frequent changing.

[Stray59]

I will have to check this out. Thanks VandaLover for the info - Have a good one!
Steve

[KultureShock]

Originally Posted by Stray59

crucifix:
How is your plant doing now? How long has it been out of gel beads now? I hope that it is recovering well and rewards you with abundant blooms!

kultureshock
Exactly how do you grow your phalae' in beads? It sounds like you move it in and out of the beads in order to re-hydrate. Do the roots ever attach to the sides of the container, and if so, doesn't it cause damage to remove the plant entirely? And you talk about the beads shrinking and cracking; I have never used the beads, so is that a sign of dehydration or the beads wearing out?
And does anyone know what the name of the stuff is? Is it the same crystals that you add to the soil to keep it hydrated?

I find this an interesting post, more for what other uses we could find for this than anything else. It could provide better humidity than other materials that don't totally absorb water, so maybe mixed in with other materials in a humidity tray.
I think growing an orchid in this way, in a clear container, would be a great project so that kids (and adults alike) could watch the roots grow and such.

Also, I know that Miltonias like water, as do Masdevallias, but fungus is always an issue. Do you think you could re-hydrate these with fungicide solution perhaps? That along with almost direct air flow may make this feasible - I have a few of both varieties that I could play with - they are not doing that well now, soooo........
I bet that several posts in the Semi-Hydro area would flesh this out a little, because I bet that someone has played with this stuff before!
Thanks for the tidbit to think about -
Steve
Happy New Year!!!

Hi Steve i generally just hydrate the beads with water that has rooting hormone and fertilizer in it. Then i take a plant that is showing signs of new root growth and repot it into the beads in a smooth clear plastic container with plenty of holes cut into it. Generally i hold the plant up in the pot and pour the beads in around it. eventually the old roots will rot off of the plant but the new roots that grow in do fine in the moist environment and occasionally i get roots that stick to the container but it only occurs around the holes that i cut in the plastic i dont think they are able to get a hold on the smooth surface.When this does happen though i just tip the pot while holding the plant in place and pour out the beads into a metal bowl to be rehydrated and leave the plant in the pot. If some of the beads get stuck in the roots just use a chop stick or something to poke them out. I have tried adding fungicide and it seems to work for the most part but i still got mold in areas that werent in contact with the beads on some plants and ended up giving the plants a drench in copper fungicide anyways but it did effectively stop the beads from getting slimy and wierd after a few weeks.
also the beads will shrink as they dehydrate and the cracking is a sign of age or applying too much pressure to the beads from what ive noticed.

I dont have any experience with Miltonias or Masdevallias so i wouldnt know for sure but i think it sounds like a really cool experiment to try if you have plants to play with

Edit: i forgot to mention the name of the stuff. its usually sold as crystal mud or water crystals,or crystal soil and really any variation of that so far as i can tell. Generally they are made of polyacrylamide but you can get ones that are made of gellan gum and agar as well if you want a more natural product.

[Stray59]

Thanks for the info - interesting stuff! I will let you know when I decide to venture into the gel beads - I will post results .....
Steve

[escualida]

KultureShock, do you have any pictures? I'm interested in seeing what one of your plants looks like in it?

[KultureShock]

Originally Posted by escualida

KultureShock, do you have any pictures? I'm interested in seeing what one of your plants looks like in it?

i can take one for you in a bit i have a couple plants that had root rot that are recovering in the beads and one plant that was transferred a couple months ago the plant i initially had in the culture for two years was given away this summer but you will be able to see the new root growth in the pictures...

[KultureShock]

Hey sorry for the delay here are some pictures of the plants i have in beads right now.
So i know this plant doesn't look very good but in comparison to how it looked when i got it, its doing amazing. All of the leaves were drooping as much as the bottom leaf when i received it and almost all of the roots had dried to a crisp from dehydration, and all the roots that were still alive had turned a light yellow color. so i trimmed off all the old dead roots and gave it a 4 hour soak in a .5% PPM(Plant preservative mixture) solution. I also used the PPM solution to hydrate the beads just to ensure that i dont get bacteria build-up over time. Since being placed in the water beads the leaves have all perked up (except the bottom one) and new green roots have begun growing down into the beads. You can't really see it in the photo's but some of the old roots have started branching as well and it seems to be adapting well to its new home .(i said earlier that normally my old roots rot off and dont branch but this time around the old roots are continuing to grow in the new environment, the only thing i did differently this time was to soak the old roots in plant preservative mixture and hydrate the beads with it. obviously they could all still succumb to rot but i'm going to do some more experimenting and see if PPM can prevent that. If it does the plant should adapt much more quickly in theory... on top of plant preservative mixture i supplemented the beads with 1ppm indole butyric acid, 1.5ml/L kelp spray, and 1 drop\L of liquid houseplant fertilizer.




Here is one of recent recoveries, this plant had no roots at all when i got it. the beads were prepared the same way as with the previous orchid, and the plant was soaked for four hours in .5% ppm solution as well. The only thing done differently to this plant was a 5 second submersion in 500ppm paclobutrazol to prevent the leaves from wilting and increase resistance to fungal and bacterial disease. (the dose i used is extremely high and i dont recommend you use the same dose on your plants as it will greatly slow down the rate of growth of your orchid. The only reason i used such a high dose was because the plant would probably have started dropping it's leaves otherwise, another orchid i got at the same time that also had no roots lost all of its leaves in the last 3 weeks and the only difference was that it didn't get treated with paclobutrazol, and yes i could have used a lower dose and probably been successful without retarding growth but i just wanted to see what the long term effects of such a high dose might be.)

sorry about the rambling just had alot to say lol






Best regards,
Kevin Disher

P.s. paclobutrazol does not affect bloom date in any dose(at least according to a couple studies i found pertaining to using PBZ to shorten flower stalk length.) so you don't have to worry about the phal not blooming again because of the high dose of paclobutrazol (just thought that might make anyone who was disturbed by my treatment of the plant feel a little better :P lol )

[escualida]

KultureShock thanks for the pics! This is super interesting and it looks like your plants are doing really well