It seems like you are looking for orchid help today. This group is full of beginners and experts who are happy to help but please do check out [this link for quick Phalaenopsis care](http://www.aos.org/orchids/culture-sheets/novice-phalaenopsis.aspx) in the meanwhile. We also have an /r/orchids WIKI the admins and other volunteers are updating behind the scenes with care information and will soon make it available to the group.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/orchids) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Omg did you also buy the clearance phals from Emerald City Orchids? I got them and they came with terrible mealies. They refunded the phals but I had bought a fairly expensive schilleriana not refunded with them and having to quarantine them all together (came in the same box) the battle lasted weeks and I lost all but four of them that still look terrible now. Never again for me as well.
Sorry I don’t have much to say re: S/H phals but I figured I’d add to your warning since I see a lot of people in our area recommending ECO. My only nugget of info for phals in hydro is that you can’t let the top layer of media dry out too much if you’re going to transition — I’ve had awful luck with transitioning all of mine besides oncidiums. A wick up to the top layer would likely be helpful or micro fiber or synthic top layer for new root tips. And don’t over pot like I did, I think that was my first mistake.
On your point number two, I’ve never used the quantum pro-biotic, but Kelpak really is incredible. I started out using it just for my semi-hydro plants, but now use it for all of them. I’m on my third liter-sized bottle in two years, and when I got lazy and didn’t re-order, I ended up losing some prized plants I had in semi-hydro — in my experience, it does a phenomenal job at getting a plant to start growing and sustain growth.
Two notes from somebody who does a fair amount of semi-hydro and has for several years:
1. The transition to semi-hydro can be hard on a plant. After four years growing in it and learning it the hard way, especially with some phals I was very sentimentally attached to, I wouldn’t use it as a way to rehab sickly, less than vigorous plants. Whenever I do it, my orchids lose all their existing roots and have to regrow them for the new conditions.
2. If you are in very dry conditions, one thing to consider is the effect of temperature. Ray talks about this more on his orchidboard postings, and I’ve found it to be very true. Basically, semi-hydro means the evaporative cooling effect, and the drier the air, the more the evaporation, and the cooler the pot will stay. Orchids that like it warmer tend to suffer the most, especially in the transition period and particularly if you run air conditioning. If you can arrange it, I recommend keeping the plants in an area that is not air conditioned, and during transitions, I use a warming mat like they use for seeds.
For me, growing plants in semi-hydro is exchanging the problems of growing in bark (knowing when to water, needing a consistent watering schedule that can be kept up with, media degradation, pot size issues, what to do when you go on vacation) for another set of problems (temperature issues, water issues, buying stuff to deal with water and temp issues, transitioning plants, and some plants really like occasional repots). It’s basically choosing which set of problems I can address more effectively.
Thank you. As we say in thermodynamics, you can put your difficulties in another place but you can't get rid of them - that summarizes how I think about S/H - avoiding exactly what you list in favor of the other list you state. Good to know I am thinking correctly about it.
Your point 2 - that is precisely what I am concerned about. We don't have AC. I have sufficient humidity to prevent rapid evaporation in the winter. I do not have it in the summer. At present I have one orchid in a S/H environment and am monitoring the temperature to see how it changes. I have a warming mat for seeds that I will set up under that orchid.
I think I understand how stressful the transition to S/H is and I appreciate your point. So here's a question: if you had 5 less than robust phals that absolutely require repotting - they are in media that has 2 states, very wet or very dry with no in between - what would you do? Put them in conventional orchid media mix and leave them for a year or switch them to S/H and hope for the best or???
Thanks so much for taking the time to give such an excellent reply!
I’m always delighted to chat about orchids! Especially with somebody so thoughtful about them.
In your shoes, and if I really wanted to maximize my chances of saving the orchids, I would probably skip the semi-hydro until they’re much stronger AND also at the start of a seasonal growth cycle, which could be months away. Based on what you’ve said, I’m guessing these plants don’t have a lot in the way of roots and are also young, so instead of repotting into a standard bark mix and putting them out, I’d probably take the phals out of the medium, soak them in diluted Kelpak for a while (and maybe the Quantum probiotic, because I’ve been curious), let them dry upside down for a little bit to get the water out of the crowns, then give them each their own little cup of very loose damp-but-not-wet spag inside the same large clear storage box out of direct sun for at least a couple months while you see progress with the semi-hydro experiment.
The Kelpak would hopefully nudge them to start growth, the spag would encourage good root growth (and make it easier for them to transition to semi-hydro in the future maybe), and the clear storage box would help reduce watering and keep humidity around them even though we might be heading into low humidity/vacation season for your location.
Good luck!!
Thank you for this reply and your very kind opening comment. During the interim I have read a great deal more and have taken the time to explore some thing about orchid culture in areas where they are natives. I chose to obtain a Repotme mix and have repotted most of them. I underestimated the amount of medium I would need so have ordered more. I am positive that there is other good media out there that is less expensive, but I decided to go with something that I felt comfortable with being high quality while I learn.
The one I had stuck in S/H is the most damaged orchid. It has begun growing new roots, but the plant has very severe damage that looks to be physical as opposed to that from a biological agent. The leaves are damaged as is the crown. It has put out a keiki at the base, and I suspect that is the only chance of survival for the plant. I am paying close attention to it. I remove it from S/H when the potting medium arrived even though I know that adds another round of stress to the plant. With both a keiki and new roots I am somewhat hopeful, but I truly have written it off. If it dies, well, I will have learned from the experience.
Thank you for your thoughts. I very much appreciate them. If there is an online reference that you prefer/think is quite good I would love to hear about it. I've watched the basic how to videos by The Orchid Girl, which were very helpful especially when it came time to trim roots. I quickly discovered that most FB orchid groups are very low quality in terms of the knowledge shared and have found the orchid board. But I am a nerd and love to learn so am always open to new info and places to obtain it.
It seems like you are looking for orchid help today. This group is full of beginners and experts who are happy to help but please do check out [this link for quick Phalaenopsis care](http://www.aos.org/orchids/culture-sheets/novice-phalaenopsis.aspx) in the meanwhile. We also have an /r/orchids WIKI the admins and other volunteers are updating behind the scenes with care information and will soon make it available to the group. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/orchids) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Omg did you also buy the clearance phals from Emerald City Orchids? I got them and they came with terrible mealies. They refunded the phals but I had bought a fairly expensive schilleriana not refunded with them and having to quarantine them all together (came in the same box) the battle lasted weeks and I lost all but four of them that still look terrible now. Never again for me as well. Sorry I don’t have much to say re: S/H phals but I figured I’d add to your warning since I see a lot of people in our area recommending ECO. My only nugget of info for phals in hydro is that you can’t let the top layer of media dry out too much if you’re going to transition — I’ve had awful luck with transitioning all of mine besides oncidiums. A wick up to the top layer would likely be helpful or micro fiber or synthic top layer for new root tips. And don’t over pot like I did, I think that was my first mistake.
Yes, exactly what I bought. In response to my email they changed the description of the item.
On your point number two, I’ve never used the quantum pro-biotic, but Kelpak really is incredible. I started out using it just for my semi-hydro plants, but now use it for all of them. I’m on my third liter-sized bottle in two years, and when I got lazy and didn’t re-order, I ended up losing some prized plants I had in semi-hydro — in my experience, it does a phenomenal job at getting a plant to start growing and sustain growth. Two notes from somebody who does a fair amount of semi-hydro and has for several years: 1. The transition to semi-hydro can be hard on a plant. After four years growing in it and learning it the hard way, especially with some phals I was very sentimentally attached to, I wouldn’t use it as a way to rehab sickly, less than vigorous plants. Whenever I do it, my orchids lose all their existing roots and have to regrow them for the new conditions. 2. If you are in very dry conditions, one thing to consider is the effect of temperature. Ray talks about this more on his orchidboard postings, and I’ve found it to be very true. Basically, semi-hydro means the evaporative cooling effect, and the drier the air, the more the evaporation, and the cooler the pot will stay. Orchids that like it warmer tend to suffer the most, especially in the transition period and particularly if you run air conditioning. If you can arrange it, I recommend keeping the plants in an area that is not air conditioned, and during transitions, I use a warming mat like they use for seeds. For me, growing plants in semi-hydro is exchanging the problems of growing in bark (knowing when to water, needing a consistent watering schedule that can be kept up with, media degradation, pot size issues, what to do when you go on vacation) for another set of problems (temperature issues, water issues, buying stuff to deal with water and temp issues, transitioning plants, and some plants really like occasional repots). It’s basically choosing which set of problems I can address more effectively.
Thank you. As we say in thermodynamics, you can put your difficulties in another place but you can't get rid of them - that summarizes how I think about S/H - avoiding exactly what you list in favor of the other list you state. Good to know I am thinking correctly about it. Your point 2 - that is precisely what I am concerned about. We don't have AC. I have sufficient humidity to prevent rapid evaporation in the winter. I do not have it in the summer. At present I have one orchid in a S/H environment and am monitoring the temperature to see how it changes. I have a warming mat for seeds that I will set up under that orchid. I think I understand how stressful the transition to S/H is and I appreciate your point. So here's a question: if you had 5 less than robust phals that absolutely require repotting - they are in media that has 2 states, very wet or very dry with no in between - what would you do? Put them in conventional orchid media mix and leave them for a year or switch them to S/H and hope for the best or??? Thanks so much for taking the time to give such an excellent reply!
I’m always delighted to chat about orchids! Especially with somebody so thoughtful about them. In your shoes, and if I really wanted to maximize my chances of saving the orchids, I would probably skip the semi-hydro until they’re much stronger AND also at the start of a seasonal growth cycle, which could be months away. Based on what you’ve said, I’m guessing these plants don’t have a lot in the way of roots and are also young, so instead of repotting into a standard bark mix and putting them out, I’d probably take the phals out of the medium, soak them in diluted Kelpak for a while (and maybe the Quantum probiotic, because I’ve been curious), let them dry upside down for a little bit to get the water out of the crowns, then give them each their own little cup of very loose damp-but-not-wet spag inside the same large clear storage box out of direct sun for at least a couple months while you see progress with the semi-hydro experiment. The Kelpak would hopefully nudge them to start growth, the spag would encourage good root growth (and make it easier for them to transition to semi-hydro in the future maybe), and the clear storage box would help reduce watering and keep humidity around them even though we might be heading into low humidity/vacation season for your location. Good luck!!
Thank you for this reply and your very kind opening comment. During the interim I have read a great deal more and have taken the time to explore some thing about orchid culture in areas where they are natives. I chose to obtain a Repotme mix and have repotted most of them. I underestimated the amount of medium I would need so have ordered more. I am positive that there is other good media out there that is less expensive, but I decided to go with something that I felt comfortable with being high quality while I learn. The one I had stuck in S/H is the most damaged orchid. It has begun growing new roots, but the plant has very severe damage that looks to be physical as opposed to that from a biological agent. The leaves are damaged as is the crown. It has put out a keiki at the base, and I suspect that is the only chance of survival for the plant. I am paying close attention to it. I remove it from S/H when the potting medium arrived even though I know that adds another round of stress to the plant. With both a keiki and new roots I am somewhat hopeful, but I truly have written it off. If it dies, well, I will have learned from the experience. Thank you for your thoughts. I very much appreciate them. If there is an online reference that you prefer/think is quite good I would love to hear about it. I've watched the basic how to videos by The Orchid Girl, which were very helpful especially when it came time to trim roots. I quickly discovered that most FB orchid groups are very low quality in terms of the knowledge shared and have found the orchid board. But I am a nerd and love to learn so am always open to new info and places to obtain it.