Growing Phalaenopsis in Water Gel Beads

[Crucifx]

Hello everyone! I'm new to the forums and to orchids. Been mainly growing herbs and other flowering plants for about 15 years now but I have zero experience with orchids.

I came across these beautiful plants when I was with my mom looking for pot plants gifts at the nursery but I was kinda grossed out by the look of the roots but the flowers made me buy 2 or them one is a phalaenopsis aphrodite and phalaenopsis schilleriana. I'm new to orchids so I was scared I might overwater them so I looked into the web and found some people growing cattleyas in water gel bead to remove overwatering problems. I decided to give it a go.

Here is what i did:
1. Soaked water gel bead in a a liter of water with a pinch of soluble orchid fertilizer and a drop of rooting hormone.

2. I secured it in place a metal rod with an engineering plastic base for support in a glass bowl.

So far they are doing fine, the flowers are opening and humidity is no problem since I live in the Philippines and I just open the window to my room when I leave for work and I do have an east facing window and my room is bright but no direct sunlight. How do I proceed from here? Do I need to replace the beads or flush them or should I put new water with fertilizer every other watering? Will they even survive in a prolonged moist environment?

Sorry for the questions, since I'm a newbie to orchids. I managed to take some photos of it but I can't seem to post it in the forums something like a URL restriction.

[Zoi2]

Hello and welcome to the OB.
I've not heard of water gel beads so can't really answer your questions. Phals and catts both require air circulation to their roots, are you able to give that in your current pots?
Here is a link that should help in posting pictures.
Tips for posting Photos
Joann

[Crucifx]

Oh hi! Thanks for the tips! Let me see if I can attach some now....

[Wynn Dee13]

I know what those gel beads are and I would not grow orchids in them. Phalaenopsis orchids grow on trees in the wild with their roots exposed to air all the time. Your setup will rot your roots since their isn't much air flow. Some people do grow in water culture but the plant has to grow new roots that are made to live in water. Even then what I understand, water culture isn't good for long term growing.

If I were you I would repot in a well draining pot that just fits the healthy root system and pot it in a bark mix. You can add some chopped sphagnum moss to the mix to add a little more moisture.

In my opinion your plants won't last long in those gel beads with no drainage and no airflow

[Bud]

right, water gel beads are used by florists to preserve the arrangements or centerpiece for a couple more days; and for decorative purposes. It is not used as a media for orchids....some orchids need to be moist but not wet or else they will rot the roots....and some orchids need to dry between waterings. The gel is contantly wet; like immersing the Phalaenopsis in water 24/7.

[RosieC]

I've seen phals sold growing this way but I would agree with the other comments here and not trust it for long term growing, most garden centers (which is where I've seen it) go for looks short term, rather than long term health (they really seem to have Phals aimed at thwarting cut flower throw away market. At least around here.)

[Magnus A]

Originally Posted by Wynn Dee13

Some people do grow in water culture but the plant has to grow new roots that are made to live in water.

the roots of phals adopt to the environment as they grow, They can readopt but it take very long time.

This is what is seen when you transfer a phal to S/H, most old roots often die (to big change) and new starts to grow.

Your experiment, though interesting, is a high risk project and you should prepare to save the plant from those beads.

[Crucifx]

Thank you everybody for the valuable insight! I failed to realize that 24/7 immersion in water can't be done. It is starting to grow new roots at the base of the plant, right now about 1 inch ready to protrude towards the water gel bead. I do have some live sphagmum moss ready just in case everything goes south.

Right now some of the water beads are shrinking exposing more roots, I think I will not water for now for some of the roots to take a rest and breathe. Will it help to gradually ease them into growing into this medium if I let them rest a bit before giving water to expand the beads? Maybe because of the heat here, the gel beads are giving off good humidity as they release water and evaporate, they shrunk about 20% in just 5 days.

[Ray]

Adding to Magnus' comments: Once the orchid grows new roots that are "tailored" to the new environment, they can live successfully until that environment changes (allowing of course for regular tissue senescence). That includes the constantly moist environment of semi-hydroponics and the constantly submerged case of water culture.

Right off the top, there is nothing that says that orchids cannot be grown in those beads. I do have a couple of concerns:

1) Are they of sufficient size that there is good air flow in between them to the roots?

2) Is the chemistry OK? I know they are acrylates, but I do not know about the pH of the environment they provide, nor breakdown products.

[Crucifx]

Just got off the phone with my brother, I was nagging him about air presence for the roots to breathe, he's an engineer so I reckon he knows the stuff. The beads are about 12 millimeter in diameter if saturated with water. He explained to me that it is like stacking marbles, there will always be gaps in between because they are spherical so there will be air in between the beads, the larger they are, the more air will penetrate the gaps so I must take care not to let the beads shrink too much. But as far as active air circulation is concerned he thinks there is air to breathe but will not have sufficient movement to make any significant impact.

I pressed a PH strip into the beads turned out to be slightly acidic: 6.0 maybe because I put a drop of rooting hormone when I put water for them to absorb the first time around.

If the orchid is stressed because of being submerged should the unopened buds drop or turn yellow or will they still open even if the roots are rotting? Right now I had 2 buds open in 4 days the third one getting ready to open in about 2 days time.