Is lava rock in semi-hydro is good option... - Orchid Board

aparnamane · #1 10-01-2023, 09:04 PM

Hello there,

I have a question regarding lava rock as semi-hydro media, wondering if it is a good option or what are the pros and cons of using lava rock in S/H setup.

Recently I started repotting my orchids in S/H using lava rock as they are available at home and I saw Ninga orchid mention that she is using lava rock in some of her S/H setup. I never thought before to go for S/H but now I feel that's the way as Ray mentioned in one of his posts that how he invented the S/H method.

I have around 60 orchids and now it's been getting hard for me to water every day each and every orchid. I have installed a misting system but the problem with that is if I run it every day the seedlings that are in sphagnum moss get very soggy and if I don't run it every day then other orchids in bark or lava rock suffer from dehydration, so I decided to try S/H setup. I did start with my Phals, first, my rescue phal and she is doing good now putting new roots so I repotted almost all of the phals in S/H and some of my Cats as well, but when I went through some discussions here and found out most of the orchid hobbyist using LECA as a S/H media. I should have checked here before starting Lava as S/H media but still would like to get some info if need to reconsider S/H media.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

estación seca · #2 10-01-2023, 11:50 PM

If you go to the Free Information section of Ray's Web site firstrays.com you can read about pros and cons of various S/H media. In short, lava rock doesn't wick water as well as does LECA.

aparnamane · #3 10-02-2023, 01:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by estación seca

If you go to the Free Information section of Ray's Web site firstrays.com you can read about pros and cons of various S/H media. In short, lava rock doesn't wick water as well as does LECA.

Thank you.

I will check Ray's website.