going S/H

[kavanaru]

Well, I think I just started with this... and as I am also quite compulsive sometimes, I have changed 11 plants to S/H today... let's see how they react... I took my time reading different forums in internet, requesting some advice from Ray (THANKS!!) and thinking about it twice and once again... so finally I went for it...

Rescue chids (dehydrated and no roots!):

Cattleya mosiae 'Vigirima' (in plastic bag for rooting)
Cattleya loddigesii (in plastic bag for rooting)
Psychopsis Kalihi 'Big' (had some new roots, so let's see)

Other chids (all rooting like crazy):

Hexisea bidentata (not sure if it will be happy here, but was not happy in the old medium anyway..)
Epicattleya Siam Jade
Lc. Loog Tone 'African Beauty'
Laelia purpurata var. russeliana´oculata´ x schroederae
Cattleya Mrs. Mahler x Rhyncholaelia digbyana
Blc. Ports of Paradise 'Green Ching Hwa'
Blc. Chia Lin 'P.C.T.'
Epidendrum? NOID (two keikis that friends brought for me today - acc. to their description, it should be something like Epidendrum radicans, but most probably a hybrid... They could not even agree which colour the flowers had 5 months ago It will be the surprise to wait for )

On purpose I did not buy enough LECA, so the other chids will need to wait for their turn (comming soon as they are ready for the change) I am planing to change all my plant to S/H but the Tolumnias, the Aerangis (these are mounted on clay pots that are constantly filled with water and are doing quite good so far), Vanda 'Blue Magic' and Rhynchostillis gigantea 'alba' (I have read it can do it quite good in S/H but am not very convinced - Furthermore it has a HUGE root that would force me either to cut it or place the "little" chid in a 8.5'' pot, which would probably work fine, but would look ridiculous and deserve to much space)

[Ray]

I always advise that folks DO NOT do a wholesale change-over. It's just too risky when you don't have experience with the new methodology, and the likelihood of having all of your plants "ready" at once is nil.

[kavanaru]

Originally Posted by Ray

I always advise that folks DO NOT do a wholesale change-over. It's just too risky when you don't have experience with the new methodology, and the likelihood of having all of your plants "ready" at once is nil.

Hi Ray, thanks for the advice. As I mentioned, I have been thinking and re-thinking the whole step in advance, trying to get as much info as possible before going for it. I did not wanted to change all plants at once, and that's why I did not buy enough LECA for them (still have around 50 plants waiting for their turn). From the plants I moved to S/H 3 of them were needing to be repotted urgently and rooted urgently urgently, so I followed your advice of using S/H-and-bag, instead of sphag-and-bag

The others that I moved had started shooting roots like crazy, so I decided to give them a try now. All other plants in the collection need to wait for their turn...

[irrka]

On the same note, any suggestions where i could get a SMALL amount of hydroton? everywhere i look sells it in huge quantities and i was just thinking of trying one plant first!!

[kavanaru]

Hi Irrka,

If you check Ray's website, you will find he sells a starter Kit, which I think is a very good option... I thought of it first, but it was not worthy for me as I would have needed to import it to Switzerland.

…and BTW, all my plants are doing pretty good in S/H so far... except for C. mosiae and loddigesii, which were rescue plants and are still struggling to produce new roots... Psychopsis is obviously enjoying this change and getting happier...

[kavanaru]

After one month in S/H, here the first update of my "project":

Originally Posted by kavanaru

Rescue chids (dehydrated and no roots!):

Cattleya mosiae 'Vigirima' (in plastic bag for rooting)
Cattleya loddigesii (in plastic bag for rooting)
Psychopsis Kalihi 'Big' (had some new roots, so let's see)

the rescue plants are still struggling, however at different rates. C. mosiae is in steady state and no changes since in the bag. C.loddigesii has started rooting, however the plant is still a bit weak and the roots are not too strong, so, it stays in the bag. Psychopsis Kalihi, it just loves it and started rooting and growing (there is a sprout that look like a spike, but I am not sure) It already left the bag...

Originally Posted by kavanaru

Other chids (all rooting like crazy):

Hexisea bidentata (not sure if it will be happy here, but was not happy in the old medium anyway..)
Epicattleya Siam Jade
Lc. Loog Tone 'African Beauty'
Laelia purpurata var. russeliana´oculata´ x schroederae
Cattleya Mrs. Mahler x Rhyncholaelia digbyana
Blc. Ports of Paradise 'Green Ching Hwa'
Blc. Chia Lin 'P.C.T.'
Epidendrum? NOID

From these other plants most of them are doing very good, both rooting and growing. Especially Laelia purpurata. This is doing just GREAT!

The only exception is Hexisea bidentata, which did not like S/H. It was a try, even if I knew that this plant does not like being too wet... it prefers being on the dry side... it has been tranferred to pine bark.
...and unfortunatelly, my Cattleya Mrs. Mahler x Rhyncholaelia digbyana is not anymore a part of my collection I was showing my plants to the new cleaning lady and giving instruction not clean the place where they are. And ZAS! it happens... she had it in her hand watching the culture medium (interested on it for her Phalaenopsis) and let the plant fall into the cleaning bucket... I took the plant out of the pot and washed it thoroughly, but at the very end it did not like it and I could not rescue it...