Should I use semi-hydro?
 

Hi there. I'm new and I have some questions. First I have some rothschildianum crosses, paph lowii, phrag kovachii, phrag longifolium, phrag humboldtii, and similar ones. I have a problem with root rot, give them to much attention, and have trouble getting the potting medium just right. I bought some leca semi hydro balls and wanted to try some or all of these. Will this work and what can I do to maximize success. Also with these they say to use ro water but I just want to use tap water: will this be fine? Thanks

The bottom line is this: the growing technique and water quality are unrelated.

However, if your water is heavily mineral-laden and your growing atmosphere is insufficiently humid, you will get a great deal of mineral deposition at the top surface. Once it has formed, it is very difficult to remove; flushing is inadequate.

The reason you don’t see that in more-traditional, organic potting materials is because they don’t wick as well as LECA, so the minerals stay lower in the pot.

I’ll make 2 suggest: First, find out the mineral content of your water. Your provider may be able to tell you, and that is sometimes published online, although more often then not it’s health and safety aspects, not mineral content that’s reported. If you have crusty deposits on spigots, I’d recommend a purer source no matter how you grow.

Second, you might consider a LECA/rock wool cubes blend with traditional culture, as you can adjust the mix to the airiness/wetness level that works best. I find that 75% LECA is good in my conditions.

So would this technique be good for these types of orchids? Also if pure water was used could I just use lecca ball because I don't have rock wool?







QUOTE=Ray;999777]The bottom line is this: the growing technique and water quality are unrelated.

However, if your water is heavily mineral-laden and your growing atmosphere is insufficiently humid, you will get a great deal of mineral deposition at the top surface. Once it has formed, it is very difficult to remove; flushing is inadequate.

The reason you don’t see that in more-traditional, organic potting materials is because they don’t wick as well as LECA, so the minerals stay lower in the pot.

I’ll make 2 suggest: First, find out the mineral content of your water. Your provider may be able to tell you, and that is sometimes published online, although more often then not it’s health and safety aspects, not mineral content that’s reported. If you have crusty deposits on spigots, I’d recommend a purer source no matter how you grow.

Second, you might consider a LECA/rock wool cubes blend with traditional culture, as you can adjust the mix to the airiness/wetness level that works best. I find that 75% LECA is good in my conditions.[/QUOTE]

When I was developing the technique, paphs were my first "guinea pigs". They did so well that I was encouraged to try other plants.

I suspect the answer is "yes", but keep in mind that "the plant" does not determine whether S/H is appropriate or not, and one person's success does not mean everyone will be. Your growing conditions determine success with S/H more than anything.

Various growing techniques have different critical features.

With S/H you must have the time available to water before the reservoir goes dry. Ray has pointed out the more often you water plants in S/H, the better they grow.

People who only have time to water once a week might not have success with S/H if the reservoirs go dry between waterings.

I have found that phrags will get brown tips if they do not get pure water which would be rain or RO 7ph, clean no minerals. While Paphs like the calcium magnesium and other minerals. I have had a lot of trouble getting "mottled" leaf paphs (Ho Chi Minh for a specific cross) to take to wet feet. On the other hand the Drurii cross loves to be kept wet. (This is semi-hydro with a reservoir and not a special container.) The phrags can be dunked in water and left with sensible water changes. They seem to love water and I have not had any root rot just putting an inner pot (containing the plant) inside a second cache pot filled with water up to the top. I had the paph Drurii like this for a year at a time.

I would do some more research on the Roth crosses. They are so expensive I would hate to steer you the wrong way. It is much saver to have vary chunky lecca or other stone and have the water flow through on a daily/ every few days basis. [Like water, sit then dump and re-water, or dump and let breath] There is less of a chance rotting the roots. I am getting one in a week or so that I want to try in semi hydroponic, so I am gearing up to do that too.

FWIW, my plants get tap water (true TDS about 125 ppm, 50 ppm is Ca) in summer, along with weekly K-Lite that contributes another 700 ppm TDS, of which about 80-85 ppm is Ca, and I do not see such issues.

I use RO in winter, but again with the same K-Lite additions.

I do think it matters as far as "what is your source?" We have the High Plains Aquifer, deep underground, coming up through rocks. Other people water their plants from other aquifers. I learned that watering some plants like the dendrobium Aberrans, the top of the bulb gets hard water crust on it, while other plants do not. Other than the plant physically ejecting hard water through the pores, I don't know why one would get hard water deposits, while another would not. It may only be cosmetic, but when I change over to RO water on that particular plant, after a few months, the hard water deposits no longer stay on the plant. Similarly the phrags do not seem to have a system where they can eject salts, so instead I get leaf tip browning and dying. Once the plant is given RO/Rain water, the leaf tips no longer die off. Simply individual differences in the plant.

Of course it matters. My point was that "no minerals" seems to be carrying it to extremes.

All plants must get all minerals, including calcium.

If you're tap water leaves deposits, it is likely way too hard, while pure water with 100 ppm N K-Lite has a true TDS of 740 ppm does not appear to be.

If you want to try it, pick two or three of the more inexpensive ones, maybe even one that you see root rot on often, and switch them to semi-hydro. Experiment with them for awhile and see how it works for you. If "giving them too much attention" means you water more often than needed, SH is a good way to solve that issue. You can water every day in SH and not create a problem with overloading with water.

Most folks who grow a lot of paphs and phrags tend to choose RO or rain water when they live somewhere with really hard water. I have super hard water, and use RO. IF you've had these plants for quite awhile and they've been doing fine, putting them into LECA you'll soon find out whether tap water is too hard where you live. You'll start to see white crusty mineral deposits on the LECA.

---------- Post added at 08:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:29 AM ----------

PS Putting your zone location or state into your info like you see on right top of my post is helpful to give some better advice or things you might want to look for depending on where you live. For example, growing in Minnesota vs Oregon vs Florida vs California can help give better advice.