Phalaenopsis gigantea - long term growing project

[katsucats]

Originally Posted by camille1585

Is that really s/h you are doing if the reservoir level is under the net pot? Do you have some photos of the potting set up? I'm not sure I'm visualizing it correctly from your description.

The net pot has 3 horizontal layers. I fill up to the first layer from the bottom. From there, I let it drain until whenever my next watering is. I've recently begun putting wicks in some of the pots, but not yet for the Phals. I'm an underwaterer and I don't have a daily routine to keep it at exactly the desired water level every morning like Ray prescribes. In my experiments with hybrid Phals, I could keep it alive for months without watering again using this method, or even using semi-hydro with orchid bark. The moisture zone maintains humidity in the media and the bottom half of the LECA doesn't dry out. It's almost as if it's mounted. In my opinion, this is the more resilient semi-hydro 2.0. The only downside is flushing involves taking the net pot out and dumping the reservoir, which isn't that hard, nor do I think is necessary on every watering.

Originally Posted by camille1585

(so more watering because they dry out faster)

Are you saying they're more thirsty and dry out faster, so you top it off more often?

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by katsucats

The net pot has 3 horizontal layers. I fill up to the first layer from the bottom. From there, I let it drain until whenever my next watering is. I've recently begun putting wicks in some of the pots, but not yet for the Phals. I'm an underwaterer and I don't have a daily routine to keep it at exactly the desired water level every morning like Ray prescribes. In my experiments with hybrid Phals, I could keep it alive for months without watering again using this method, or even using semi-hydro with orchid bark. The moisture zone maintains humidity in the media and the bottom half of the LECA doesn't dry out. It's almost as if it's mounted. In my opinion, this is the more resilient semi-hydro 2.0. The only downside is flushing involves taking the net pot out and dumping the reservoir, which isn't that hard, nor do I think is necessary on every watering.

Thanks for the explanation, I understand your system better!

Are you saying they're more thirsty and dry out faster, so you top it off more often?

I am using leca as a medium, but I'm not using it in combination with s/h. The outer pot is a standard plastic pot with drainage holes and there is no reservoir. I water by soaking the pot in a bucket, the same I do for all my other plants potted in bark.