I agree Ray. But having said that I've also seen quite a few plants grown
in S/H that have been very wilted... I think the owner doesn't understand
something about the technique - like its OK to water the freaking heck out
of their orchids becasue the holes in the side of the pot don't allow you to
overwater. There's no way to overwater. And I think the flushing action
brings air and fresh water to the roots. Gavino Rotor wrote an article for
teh AOS Bulletin in the 50s standing phals in water (sort of like how phrags
are grown) and the ones with the reservoir grew bigger and better than ones
grown conventionally.

Like I say I'm not sure why I'm not using s/h more. I've gone to using teh
Santa Barbara Orchid Estate method of placing the 4" pot inside a 6" pot and
infilling with gravel (speaking SOLELY of cattleyas here) which their roots
seem to like. All I need to add is the resrevoir and it'd be pseudo-S/H.
The reservoisr would probably make my life easier in terms of keeping the
collection moist, too. (Why am I having such a hard time spelling
reservoir? LOL!)

The paph has been in s/h for many years too with no ill effects. If
anything its doing better. I have a few chinese cyms in s/h too.

K Barrett

"Ray B" wrote in message
news:bPHQj.47$1m3.10@trndny02...
See, Kath? Those are some of the reasons I prefer S/H -

* The medium is consistent and available

* Freshly repotted or in there for 5 years (yes, I've done that), the
conditions are pretty much the same.

* Same is true for just watered and a few days from then.

--

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


"K Barrett" wrote in message
...
SH saved my one and only awarded paph. Having said that I don't grow
much of anything in SH. I'm not sure why. I guess I'm a bark kinda
person. But as bark becomes unavailable I guess I'll have to shift to
something else.

Diana, remember its OK to unpot paphs as Tennis said. If you read Bob
Wellensteins paph pages you'll see that he and Lynn often used to pot and
unpot paphs until the sat right in the pot for them. You'd never do that
to a cattleya for example. (ladyslipper.org, IIRC. might be .com) The
Tonkins used to repot every 6 months in plain straight fine bark, no
additives.

I'd wonder about the salt in the CHC, too. That's why I don't use it
(too lazy to leach it properly) Also new medium is more open and airy
than the old broken down stuff, so routine watering habits might not be
enough for freshly repotted plants. Or maybe the new medium is just
plain too open for them in the first place (too chunky and not fine
enough).

Why did you change potting medium? Can't get it anymore? (Just a
question, I know it sounds challenging when read but I don't mean it that
way.)

K Barrett

"Ray B" wrote in message
news:87FQj.1903$Zs1.1578@trndny07...
Have you considered semi-hydroponics for them?

They were actually the first plants I used when I began experimenting
with the idea, and they seem to thrive.

--

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


"tenman" wrote in message
news:1ZKdnWNMwIMHAo_VnZ2dnUVZ_jSdnZ2d@wideopenwest .com...
Diana Kulaga wrote:
Remember that we grow outside, so it depends on the weather. It's been
dry, so a couple of times a week lately. I don't ever over water. If
anything, I'm stingy that way. But I'm wondering if these guys need a
serious bath to get them going again. They weren't dried out when I
repotted, and the CHC wicks up water quite well. Still....

Diana

Take a representative plant out of pot at once and check the roots. It
won't hurt it and you need to know if the roots are rotting and if so,
overwatering them now will be the kiss of death. Note the moisture
level of the mix. If the roots are good, I would suggest (assuming they
are loosely in the mix rather than tightly packed) they could use some
TLC, including copious watering.

Other thought: has the CHC been soaked to leach out salts? If not, the
salt levels will kill the roots. I don't know if you are used to using
CHC or not.

Other than that, I'm out of ideas.