Who is using seramis? Please share your epxperiences.

[reptilegrrl]

Who is using seramis? I'm just curious to hear about your experiences, either with seramis alone, or a mix.

It seems to me that there is a lot of talk online about seramis but not a lot of people using it, I wish I could hear more experiences. People either love it or hate it. I know I wouldn't pay to have it imported, for example, but I got mine very cheaply so I am using it.

My experience: I put a healthy phal in seramis/leca. The roots promptly rotted.

I have a BRSDM Golden Gamine 'White Knight' in a mix of seramis and leca since late August. It was rootless when I potted it, with one new growth beginning. It has grown at least one root since it was potted, but I'm not sure if it has any others, because they are below the media.

ONC Heaven Scent 'Sweet Baby' is in a mix of seramis and Monto Clay, since late July. It had a few live roots and many new growths when I potted it. took about a month to begin growing roots, but it has been gaining momentum ever since.

I have a NOID phal that was originally potted in Growstones only, but they seemed to be a little too drying for the roots. For a few months I Was watering every few days and the roots were a little stressed. Plus is dropped the two lowest leaves. So I added a sprinkle of seramis and some top-dressing of glass marbles and it's staying moist longer now.

One NOID phal, I pottted in leca-only. The roots desiccated very quickly, I've only had it about 3 weeks and it started out with a large, healthy root population, not those are mostly dead Today I added a sprinke of seramis and some top-dressing, which I hope will fix it. It has a healthy spike with blooms, and new buds growing, and a new leaf growing.

Last I have an oncostele Midnight Miracles 'Masai 'Red" in a mix of seramis and lava rock. I used seramis because this plant is a heavy drinker, and lava rock for more aeration, but the seramis is making me nervous. It's just so small and wet, I worry that it could smother the roots. I have root anxiety! Seramis alone does not leave many voids, if any; it's so small and it compacts together if allowed.

I also have a backbulb in pure seramis.

[voyager]

I had never heard of seramis before seeing your post.
I went and looked at an ad for it.

Here are my thoughts.
It sounds like it's a calcined clay product with a certain degree of porosity designed into it.
There have been a few of these products marketed before. Just how well they are doing after a few years, I don't know. They do seem to disappear with time. Fishing lures catch fishermen not fish.

But, what I think is that pumice rock in an appropriate sizing would do the job just as well, if not better, and probably would be a lot cheaper than a manufactured artificial stone.

I have used pumice rock to tailor potting mixes for orchids with very good results.
If I've missed something, or got something wrong, I am open to correction.

[jcec1]

I use this Seramis Orchid Potting Mix | Plant Food | Westland Garden Health | Westland Garden Health for my collection other than phalaenopsis. I used to use bark, but this was on clearance in a grocery store so I bought a few bags of it. No issues with it, can't really say there are any positives to it compared to bark either.

[reptilegrrl]

Thank you, but I ask for experiences of people who have used it.

[jcec1]

I just realised I had a plant in a clear pot with seramis mix. Compaction or lack of air void does not seem to be an issue, this Cycnodes has rooted throughout the pot, I have a few oncidiums in it too, checked the bottom of the pots and roots are coming through, so they are finding their way through. I have no issue with rotting roots.

[reptilegrrl]

I've never worked with the seramis orchid mix, but it has chunks of bark so I am not surprised it doesn't compact. The granules alone can be smothering.

[jcec1]

Originally Posted by reptilegrrl

I've never worked with the seramis orchid mix, but it has chunks of bark so I am not surprised it doesn't compact. The granules alone can be smothering.

That may be the ideal way to use it, mixed with bark to avoid compaction. The orchids I have in this mix all like to be moist at the roots as well, so it may be worth keeping to these types rather than Cattleya etc. that like to dry out quickly.

[Rothrock42]

On youtube MissOrchidGirl has used seramis quite a bit so you might check out some of those.

Also I would think that the same cautions for semi-hydro would apply. The best time to transfer from one media to another is when the plant is just starting to make new roots. If the change is too drastic, for example the new medium is much wetter or drier than the old, the existing roots are likely to die. This is probably what happened to healthy phal.

[SundayGardener]

I'm a beginner with orchids, and I have the seramis Orchid mix (larger granules with Kiwi bark). I'm using it for a few phals and oncidiums (which also get a little spagh). I started out with the bags of the straight seramis in a much smaller size and could not find a good use for it. It's too small for pots with openings and doesn't leave enough air flow. I do use it in place of pebbles in humidity trays.

I have not developed the knack of knowing how much water and when with seramis. For a beginner, it is not as easy as I hoped. It's easy to overwater, and then if you underwater I believe it can have a drying effect on roots. Overall, I prefer bark with pumice or other chunky materials.

By the way, I did view Miss Orchid Girl's videos while trying seramis but we have different conditions in terms of humidity, temp and light. I also "read" (not fully fluent) some German orchid forums since seramis is a German product, and found mixed reviews...also German Amazon reviews on seramis.

[Ray]

Learn about semi-hydroponics, it might give you some ideas about how inert media can be successfully used.