S/H giving up

[floradude]

After trying the S/H method on a variety of species (mostly cats.) for 2+ years I am giving up. With very few exceptions I found that the plant roots were kept too wet and we know what happens with that.

[Corsetière]

Hmm, there must be a huge difference in our growing conditions because pretty much everything I put in S/H has thrived like mad and whatever I put in bark limps along or outright dies. lol.

You just have to do what works for you and hope you do not have to move to new conditions and repot all your orchids again.

[RosieC]

Bear in mind that when starting S/H it is expected that you will get root rot!

This is why you are meant to transfer them when new roots are growing, because the new roots tailor themselves to the wet environment and take over from the older roots which are not tailored to the wet environment and generally rot off.

I find it works best with Oncidium types for me. Phals also like it in the summer, but my conditions are too cold to grow them that way in the winter.

[Pilot]

What Rosie said. Many use sh here and elsewhere to great success. I have some Phals that have grown so large in sh they might as well have gigantea genes in them (even though they don't) and they bloom like they do too.

Sh isn't the easiest sometimes but only because it's usually me messing something up. Seriously, give ray b an email or something or go to first rays orchid and read his site. I bet you'll figure out where things went wrong.


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[WaterWitchin]

Heartily concur with the rest. S/H has saved many an orchid I was torturing to a slow demise. Having become more comfortable with the method, I even tend to break the rules and wack back roots, way back, and start them in S/H regardless of season (but not when I'm enjoying the bloom of a new one). I normally start out with a transplant on a heat mat, regardless of its type, and then watchfully wait. As was said... old roots will rot, new ones should form.

Like Corsetiere, bark and orchids and I are a bad, bad mix. And I do have a bit of trouble with not watering quickly enough in S/H. Being in bark only exacerbates my troubles.

(RosieC... I thought the same regarding phals, but using heat mat in colder months has made a world of difference with mine.)

Of course, having said that, everyone's style of caretaking is different, as is each individual's microclimate. Gotta go with what works for your orchids, AND works for you.

[Joseia]

As a total newb, I tried out S/H about three months after I started to read this board and had to switch back after three to four months because everything was dying. I am convinced that my problems arose from the quality of my tap water - no matter how much I flushed, I kept seeing a large buildup of minerals/salts on the Primeagra, which was instant death to all the new roots that kept trying to grow. The TDS of my tap water can go well into the lower 200s.

I purchased a counter-top RO system from Ray last summer and have been experimenting with the Primeagra and RO water to grow moss with great success - no salt buildup at all this time around. I just divided a catt and put a few bulbs in S/H and we'll see how that goes. If it works out well, then I will try it with some other plants. So many people have such good results with this method, I'm determined to get it working for me in my conditions.

[floradude]

Thanks for the feedback....all worthy comments.

I live in Mexico at an elevation of 5,200 feet. It is a semi arid plateau (most all of central Mexico). Except during our rainy season the humidity is low.
I got into S/H when I decided to not grow in bark any more. For one thing bark as you know it in the USA is a no go here.
I tried coconut husk pieces and the orchids loved it. The problem was it broke down too easily with the resulting root rot. This is when I started on S/H. S/H introduced me to Hydroton. Even though I am leaving S/H it is full speed ahead with hydroton. I am growing all my Cattleya alliance types in 100% hydroton, and slowly converting my Phalenopsis to the same. I like the product and so do the orchids. The dendrobiums have been in red lava rock but Hydroton works also.

[Ray]

Keep in mind that the phals are going to need a LOT of watering if grown in traditional culture using LECA or lava rock. The use of plastic pots can slow the drying of the medium.

[tucker85]

I've had great results with Hydroton on orchids that like to dry out between waterings. I do know some growers who use it for phals and paphs also but it requires frequent watering with plants that prefer to stay moist.

[RosieC]

Joseia you are probably right about water quality, especially as you were seeing salt build up.

I've had that problem and with other brands of Leca which are not as clean as Primeagra you can also get salts leaching from the Leca until it's been washed and washed and re-washed. With pure rain water I was still seeing salt buildup until I realised this. And as you say... the new roots hate it.

I first noticed that Leca I had used before was liked more by the plants than new stuff, and that plants left in new stuff for over 6 months of watering with rain water and very weak fertiliser would suddenly settle in and start liking it. This is when I realised that it needed better washing before use. I understand Primeagra to be much better for that than other makes though, I wish I lived in the USA and could use it.

---------- Post added at 10:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:46 AM ----------

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

RosieC... I thought the same regarding phals, but using heat mat in colder months has made a world of difference with mine.

Yes, that's how I kept them alive the winter I had them in S/H. However I only had a couple of Phals in S/H then, I was looking for a growing method that would work for all 20+ phals and having to provide heat mats to that many on windowledges was not practical so I stopped using it for Phals.

I only use S/H on orchids which can cope with the lower temps now (such as Oncidium types and Phrags).