Anyone seen this?

[stefpix]

Actually my problem is it gets really hot here when the heat is blasting. between 80 and 90 F and I have 2 windows so if i leave one cracked open it can cool off a bit.

I wonder if maybe it was bad timing - but anyway only a few succeded in S/H.
I wonder if I should have soaked the hydroton for days or maybe there was too much LECA above the reservoir and tehre was insufficient wicking action.
What works is fillinga small net pot with ut and stick it in the opening in a fitting mason jar filled with water so the bottom of the net pot is submerged.
I get more moist medium and the catt seedling i was given seem to like it

[MT-Phal]

i tried posting this last night but the site suddenly stopped working for me, so...

I plan on doing a half PA and half coconut chip, as there are so few roots right now that I want to avoid having soggy medium wasting away in my pot. I do like the fact that PA is reusable, so I imagine that I'll be using it in some form throughout the years. I wish I could my hands on some moss, but it seems Ray has stopped selling it and I don't trust what is offered on amazon.

Stefpix, what is your fertilizer regimen for coconut chips? I still have a bottle of the MSU I got from Ray, will that be sufficient at 150ppm? And do you use hydrogen peroxide as a deterent for mold?

[stefpix]

I am not sure about fertilizing -
I am not too anal. I used Schultz orchid food that is bloom booster, i use 1/4 spoon per gallon/ weekly as they say, but I just bought the Better-Gro one that is urea free and still has bloom booster formulation.
I am novice, but I get some stuff blooming like Den sulcatum and possibly Den aphyllum [my 2 masdevallias lots of growth but no blooms].

Anyway I would fertilize normally or as Ray says.
I am happy with he coco chips. i do not think they get moldy like bark at all - i left some coco chips in a container with some water and there was no mold neither foul smell. I think coconut is more resistant to decay that wood chips

[Hedge]

Originally Posted by stefpix

I am happy with he coco chips. i do not think they get moldy like bark at all - i left some coco chips in a container with some water and there was no mold neither foul smell. I think coconut is more resistant to decay that wood chips

I agree about coco chips, I have stored it wet in a closed box with no apparent decay for months. There is no smell either.

[stefpix]

since coconuts sometimes float in the ocean for months and still germinate when they hit a beach possibly are very resistant to deacay and do not easily break down in water

[mojomick]

Mt. Phal. I dont think I would mix the chip with the Prime Agra. Unless you are using just as a media instead of SH. The chips usually interfere with the wicking of the PA. I had much your same issues with some of my SH until I realized that if I watered several times per week, it worked fine. When I potted something new into PA, I put it on a seed starting heating pad and they are growing really well. Also, I moved everything into the greenhouse and the catts especially are loving it.

[Ray]

Betty is right about not mixing organic and inorganic media for s/h culture. The CHC will affect the wicking, will result in more dense packing (hence, a less airy root zone), and no matter how long it lasts, it WILL decompose, requiring more frequent repotting and making it more difficult to reuse the PrimeAgra.

Your feeding regimen is independent of potting mix ingredients, as none of them provide any appreciable nutrition to the plants. If they do, it is because they are decomposing and you'll need to repot! Instead, you should base it upon the culture technique and conditions.

In semi-hydro culture, it is appropriate to feed at every watering, filling the pot rapidly to the top so it flushes the medium as it saturates it, and flushes the reservoir, as well. In more traditional culture methods, it is probably better to only feed every other- or 3- out of 4 waterngs, adjusting your fertilizer concentration accordingly.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by stefpix

since coconuts sometimes float in the ocean for months and still germinate when they hit a beach possibly are very resistant to deacay and do not easily break down in water

While I agree that CHC is pretty stable, Stefano, I don't think your example is particularly applicable.

Bacteria and fungi break down the chemicals in organic material. Those in an ocean environment and those in the environment of a pot are likely very different. Maybe the salt water is actually protective?

Secondly, in a floating, ocean-borne coconut, the structure is intact, protecting the internal tissue from attack. Once you have broken the pieces up, all bets are off, as you've now exposed the inner tissues. We'll get infections far more often in cuts than in intact skin.

[MT-Phal]

Thanks for the input, everyone. Though as I mentioned before I am using PA in the bottom half of my pot only so that I don't have a soggy bottom half of media where there are no roots. I'll repot accordingly when the roots grow long enough. And as I also mentioned previously when my phal was in S/H I watered every day, twice a day. It was most likely the cold that did mine in.

[stefpix]

I just wanted to point out that in my condition, urban apt with centralized heat and in NY humidity dropping below 20 % during winter spells coconut chips seem to work best.

Only a few Catts liked Hydroton [ maybe not as good as Prime Agra, or maybe it just did not absorb enough water in some cases], and many plants did not send roots below the surface and those roots dried.
Coco chips dry faster than bark and seem to be more airy.

At the hydroponic store in Queens they also sell coconut fiber as a hydroponic media in different forms.

I saw really many testimonials of great S/H growing but I seem to get way better results and faster growth in coco chips. Yet I have a few small Cattleyas in S/H that seem to be doing OK, especially a Laelia tenebrosa that developed long roots.
Since I am a semi-novice but I wasnt to learn fast I take teh benefit of the doubt.

Just I think what works best with one grower's environment and habits may not be the best for another grower.

regarding the coconut in salt water - I know that it is a different condition, yet it breaks down very little compared to some wood.
And sea water is filled with bacteria. You can get salmonella from eating mussels or if you get bit by a shark in a non threatening way you really need high doses of large spectrum antibiotics as shark's mouths are thriving of bacteria.