More than half of my 30 orchids (assorted types) are either
blooming or are setting spike! Every day I check the plants
and I find another one spiking. Even a rescue paph which I
thought would sulk for at least a year if it made it thru the root
rot! Maybe it's just coincidence and the plants were already
poised to bloom or maybe the SH gave that little extra incentive
that they needed. Either way, I'll take it. I certainly don't have
any complaints about SH at this point. :-)

Thanks again, Ray!

I'm watering weekly weakly with Dyna-Gro alternating between
Bloom & Grow. I've skipped the monthly clear water flushes.

Ruth CM

While I really do appreciate the good word, I find it hard to imagine that
your spikes and blooms have anything whatsoever to do with switching to S/H
culture. Seems to me that the chemical changes occurring in the plants to
begin the blooming process happens at least six- to eight weeks before we
see any response.

At least they didn't sustain a "shock" upon repotting.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!
..
"RPM1" wrote in message
...
More than half of my 30 orchids (assorted types) are either
blooming or are setting spike! Every day I check the plants
and I find another one spiking. Even a rescue paph which I
thought would sulk for at least a year if it made it thru the root
rot! Maybe it's just coincidence and the plants were already
poised to bloom or maybe the SH gave that little extra incentive
that they needed. Either way, I'll take it. I certainly don't have
any complaints about SH at this point. :-)

Thanks again, Ray!

I'm watering weekly weakly with Dyna-Gro alternating between
Bloom & Grow. I've skipped the monthly clear water flushes.

Ruth CM

Hi Ruth,
Gosh that is a good ratio of blooming plants.
Curious as to whether you just top up or flush with the fert &
water? I have only one in Semi/Hydro & it is not doing so
well. Wondering if the container is too large?
Also I thought one had to flush with H2o once in a while
to help eliminate the salt build up?
Good growing to you girl!
--
Cheers Wendy

Remove PETERPAN for email reply
"RPM1" wrote in message
...
More than half of my 30 orchids (assorted types) are either
blooming or are setting spike! Every day I check the plants
and I find another one spiking. Even a rescue paph which I
thought would sulk for at least a year if it made it thru the root
rot! Maybe it's just coincidence and the plants were already
poised to bloom or maybe the SH gave that little extra incentive
that they needed. Either way, I'll take it. I certainly don't have
any complaints about SH at this point. :-)

Thanks again, Ray!

I'm watering weekly weakly with Dyna-Gro alternating between
Bloom & Grow. I've skipped the monthly clear water flushes.

Ruth CM

"Ray"
While I really do appreciate the good word, I find it hard to imagine that
your spikes and blooms have anything whatsoever to do with switching to
S/H
culture. Seems to me that the chemical changes occurring in the plants to
begin the blooming process happens at least six- to eight weeks before we
see any response.

At least they didn't sustain a "shock" upon repotting.

The only other thing I can think of is it's been miserable weather
here in the NE. Rain, rain, rain with very high humidity for weeks
and weeks. So much so we were getting set for a hay crisis (we
have horses). Recently, the sun decided to come out. The plants
seemed to just shoot up and out with catching sight of the big, glowing
orb in the sky. Maybe they were all in a holding pattern waiting for
the sun to show up again... ???

Ruth CM

"Ray"
While I really do appreciate the good word, I find it hard to imagine that
your spikes and blooms have anything whatsoever to do with switching to
S/H
culture. Seems to me that the chemical changes occurring in the plants to
begin the blooming process happens at least six- to eight weeks before we
see any response.

At least they didn't sustain a "shock" upon repotting.

The only other thing I can think of is it's been miserable weather
here in the NE. Rain, rain, rain with very high humidity for weeks
and weeks. So much so we were getting set for a hay crisis (we
have horses). Recently, the sun decided to come out. The plants
seemed to just shoot up and out with catching sight of the big, glowing
orb in the sky. Maybe they were all in a holding pattern waiting for
the sun to show up again... ???

Ruth CM

"wendy7"
Hi Ruth,
Gosh that is a good ratio of blooming plants.
Curious as to whether you just top up or flush with the fert &
water?

I now flush completely with the fert & water instead of just carefully
topping up. No more need to flush with water as far as I understand.

Ruth CM

Hi Wendy,

If you potted it with a lot of the old roots in place, you may want to take
it out now and make sure there aren't a bunch of dead roots that are just
sponging water up onto the base of the plant. You should only keep nice
healthy roots when you make the switch to S/H. If the plant was growing
drier previously then a lot of the roots probably wouldn't have liked the
new conditions.

If you made your own container you may need to adjust the spacing between
the base of the plant and the water level so that it's not too wet or too
dry. You don't have to be really exact but it's certainly possible to get
it wrong, I have a couple of times.

Try a few different things in S/H. You might find something you have grows
much better that way, or you may not. S/H is not a cure all but I'm liking
some of the results I'm getting as I switch different things to it.

-danny

"wendy7" wrote in message
news:2VY0d.31606$9Y5.27262@fed1read02...
Hi Ruth,
Gosh that is a good ratio of blooming plants.
Curious as to whether you just top up or flush with the fert &
water? I have only one in Semi/Hydro & it is not doing so
well. Wondering if the container is too large?
Also I thought one had to flush with H2o once in a while
to help eliminate the salt build up?

Hi Wendy,

If you potted it with a lot of the old roots in place, you may want to take
it out now and make sure there aren't a bunch of dead roots that are just
sponging water up onto the base of the plant. You should only keep nice
healthy roots when you make the switch to S/H. If the plant was growing
drier previously then a lot of the roots probably wouldn't have liked the
new conditions.

If you made your own container you may need to adjust the spacing between
the base of the plant and the water level so that it's not too wet or too
dry. You don't have to be really exact but it's certainly possible to get
it wrong, I have a couple of times.

Try a few different things in S/H. You might find something you have grows
much better that way, or you may not. S/H is not a cure all but I'm liking
some of the results I'm getting as I switch different things to it.

-danny

"wendy7" wrote in message
news:2VY0d.31606$9Y5.27262@fed1read02...
Hi Ruth,
Gosh that is a good ratio of blooming plants.
Curious as to whether you just top up or flush with the fert &
water? I have only one in Semi/Hydro & it is not doing so
well. Wondering if the container is too large?
Also I thought one had to flush with H2o once in a while
to help eliminate the salt build up?

Thanks for the info Danny, will check out the roots.

--
Cheers Wendy

Remove PETERPAN for email reply

danny wrote:
Hi Wendy,

If you potted it with a lot of the old roots in place, you may want
to take it out now and make sure there aren't a bunch of dead roots
that are just sponging water up onto the base of the plant. You
should only keep nice healthy roots when you make the switch to S/H.
If the plant was growing drier previously then a lot of the roots
probably wouldn't have liked the new conditions.

If you made your own container you may need to adjust the spacing
between the base of the plant and the water level so that it's not
too wet or too dry. You don't have to be really exact but it's
certainly possible to get it wrong, I have a couple of times.

Try a few different things in S/H. You might find something you have
grows much better that way, or you may not. S/H is not a cure all
but I'm liking some of the results I'm getting as I switch different
things to it.

-danny

"wendy7" wrote in message
news:2VY0d.31606$9Y5.27262@fed1read02...
Hi Ruth,
Gosh that is a good ratio of blooming plants.
Curious as to whether you just top up or flush with the fert &
water? I have only one in Semi/Hydro & it is not doing so
well. Wondering if the container is too large?
Also I thought one had to flush with H2o once in a while
to help eliminate the salt build up?

Wendy, I've had to experiment both with size of pot and size of media
for SH. A good example is Onc. Sharry Baby which almost died after I
swithced to SH, but after potting it down into a smaller SH pot with a
smaller sized media, it is recovering nicely, albeit a year later.



wendy7 wrote:
Hi Ruth,
Gosh that is a good ratio of blooming plants.
Curious as to whether you just top up or flush with the fert &
water? I have only one in Semi/Hydro & it is not doing so
well. Wondering if the container is too large?
Also I thought one had to flush with H2o once in a while
to help eliminate the salt build up?
Good growing to you girl!

Wendy, I've had to experiment both with size of pot and size of media
for SH. A good example is Onc. Sharry Baby which almost died after I
swithced to SH, but after potting it down into a smaller SH pot with a
smaller sized media, it is recovering nicely, albeit a year later.



wendy7 wrote:
Hi Ruth,
Gosh that is a good ratio of blooming plants.
Curious as to whether you just top up or flush with the fert &
water? I have only one in Semi/Hydro & it is not doing so
well. Wondering if the container is too large?
Also I thought one had to flush with H2o once in a while
to help eliminate the salt build up?
Good growing to you girl!

Thanks MG, I think this is what I will do to my one & only.
--
Cheers Wendy

Remove PETERPAN for email reply

mg wrote:
Wendy, I've had to experiment both with size of pot and size of media
for SH. A good example is Onc. Sharry Baby which almost died after I
swithced to SH, but after potting it down into a smaller SH pot with a
smaller sized media, it is recovering nicely, albeit a year later.



wendy7 wrote:
Hi Ruth,
Gosh that is a good ratio of blooming plants.
Curious as to whether you just top up or flush with the fert &
water? I have only one in Semi/Hydro & it is not doing so
well. Wondering if the container is too large?
Also I thought one had to flush with H2o once in a while
to help eliminate the salt build up?
Good growing to you girl!