Phalaenopsis in water culture

[Des]

Try placing an aquarium aerator into the water for a few hours each day or a few drops of H2O2 for the plants O2 requirements . I grow my Cymbidiums standing in trays of oxygenated water and they grow really well

[OrchidInEveryWindow]

A little fertilizer helps to bloom the algae faster.

I have a large glass container with nothing but algae for "seed stock", that I use to replenish or start new algae in an orchid vase.

[Sun rm.N.E.]

Orchid

Having an clean algae stock is a good idea.
I will certainly try this on my new plants.
When you get a chance could you tell us how long you have had some of your plants in water culture and how much light and fertilizer are they getting? I seem to have much faster algae growth then you show on your pictures and I have not yet added any myself.

[OrchidInEveryWindow]

Most of my orchids have been in water culture only about a month now. I have some in north and south facing windows (no direct sunlight) and many in a west facing window (about three hours of direct sunlight a day).
I try to keep the algae from building up too much by 90% water changes, as I'm concerned about algae smothering the roots if left unchecked.
I supply a weak fertilizer with each water change, less than the recommended amount. Some orchids probably need more fertilizer than others, but I haven't gotten that deep into it yet.

[Sun rm.N.E.]

Orchids

You managed to stir up more interest in passive hydro than I have ever seen. Once I put a Catt. hybrid in a vase on a society show table with 10 perfect blooms and I got one question. I am really interested in your experience. You may have developed an algae clone that is less wild than mine. I agree with Dorothy that algae usually grows on its own but sometimes I first got brown deposit of some kind of bacteria that interfered with algae growth. When I am forced to soak and scrub rotting pseudobulbs with Physan solution first it delays its development.

You might appreciate my surprise in finding this diving Cochleantes spike today. When I changed the solution a few days ago I still thought it was a new growth. I now tend to 74 orchids in passive hydro and I probably did not have my glasses on.
By the way one of the respected Phal gurus reported to use 200ppm N and believes that they love heavy feeding. When I find the reference I will let you know.
Picture of flower added 9/1

[Sun rm.N.E.]

Orchids
This is as close as I can get to a reference about Phal preferences. Ray probably has the original reference. I would certainly give them at least as much as my catts seem to need for optimal growth 100-125ppm N. I aim for the higher number.

Originally Posted by Ray

Aside from "vandas are heavy feeders" and "phrags being wary of high fertilizer concentrations", there's not a lot of guidance that I'm aware of, and actual data is even more sparse.

About the only actual study I've seen was by Dr. Yin-Tung Wang at Texas A&M, who found that about 250 ppm N was about the best for phals in his College Station greenhouse.

We do have to keep in mind that while 250 ppm N was fine there, a windowsill grower in New England will probably damage plants' roots if they fed it at that rate under those conditions.

Once again..... it depends!

[OrchidInEveryWindow]

A Brassia datacosta 'Coos Bay' in an Italian Murano apothecary vase. (How's that for a mouthful!)

It began spiking after being established in water since 7/9/08. Water is low in algae, but the roots are firm and healthy.

I think orchid water culture is beginning to grow in popularity as more enthusiasts learn about it. Quite a few of us have never even heard of it, or believe that it actually works. There is still a lot to learn about this method, though.

I've been thinking about the type or species of algae that would be the most beneficial for orchids to grow in. I'm sure some are better than others. Possibly even using bacteria cultures that increase growth in commercial hydroponics systems. That's my next research project.

So orchid bark sellers, watch out! I predict a run on ebay apothecary vases!

PS: Sun Room, is that spike growing under water?

[Des]

I have so often read in so many books written by so many learned authors that standing your plants in water will cause the roots to rot!! This thread is a real eye opener, to the fact the it is not the water that causes rot ,but spent media !!

[Sun rm.N.E.]

Orchids

Now you are peaking my interest. I want a bacteria, virus, or whatever, that eats all unseen critters that produce black rot, brown rot, orange rot or orchid eating mold, but would settle for what BT does to mosquitos. After all, wishful thinking is free. It shouldn't smell bad either. Sometimes when I am at my computer the scent of algae congures memories of a cottage on the bay which isn't bad and it nudges me to change the solutions.

Nice roots and Murano on your last picture. I agree you need more algae there. It also made me chuckle since I have been forced to take the hammer to some vases so the new growth and roots could be extracted. I have given away my Muranos when I moved to a smaller townhouse and now I am using funky vases from the Salvation Army shop.

Yes the spike on the Cochleantes is a born diver and was heading for the bottom of the container until I tilted the plastic fork. Now we will have to see if it survives the forced birth into air.

[Sun rm.N.E.]

Des

What you heard is similar to my experience; all roots not suited for water will rot in an ugly fashion in water. My current thinking is that if the plant is strong enough, young enough, has good disease resistance, does not currently have diseases I cannot treat, and has some yet unexpressed genetic program to become a mermaid it will eventually produce new roots for water given good enough conditions for that particular orchid.
Some people will accuse me of practicing "tough love" but when I ended up with a dozen+ plants ( on purpose - I adamantly deny being an addict) after the last Philadelphia Orchid Show with unknown cooties crawling and flying out of decaying media at night. I left my orchids on the side walk since I did not want any of these in my house.
I submerged each one in nutrient solution with 1/2 teaspoon KLN/gallon to allow the roots to absorb nutrition and growth regulators before they were traumatized.
After dinner I dumped this solution and placed them in physan solution for about an hour before I started taking them out of their pots. I then proceeded to cut off all roots and rotten material with a new razor blade for each and hosed them clean. Then I treated the really bad rot with Gentian Violet and let them dry and went back to the party again.
Finally they were all transferred to disposable 12-16 ounce cups with nutrient solution. The two pictures of Blc Momilani rainbow show the typical results.
The first is the two month picture showing that some of the old pseudobulbs put out new roots and the new lead is already peaking out of the solution.
The 4 month picture shows that this same new growth is now the same size as the previous growth and has its own healthy root system.