I actually think that most of my S/H plants LIKE being a little dry every now and then. I have about 20 Dendrobiums that I haven't watered in over a month so they can go thru their normal Winter dry period. They are still showing active root growth and plenty of green leaves. They do get a light surface misting occasionally.
I do believe that is possibly to "overwater" newly potted S/H plants, especially plants that are weak or stressed to begin with. So, on newly "potted" S/H plants, I only maintain about 1/4" of liquid in the bottom of the pot so the wicking doesn't extend as far up towards the plant. I don't top that off every day, but let it almost completely evaporate. My theory is that this forces the plants to start sending out new roots in search of water. Vandas send out aerial roots all the time - like soda "straws" trying to find water.
I do a light misting once a week with a pressure sprayer. My mix is 1 gallon of charcoal filtered water (not RO), 1/4tsp MSU fertilizer, 1/4 tsp rooting hormone, a few drops of Physan-20 and 1/4 tsp SuperThrive. Anyone else using SuperThrive?
I have about 160 plants in S/H, so once a week I can only do a complete pure water flush of about 1/4 of my plants. That means that each plant is flushed once a month. I know that is probably way below what Ray recommends, but it seems to be working.
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