My experience with s/h

[peeweelovesbooks]

Hello there. I just wanted to share my experiences with s/h.

I started changing my orchids in November 2007 to s/h. The Phals had A LOT of new roots and were looking very healthy, so I decided to give it a shot.

Well, I have to say that I lost most of my collection. I don't know what happened, really. I followed the directions religiously, but they just didn't seem to take well to s/h. I fertilized as per instructions, but the phals just seemed to wither without reason. I really don't know where I went wrong. Anyway, just this week I changed all my phals back to moss.

My oncidiums didn't seem to be too happy either.

I have to admit that my cattleya seems to love s/h. It's super, super healthy and the leaves are ENORMOUS. It also has new growths. Also, the dendrobiums that I have changed over to s/h are really really happy there.

I also tried it on a couple of houseplants and they seem to be happy in s/h as well.

So, I guess my experiment wasn't too successful, unfortunately.

[AHAB]

I'm sure others will have lots of questions...
I will just tell you it works very well for me.
Phals, Phrags, Bulbs, very expensive Paphs, house plants, tropicals, red maple tree, a very long list of plants have been thriving in this media.
I am sorry to hear about your misfortune, but based on my experience, I do not think it was the Prime Agras or S/H's fault.
Best of luck,
AHAB

[Ray]

"Having" new roots and "growing" new roots - the best criterion for knowing when to move into S/H culture - are not the same.

When the root environment changes, the roots must adapt to those conditions. However, once grown the root cells do not substantially change, so you have to rely on new roots to tailor themselves to the environment as they grow.

A plant moved when it is not growing new roots might "languish" for a long time, or crap out quickly, depending upon just how different the old- and new conditions are. If you keep it very warm and in deep shade however, the warmth kicks up the metabolism rate, but low light levels encourages the plant to spend less energy on vegetative growth, which favors root growth, instead.