Unnecessary flushing? - Orchid Board

greenpassion · #1 09-29-2013, 11:00 AM

In reading older posts on flushing, it seems I have been creating way too much work for myself. I have 22 orchids in S/H, and I have been flushing (now with RO water) once or twice a week, and finishing each time with a solution of Rays fertilizer made for RO watered plants. This takes me over an hour, and I use around 9 gallons of water. Is it ok to just flush once a month or so, but refresh the reservoir with the MSU water weekly? Thought I had this down, but apparently not.

Another thing I 'caught' was that some of the phals I originally put into S/H were WAY over potted, which causes the plant to have to spend months trying to fill the container with roots. Boy. It never ends does it?

billc · #2 09-29-2013, 12:33 PM

I rarely flush the plants I have in S/H. And when I do I don't feed at that watering. How much MSU are you giving them? At concentrations of 60PPM or less there really is no need to flush the media that often.

Bill

AnonYMouse · #3 09-29-2013, 03:31 PM

I just have a few in SH and flush once a week. I'm trying to slow down/control algae growth.

greenpassion · #4 10-02-2013, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnonYMouse

I just have a few in SH and flush once a week. I'm trying to slow down/control algae growth.

I find that even flushing 2x's a week my algae is really hanging in. I have my orchids in clear glass vases, some in window sill culture, some under lights. I've heard that algae won't hurt them, but it feels like it could smother the roots. When I take them to the sink to flush, I aslo spray a soulution of Physan 20 down into the leca, let that sit a minute, then go ahead and flush with my RO water. I find even the Oxydate from Ray's doesn't get rid of it. Several times I've 'unpotted' the plant, rinsed off the algae and cleaned the containers, and then repotted them. Back to the frequency of flushing issue, since I use only RO water, how necessary is it really to flush out more then once a week?

Bud · #5 10-02-2013, 03:06 PM

I flush once/twice a month or as needed. I get a lot of algae for the warmth loving plants but the cooler culture plants don't even accumulate any....I have a large Mokara that needs to be flushed twice a month not only do I deal with algae but debris and waste ....every 4 months I have to change the clay pellets with fresh ones. I wash the old ones and microwave them to kill anything clinging to the clay. But for the other plants that donr have algae, I deal with them every two years....

*flushing once a week is overkill....read Ray's notes on flushing and religiously follow it.

Leafmite · #6 10-02-2013, 05:39 PM

I flush in the summer...letting the rain do all the work. But, to be honest, I don't grow in semi-hydro but I do use red lava rock for the orchids. All plants, however, need to be flushed. My potted plants all are in need of it by the time I put them outside.

Ray · #7 10-03-2013, 09:58 AM

Flushing and algae growth are unrelated.

Any time you have light + water + nutrition, you WILL have algae growth. It really does nothing to the plants, but if you don't like it, you can either chemically treat to keep it at bay, or block the light.

If you are watering the way I recommend - filling the pot rapidly to the top with dilute fertilizer solution and letting it drain - then you are flushing sufficiently at every watering, and there is no need to do anything additional.

isurus79 · #8 10-03-2013, 01:41 PM

I flush 1-2x per month just because I take some of my s/h orchids to the sink to water. They get flushed with tap water (and water where I'm at is VERY hard and very chlorinated) and then get refilled with ro/di water. These guys are Phrags and are obviously very sensitive to bad water and they take it no problem. If you flush at all, there's no need to flush with expensive water!

greenpassion · #9 10-03-2013, 03:11 PM

Thanks all for your replies. And Ray, it's good to know that I can cut my work in half by combining the flush with the fertilizing. I was pouring close to a gallon of water over each plant, and then filling up to the reservoir with fertilized water. Don't know where I got the notion that I had to first flush out with plain ro water and THEN feed.

AnonYMouse · #10 10-03-2013, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray

Flushing and algae growth are unrelated.

Any time you have light + water + nutrition, you WILL have algae growth. It really does nothing to the plants, but if you don't like it, you can either chemically treat to keep it at bay, or block the light.

If you are watering the way I recommend - filling the pot rapidly to the top with dilute fertilizer solution and letting it drain - then you are flushing sufficiently at every watering, and there is no need to do anything additional.

OK. I don't like algae. I have a couple of side holed pots that grow algae and I like seeing green roots opposed to the blanched looking ones (so no cover ups). I can't leave Physan 20 or bleach solution in the resevoirs, right? So do I soak in the chemicals then rinse thoroughly? Can I leave a stronger solution (say 10%) of H2O2 in the pots?

I'm not seeing any issues with frequent water flushing. I'd do this even without the algae issue. Are there problems that could come up?