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Post by lenynero on May 13, 2009 7:51:14 GMT -5
I have recently moved some of my orchids over to Semi-Hydroponics... and I plan to move the lot over the next few months.... has anyone tried growing neps this way??
(SH) Semi-Hydroponic = Take a clear to translucent plastic container make a couple holes about 1 to 1.5 inches from the bottom Fill container about 1 to 2 inches above the holes with Hydrocon (clay balls) Put in plant Bury the plant roots with more Hydrocon (clay balls) Fill container with water watch water leak out till it stops at holes. Add water when needed..
Thats it in a nutshell... oh clean the clayballs really well first to remove salts and such.... anyone think this would work for a Nep?? I am gonna try it this week on one plant and see how it goes.
Leny
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Post by tom on May 13, 2009 8:17:02 GMT -5
i tried to switch my entire orchids collection in SH a few years ago, but since im not the patient kind, i repot them all at the same time so the timing certainly wasnt right for some orchids. I had some losses and some others never really took up in SH so i switched them back, but some did really well and continue to do so. Unfortunatly, i had to repot a lot fo them to 'a more natural media' since i wanted to sell some extra recently and ppl from my local orchids society are afraid of 'exotic/unorthodox media' (plant at $5 wont even sell)
Not surprisingly, the alliances that did well were the ones which enjoyed soil humidity the most: Oncidium alliance (Onc, miltassia), Paph & Phrag, a few phal and Catt did succeed but those who fail died pretty fast (and those who succeed were thriving like never before). I still have my valient Onc. Sharry baby in SH and it continue to flower twice a year with 2 flowers scapes, and a few paph/phrag, but most others have returned to bark/sphag mix
Never tried nep this way but i remember seeing a thread on this (CP listserv perhaps?) about experiment about putting nep, utrics (macro utrics) and perhaps even sundews, but i dont remember the results. If i would try it, i would first test the capacity of my clay pebbles to wick/hold water, since all type of clay pebbles aren't the same this way (hydroton vs leca vs ...) and i would put the water table/drainage holes and nep roots placement nearby since the upper layer of the SH pot are pretty dry, and even close to the water level, i dont think there is pretty much risk of root rot since there is still plenty of pore and oxygen. Shallower pot (500 ml/ 8oz) could be tried also.
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Post by lenynero on May 13, 2009 8:44:29 GMT -5
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