Easiest orchid to transfer to S/H

[lusenok]

For me the "easiest" are phalaenopsis. They barely had any root loss when transferred from bark to semi-hydro. Also consistent moisture benefits them enormously because phals don't have pseudobulbs for water storage. My phals used to add one new leaf per season, now they add two or three.

My 3 cattleyas, on the other hand, lost all the roots and all new growth turned black when I put them in semi-hydro so I freaked out and transferred them back to bark. Now they are recovering after being rootless for 4 months.

[Leadfoot]

Quick update: Both the Phal and Paph were moved to S/H after a soak in a combination of KelpMax and KLM. Since then I've just been using tap water (~220 ppm hardness) to flush the media every other day.

The one good root the Phal had stopped growing, but it just developed a small root nub off the existing root just above the S/H layer -- good news. Its juvenile leaf is also continuing to grow, although it looks a bit misshaped likely due to the stress.

The Paph seems to be doing fine -- I cannot see any new roots but most of the roots aren't visible -- and both the offshoots continue to grow and the larger of the two is just starting to sprout a brand new leaf.

I'll try and snap a few photos when I get a chance.

So far so good....Mike

[Bud]

you are in a zone where orchids will thrive because you have humidity in your atmosphere all year round....now that you have S/H method learned, its even way easier for you now to grow orchids...watering and fertilizer is a constant research for me in my zone....but with S/H method I have grown my vandacious in a better way than have it hanging bareroot

[Leadfoot]

FWIW, these plants live inside in a southeast facing window. RH in the room is between 48 and 60% over the past few months.