Oh no, I missed that one. Never ever ordered any of his fert but meant to
try it? What happened?

--
Cheers Wendy

No Spam Email Address Invalid

K Barrett wrote:
In terms of buffering the roots, or ameliorating the effect of high
(100degree) heat to the roots, there's alot to be said for growing in
sphagnum moss and clay pots and using the effect of evaporation and
cooling the pot to help the roots through summer heat. Alan Koch
grows his mini catts (granted Nancy is talking about standard catts
here - LARGE standard catts) in sphagnum and clay and the roots do
not adhere to the pot. They twist right out of the pot and he just
wraps more moss around the plant and snugs them into a larger clay
pot when transplanting. Jerry Rodder grew many of his plants
(dendrobiums, vandas, cattleyas, paphs) in coir in order to mitigate
the effect of the high (100-114 degree) temps at which he grew his
orchids (I say 'grew' becasue I don't know whether Jerry is still in
the hobby. After his heart was broken by Federal regualtions on
selling Jerry's Grow he sort of stopped coming to shows.) Jerry also
had a fantastic misting system. Both these guys sort of look at
growing orchids like a chemical equation. Light plus temps plus
water plus food = plants and blooms. If you push the heat up then
all other factors have to follow. Which brings us back to whatever
works for you works for you, *G*.
K Barrett

"Ray B" wrote in message
news:kQLmh.8946$Ap5.5741@trnddc04...
I've been growing orchids for 35 years or so, and I still don't know
if I "get it right" sometimes, either!

I'm not sure what you're meaning when you say you want something to
"buffer the roots". A plant in nature has its root system generally
hanging out in the same conditions and exposure as the rest of the
plant. --

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies. Books, Artwork, and lots of Free Info!


"Nancy G." wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm dealing with 2 extremes. The winter has turned out to be better
this year. Heaters keep the minimum at 60 F, the room keeps the
humidity at 65% to 75% humidity. Fans (tower type) are at opposite
ends of the room (roughly 20 ' apart). One is set on a table and
forces air at 5 to 7' level, the other on the floor at between knee
and waist level. It seems to break up the thermal layering and
keep the air movement okay except in the opposite corner behind the
fan. They are on 24 and 7. During the autumn and spring windows
and doors may be openned as light and temperature dictate, but the
fans remain. It's much easier to water when needed. Walk through
and decide. Too cloudy, late,cool, not today. As said before,
hasn't needed much water for any of them, little more for the
paphs, phals, and phrags. The past two summers have been brutal. The orchids were
outside. The catts partially shaded by trees, but the temps were in the
100's. It was also regionally dry, so natural humidity was low
from Missouri norms. I had sprinklers on timers for 2X a day. Early morning,
early evening. Any feeding and spraying was mid
afternoon after the tables were shaded, would override the program
and sprinkle before feeding, about 3 hours before the evening
sprinkler. The sunnier end of the zone would get dry, the shadier
end would stay wet in plastic. The mounts, baskets, and clay pots
(only have 6 in clay now) were in the shady area.

I'm looking for a way to buffer the roots from the elements (mostly
summer). Ammending the mix is no problem. Currently in 4 parts
medium CHC, 1 part #4 perlite, 1 part coarse charcoal. Easy enough
to shift to a 3-2-1 or 2-2-1, or use black lava in the place of
perlite (it isn't much larger) or some other aggregate. I can
perforate the liner and intend on washing it anyway to help loosen
the bonding agent that was used in the manufacture. Right now time
is in my favor. I don't have to commit to all 30 baskets either,
try a few and see how it works.

I've got some phals, phrags, and some other misc in PA S/H. Some
love it, some are so-so, some are going crazy with aerial roots. I
probably haven't gotten it right yet. Should make a list, take
pictures, and ask you. Then again, maybe there is just no good way
under the extremes I'm trying to grow under. Too cold, too hot,
hard water, you name it. Usually I flush with rainwater, last
summer, no rain. Artificial plants and cacti were dieing. The
rainwater collected was used exclusively on Paphs and phrags, and I
still ran out. Carried water from the lake for them in 5 gallon
buckets. When it finally rained, everything perked up
considerably. Cooler, wetter, cleaner. I started in ignorance with orchids 8
years ago. Now I don't know
whether I'm still ignorant, stupid, or crazy. Sometimes in spite
of me they bloom and I do know that I still get a rush when that
happens. I may need to break out some cheese to go with this
w(h)ine. Thanks, Nancy

Ray B wrote:
A few thoughts from me, as well:

Planting in those coco fiber-lined baskets is no issue, except for
the rolly-polly nature of the baskets if used on a bench, as
you've pointed out.
I suggest potting your plants in them, rather than on the outside.
They'll
ultimately get there anyway...

The rest of your comments/questions and both Diana's and Al's
responses all
seem to be related to "air management", and we need to think of the
combination of medium, pot, and water when potting plants up. Water, itself, does
not cause root rot - suffocation does - but it
can lead to clogged air passageways as the medium swells upon
wetting or simply as bridging water droplets between the
particles, which is more of an issue with dense media, whether
that be from the particle sizes used of as it gets
more compact over time.

If CHC/perlite/charcoal in plastic seems to be too suffocating for
the plants' roots, you can do something as simple as watering less
often, switching to clay pots, which dry faster, and/or my
preferred methodology,
follow Diana's lead of modifying the mix so it stays more open and
holds less moisture to begin with. That could be using coarser
particles, fewer
or different components, or in a different set of proportions.

The coco "pot" will be more porous than clay, which is more porous
than plastic, so that's one set of controls you have, but still
think of the overall package of pot + medium + water as the set of
variables to play with.

Oh yeah... Assuming you hang those baskets, rather than setting
them in the
mouth of a large pot to keep them on the bench, you will be
dealing with more air flow around the pot, which again improves
the gas exchange within
the medium, and if they're in the turbulence of circulator fans,
it's even
greater.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies. Books, Artwork, and lots of Free Info!


"Nancy G." wrote in message
ups.com...
Planning the attack on transplanting and dividing. It's been 2
to 3 years for most of them. They were divided into 6" pots,
planted into a
CHC, perlite, and charcoal mix. It's gotten to the point of
moving them up or dividing and staying in the same sized pot.

Has anyone planted in a hanging style wilre basket lined with
coco-mat?
Has it worked for you? Would it be better to plant in them or
mount the plant on the outside? I have one that is growing on a
bare cocoliner. Stupid I know, but it was failing in a regular
plastic pot.
I put it on the cushion before any more roots could die, they
grew to the the thing while waiting to replant in something that
I thought they'd like.

I have 30 of the 12" welded and dipped baskets with mats. They
were on
clearance last fall. I bought them with my larger catts in mind.
That
is almost enough to drop on my most aggressive growers. Now I'm
not sure.

I will have to make some mods to my area due to the larger size. Some will hang,
either tilted or flat, some will go back on the
bench with a
ring under to keep them from rolling. The bottoms are round, not
flat.
Now that's a picture, a bunch of orchids set on little do-nuts or
whoopie cushions so they don't roll around on the bench.

I just thought that the catts that like more drainage or air
around the
roots would benefit. I don't know whether the CHC has stayed a
little
too wet or they don't like plastic, but the roots haven't gotten
and stayed really mongo until they go over the edge of the pots,
or in a couple of cases the pots blew over spilling abut half the
mx. The humidity in my growing area is high, maybe a little too
high. I think I've only really watered in there 3 or 4 times in
2 months. Nothing seems to be shrivelling. Roots are growing
and the new pseudo bulbs are starting, just separating from the
rhizome to about 3" tall. I guess I have about a month to
decide, but want to have the job done in March. Probably will be
time to start feeding by then, if not sooner. Oh well, just a couple of
questions and thoughts.

Nancy