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[bambam31]

Greetings all,

A lot of people have posted threads indicating they were starting s/h and others that they were moving other plants to s/h. A lot of them don't have updates as to their outcomes. Tell us how you're doing so we can learn!

Brad

[jrhennek]

I started 10 different orchids in s/h from November 2007 till February 2008. I will be doing more when the time presents itself. A phrag I started in November is growing great, cym from January new roots and new growth, phal looks great with new roots, 1 catt starting to look a little better than when it was potted in Dec other 2 catts, no change from Dec. The phals from 2-10-2008 are growing great, even have a phap that was started in November that has new growth and looks better than when it was in bark. Hope this is a update you are looking for.

Jayme

[bambam31]

Thanks Jayme! Exactly what I was looking for! Anyone else?

Brad

[caseydoll]

Hi Brad! I have a Sharry Baby and 4 phals in s/h. I transplanted my Sharry Baby early last spring and the phals I did last summer. The Sharry Baby took right off even though I knew nothing about s/h at the time and didn't wait for new root growth. Roots were down to the resevoir within a month. My phals are doing okay and all of them have new root growth but mostly at the surface (at least what I can see). A couple sulked a bit but seem to be bouncing back nicely. Only one is still struggling and looks absolutely horrible. But within the last month it started putting out a new leaf and has new roots poking out!

I really like s/h and love the fact that I always know when to water. I'm sure that some of my phals that were struggling was due to my negligence in one way or another. I just moved my whole collection to shelves under lights and they were previously in a couple of east facing windows with little air circulation. So they were more than likely being deprived of good culture. But now I'm a much better orchid mommy! Hope that helped!

[Ocelaris]

I also probably started around nov/dec and my paphs after going through a pouting stage where there was evidently rot, are now taking off well. I lost some a very small species phal, and a masdavelia (which had scale) and a small encyclia is on it's way out (also had scale) but hanging on.

My remaining phal is finally turning the corner and enjoying the S/h immensely, root wise it's growing strong, just waiting for it to make larger leaves.

My mistake was not paying enough attention to the rot that can come with repotting into s/h. I should have used physan when I repotted, and spot checked for mold. But I didn't, and gave up a LOT of roots, and when I finally treated them with thiomyl, it's been a long recuperation. But they are now growing strong.

Small weak plants I would not reccomend for s/h as the change is hard on them. Also I had problems keeping the roots too dry or too wet when there were very small roots which were only an inch deep in the 4-5" tall pots.

These are just my experience so far, maybe others have had better luck with smaller plants. I use RO/Ray's fert every 3 days usually.

[samizook]

So, How do you know when it is time to water/feed with S/H?

[quiltergal]

I started my experiment back in June. I put one Phal and one Slc in S/H. Both were not showing any new root growth at the time of repotting. Both nearly died. The Phal bounced back within a couple of months. It has 2 nice new leaves and loads of new roots. It's not going to bloom this season but I expect to see flowers next season. The Slc looked completely dead for quite a long time. Most people would have thrown it in the trash that's how bad it looked. But since I looked at this as an experiment I let it be and kept watering and fertilizing. It now has new roots and 3 new growths. They are smaller than the original growths but as close to death as it was small growths was probably the best it could do. I did move it to a smaller sized pot and that seemed to help some. I'm looking at moving a Vuyl. to S/H. It is just beginning to show some new root growth. I need to get some Prime Agra ready first.

[Jo Ann]

Originally Posted by bambam31

Greetings all,

A lot of people have posted threads indicating they were starting s/h and others that they were moving other plants to s/h. A lot of them don't have updates as to their outcomes. Tell us how you're doing so we can learn!

Brad

I agree with Brad …how about some pics.. I think it would be nice if you guys could show us beginners how your doing it...

[princessbydezine]

I see you all talk about S/H all the time, what is this? What are the benifits of growing this way?

[kavanaru]

Hi Princess,

S/H (semi-hydroponics) is a culture method developed by Ray. Here in his hp you can have more detailed information: All about Semi-Hydroponics
one of the main benefits I see on this method is that it makes watering your plants "easier" (mean, that you can water as much/less as you want, while keeping some water in the reservoir). Most plants would do fine in it, but everything depends on your other culture conditions, the timing of changing the plant into S/H (CRITICAL!!!!! only to be done during active growth, with very very little exceptions!), and teh specific requirement of the plants (e.g. Tolumnias don't like too much the wet environment; Hexisea has been for me the absolutelly not for the same conditions as Tolumnias - [My very own experience! actually, one of the very few plants I have ever killed, maybe someone else manage to adapt this genus to S/H]); and also the cooling effect of the evaporation.

I have several plants in S/H (different Hybrids and species - Cattleyas, Laelias, Phalaenopsis, Psychopsis, Oncidium, Brassia, Aerangis, Dendrochillum, Paphiopedillum, Epidendrum & Rhynchostylis, and all of them seem to like a lot

now I am testing Masdevallia and Dendrobium in it too, but cannot provide any feedback yet, as the plants have been transferred just 2 weeks ago (all othe plants are in S/H for at leats 3 months).

Since 2 months, I am also trying a "variation of S/H" with a Vanda, which was not doing well in my conditions (I was not that consequent with the watering). For this I alternate layers of LECA and Epiweb in the pot, and after watering I artificially almost empty the water reservoir. The Vanda seem to like it as it has produced lots of new roots in the pot and new leaves too. I cannot see any root/leaves lost yet (I mean of the old roots/leaves, which by now look very very healthy!). Since 3 weeks, it has also started to produce two MEGA THICK roots above the LECA, which are starting to grow into the culture mdium... somehow, I have the feeling they will make the experiment to fail, as it seems they will managed to push the plant out of the pot...