Help with Sphag-n-Bag

[Charles]

It is going to come down to a fine balance of moisture and air. I found that vandas and ascocendas that have been dried for shipping need this kind of help more often. With them, they either get wet or they die. Fungus be damned, without the moisture, they will not recover. The ones without viable roots upon arrival get bagged right away. I have a 50% success with this. I guess, if the plant has been properly defunged, then no fungus will be present in the bag. A plant that has already rotted, needs to be defunged before the bagging. Then, with time and patience, the sphag/bag magic can happen.

[cb977]

Originally Posted by Ray

Even if the top of the bag is fully opened, the RH in the bag will be raised, so don't worry about it.

The fact that you didn't see condensation just means that the RH in the bag isn't as high as the dew point. In your warm home the dew point can be pretty high. Again...don't worry about it.

The growth of mold has absolutely nothing to do with "too much" moisture versus "just some" moisture. ANY moisture at all is enough. Lack of air movement is the primary issue at hand.

ESunGirl, if you're getting rotting of roots that grow into s/h culture, something else is awry, not moisture. Here is a photo (courtesy of Todd Zimmerman) of a reed-stem epidendrum grown in 100% water - no medium whatsoever.


Quite often, temperature is the issue.

This sounds like an experiment to me!!!

Ray, do you think any other genus might do well
in just water (I won't hold you to it...this is about experimenting ) or is the reed-stem the best choice?

[Ray]

Many moons ago, Rod Venger (Venger's Orchids, no longer in business) experimented with what he named "water culture".

He found that while most plants would do OK once acclimated to the conditions, he had to keep the water warm at all times using a horticultural heat mat, and that algae growth was necessary or the water "stunk to high heaven" in no time.