Hey Ray! Container hole distance from the bottom?

[Henry]

Hi Ray,
I want to put a new phal from the grocery store from sphagnum into LECA after it has finished flowering.
This is of course a young, healthy phal in a 9cm / 3.5" container.

What distance from the bottom of this container would you put the hole(s)? It's 3x3x5.5"

I think this container is acrylic and am thinking of using a soldering iron to make one or two holes up to the soldering tip diameter. .23" dia

Or I could drill it…

Or, and you can tell it like it is, find a different container! LOL

[Louis_W]

I'm not Ray but I've been using SH for five years now with great sucess. Here's my take:

Container looks good. I do about 2/3 of the way down. That is a larger reservoir than most others I have seen but I grow in a very dry climate and it works really well for me. I water about once a week and the reservoir is almost dry by then but that hasn't been a problem

However you make the holes try to make sure they have fairly smooth edges. When mine are too rough they tend to clog with algae more easily. I also reccomend largish holes about 1/4". I also put a third one above the water line as a backup if the lower two clog. It doesn't happen a lot but if you don't realize it's happened the plant will die in fairly short order.

[estación seca]

Also don't make the holes too large, nor too far apart - then LECA might fit into the holes and plug them. Ray used to sell pre-drilled plastic containers. The holes were so close it was impossible for LECA to plug both holes.

[Henry]

Good stuff you two!

Currently I've turned on the heater in the shower room for 21-22 C / 70-72 F.
Humidity cruises around 60% and shoots up to 80-90% after showers.

The new light is 3000k and roots are poping out now.

Still looking for a 2100K bulb for pointing horizontally at a spike with new budding flowers for orientation.

[Ray]

For most containers, I put the holes about 1”-1.5” up from the bottom. I’ve been known to make a deeper reservoir on really large pots.

I once made a s/h pot out of a florists’ cooler bucket, 18” diameter x 24” tall. It had a 4”-5” reservoir.

That said, keep in mind that the majority of my experience was in a warm, very humid greenhouse, so there was little evaporation to compete with the wicking, so the distance from the reservoir to the top was less relevant.

[Henry]

Originally Posted by Ray

For most containers, I put the holes about 1”-1.5” up from the bottom...

I assume the LECA would fill the container to the top. I think that's what I see mostly.
So I wonder what a good height would be for a 3.5" wide container like these candidates in the photo?
Kind of a Golden Ratio.

The Phal container is 3.5" H x 3.5" Dia.
The left container is a 3.5" Dia. Japanese Mix plastic container and the top was cut off with a soldering iron.
The right one is a 3.5" square 'lexan' container found at a thrift store. Wish I could find more.

The Pellegrino is my cool watering jug with a carbon fiber tube press fit into the cap.
It's filled with spring water, collected for generations just down the hill and .85 gram/liter of Rain Mix.
ppm N 100, ppm P 10, ppm K 97.
Thanks to Ray's Fertilizer PPM Calculator

Merci

[Ray]

Generally, I prefer that the diameter and height of a container be almost the same. Taller pots work, and may be better for some genera, but there’s a greater distance from the reservoir to the top, making wicking more difficult.

In semi-hydroponics, since there is constant exposure to nutrients, rather than periodic, I think something on the order of 20-25 ppm N is more appropriate if you feed with every watering.

My plants are outdoors in 90+F temps all summer. I water them as often as every day or two, but only feed once a week. I give them the full 100 ppm then.

[Henry]

Originally Posted by Ray

Generally, I prefer that the diameter and height of a container be almost the same.

Thanks Ray!

So I think, when "Phal 2" is done flowering, I'll give it more room from 3.5" Dia to this 4.5" Dia. pot.
The label comes off with nail polish remover.

I'll put two .25" holes close together at 1" from the bottom.
I'll add 2" of LECA and then wrestle the roots and LECA in on top of that.
Hopefully the base of the Phal comes out near the top.

I'm gonna go with fertilizing with each watering based on the weight, appearance of the pot condensation, and the skewer. Thanks for the fertilizer amount tip.
Here in France I get Rain Mix Akerne Orchids - Exquisite Orchid Plants & Supplies

So what do ya think? Am I good to go?

[Ray]

This is said on the assumption that your plants are fully acclimated to S/H culture:

In semi-hydroponics, you do not want drying to be part of your consideration, except for avoiding it. Water every day if you can. No need to vary anything between containers or plants for any reason.