First semi-hydro experiment and its progress

[Lani]

Hi again!
sg2100 : yes my tumbler is a nice cheap plastic one and I water when the reservoir is starting to dry up. When I'm watering + fertilizing everyone else my two S/H orchids get a soak too (I put the whole s/h container inside another container that is full of fertilizer water and I leave them sit for a bit). I flush every few weeks or when I remember...

Your little Phals look great in their new homes, I hope they are happy in there and flourish for you. Do remember to take care with water near the crown, I lost a lovely NOID recently from splashing around too much
I'm adding a pic of the reservoir but it looks like tabbyback13 has given a nice explanation already (thanks for the input!). The black tray in the pic is just to collect overflow.

As for the Catt, I haven't got any experience with these fellows in S/H but I would take care of the depth your plant is in the media. I would be afraid of the rhizome rotting if it is covered. I suppose it depends on you climate though (real humid where I am). You might also like the rhizome to be exposed so you can see the new action starting!

Anyway, have fun experimenting and remember to keep us updated!

[Lani]

On a side note...
For another plant I used a different sized glass container and found that the LECA got bogged in the hole making flushing and absolute pain in the ..... Anyway I stuck a tiny chunk of epiweb (hording that for another day) over the hole and no problems anymore

[Edwin Reffell]

One of the phaleonopsis I bought had 4 spikes. After it finished blooming it did not look too good but there were lots of leaves and the spikes were not dry so I did not worry. When the leaves became very limp and began to crinkle I did worry. So I took it out of the pot to examine the roots. To my horror I found the potting mixture to consist of decomposing spaghnum moss, foam rubber bits and only a little bark. The roots were a dirty light brown, soggy and had bits of foam rubber sticking to them. The only roots that could be saved were one or two rather dry air roots. I do not think the plant was getting any water at all. The leaves look dehydrated. I have misted the undersides of them and cut off all the spikes. Semi-hydroponics sounds interesting so I cut 4 or 5 fair-sized holes 2 inches from the bottom of a transparent brittle plastic beaker, filled it with leca which I use as a medium for growing Dracena and citrus plants in as well as for humidity trays. Then I put the Phaleonopsis on the leca, tried to train the air roots into the leca and topped it off with bark to cover the air roots. This is the first time I have heard of semihydroponics. I hope the Phaleonopsis will survive and perk up. As long as it does so I shall be happy no matter how long it takes. Do you think it will? By the way all my experience of spaghnum moss in orchid growing medium so far is disatrous. Every Phaleonopsis that has died for me had spaghnum moss mixed in with the bark. I only water when the roots are silver green, never when they are green and I only water the bark, never the leaves, and let the water all run away before putting it back in its outer pot. if any water gets on the leaf or crown I dry it off with a paper towel immediately.

[Lani]

Wow Edwin 4 spikes, that sounds like a keeper for sure! You do need to be a bit careful moving plants into semi hydro if there are not in good health. The hot tip is to transition plants when they are in active growth (existing roots normally rot but the new roots adapt to the S/H environment). I was a bit reckless with my plant above because it didn't matter if it died.

It might be a good idea to address the dehydration issue a different way before moving over to S/H. I would consider soaking the whole plant in a bucket of water + seaweed solution for an hour or so each day. Empty you plastic beaker of LECA and put your plant in there bare rooted. You can also put some water in the reservoir of you container to aid humidity (any roots would not be in the water, just dangling above). The seaweed solution should hopefully encourage root growth and when you see that happen you can pot up in S/H (just in LECA or lava rock, not bark as it will most likely rot in the pot).

Some people also like to use the 'sphag and bag' method but in my climate I find I need more air movement -my plants just get moldy in the bag.

At the end of the day there are many ways you can bring you plant back to health. What you have already done may just work out fine - as long as your climate isn't too dry ... no roots = no water to plant.

By the way, I'm not a huge fan of growing in sphagnum either. I mainly use it on mounts or chopped up through lava rock and charcoal.

Good luck