My First SH Experience!

[SP2340]

Hello everyone! I'm proud to say I have finally tried out SH. I did it simply because of the "auto-watering" since my new job and my 9 month old son don't give me much time to take care of them during the weekdays.

I took bits of info I got from the forum and firstrays.com. I Googled "hydroponics Miami" and found a store that sold Hydroton close by and bought this huge bag for $25. The hardest part in my opinion was finding a container. I kept reading about people using plastic bottle and so on... I didn't have any! I went everywhere and finally went to The Container Store, they had some nice ones but very expensive... $4 a pot! I went home and looked online and using my trusy friend again I Googled "32oz clear container" and found an online store that sells restaurant supplies. I bought 25 32oz containers for $6.50!

One problem I had is when soaking the medium it says to mix in Epson Salt and calcium nitrate. I couldn't find calcium nitrate, does anyone know where to get this stuff?

Anyways, I repotted three plants:
Phrag. Mount Fallu
Some Cattleya I got from my Mother-in-law
C. Leopoldii var Alba

I couldn't find any one who had tried a Leopoldii in SH so I'll let you all know in a couple months.

Thanks for looking!

Here's the Phrag:

[Matt]

Congrats on starting with SH. your plant looks beautiful. In no time now itll have a ton of roots and flowers. one question.... why soak in epsom salts??

[SP2340]

Originally Posted by Matt

one question.... why soak in epsom salts??

Thanks Matt!
This is from firstrays.com:

Refill the bucket with clear water, and add about a teaspoon per gallon each of calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate (Epsom Salts). Similar to the process of a water softener, the Ca and Mg ions substitute for the less desirable soluble minerals in the pellets.

...I wasn't able to find calcium nitrate, I'm hoping someone can tell me where to get this stuff.

[quiltergal]

Ray sells it (and pots ). It's under chemicals I think.

[Matt]

Rock on SP. send me the link to the restaurant website you ordered pots from. I like that price.

[khozmo]

Hey all,

I did not want to start a new thread with a similar topic. I am very new to orchids and at the same time SH culture.

I ordered a starter kit from Ray (came super fast thanks). I washed the PA two or three times and then left it soak for about 12-15 hours. 3 teaspoons of KLN in about 1.5 gallons of water. I would like to have let it soak longer but have a 6 month old so time is never on my side.

I re-potted three Phals I purchased from home depot (around mothers day) and one rescue (my mother is the angel of death for orchids). I removed all the sphag moss the came in gave them a good rince to get rid of any pieces hanging around. I snipped off any roots that were dried out or starting to go black. I have no real clue what a bad root looks like but I kept all the ones that were light tan to green and were not mushy or dried out. I used the KLN solution to water the plants.

What I would like to know is if the plants are deep enough in the PA.

[Ray]

Personally, I'd recommend the following:

• pile a bit more medoim in/on those roots
• use bigger pots (I'd go with 6.5" for phals that size).
• do not repot a plant in bloom, unless it's going to die in its current medium.

[khozmo]

Ray thanks for you input.

Going to go and get some media out of the bucket right now and cover those roots up.

How do I know what size pot to use. These orchids were in tiny little two inch pots... I was actually worried I was over potting them but it sounds like I needed to go even bigger.

The only reason I re-potted the flowers while blooming was all the horror stories I had read in various threads about places like home depot and the mass produced flowers they sell. Also all the other beginners out there who had left their plants in sphag moss and and landed up in rescue situation.I did not want to land up with a rootless plant I could not save.

What are some of the side effects I could face now that I have repotted them while blooming. I assume the biggest one would be loosing the flowers?

Also do you know of any galleries on this forum or other threads that show good examples of bad and good roots. I get a little worried when I start hacking away at the roots that "I think" look bad.

If any root has any black on them is that a bad sign? Also what should the root look like at the point that it connects to the actual orchid? I am talking mostly about phals here. I have not even got onto the other plants that I am rescuing. I do not even know what type of orchids they are. When I get around to moving them into SH or if they survive in the wood chips I currently have them in I will post pictures to get some help identifying in them.

All the rescues I have right now are from my mother. She left all the flowerless orchids outside on the root system of a tree fern. They roots from the tree fern grew up into the sphag moss and choked most of the roots right off. Those that were not rotted away.

I have some of the pbulbs (I think they are a combination of cyn's and oncid's) and canes (one possible den) in some zip locks with moist paper towels. I will post those later on to see if I am doing it correctly.

Thanks again to anyone that responds. Ray I am sure you already know this but here goes again. You are a great source of information and give it very freely. Its always great to be on a forum where people are there to help and not berate you when you do something wrong.

[Bird Song Farm]

khozmo
Another OB member and I put together a web page that might be of some help for you.

It is at:
How to pot an Orchid using the Semi-Hydroponic method.

Al

[herf]

can we get a Admin to sticky? How to pot an Orchid using the Semi-Hydroponic method.