Rick
Well-Known Member
BTW is that a qallon or 1/2 gallon milk jug?
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BTW is that a qallon or 1/2 gallon milk jug?
Paphman910
Well-Known Member
3.78 L jugs!
Rick
Well-Known Member
oke:
That's great you're growing roths again Paphman! Looking forward to seeing that stonei in bloom too!
Getting back to the original question, in my experience CHC is great especially for a quick boost to root growth. The main concern is just with initial salt content, which can be helped by soaking with mag etc. Your plants/roots would have shown signs of trouble with that by now. The other concern i have heard is with chlorosis and long-term health of the plants, but i have no evidence one way or the other on that. As for advantages, it can hold water slightly longer than bark in between waterings. You also hear that CHC last longer before you need to repot, but I never found it to last particularly longer than bark...
I used CHC for several years before switching back to bark and grew some awesome roots on paphs.
Getting back to the original question, in my experience CHC is great especially for a quick boost to root growth. The main concern is just with initial salt content, which can be helped by soaking with mag etc. Your plants/roots would have shown signs of trouble with that by now. The other concern i have heard is with chlorosis and long-term health of the plants, but i have no evidence one way or the other on that. As for advantages, it can hold water slightly longer than bark in between waterings. You also hear that CHC last longer before you need to repot, but I never found it to last particularly longer than bark...
I used CHC for several years before switching back to bark and grew some awesome roots on paphs.
O
orchideya
Guest
Thank you everybody for your advices.
I buy chc in bricks from Lee Valley and soak it for several hours constantly changing water until it is not brown anymore. Hope it helps to wash out the salts.
Justin, you are right about roots in chc. I have totally rotted all roots on several paphs at the beginning because of my lack of knowledge, I thought they were going to die, but being in chc they grew new ones very fast.
Paph delenatii recovers after root loss:
I buy chc in bricks from Lee Valley and soak it for several hours constantly changing water until it is not brown anymore. Hope it helps to wash out the salts.
Justin, you are right about roots in chc. I have totally rotted all roots on several paphs at the beginning because of my lack of knowledge, I thought they were going to die, but being in chc they grew new ones very fast.
Paph delenatii recovers after root loss:
E
Eric Muehlbauer
Guest
I have found the CHC salt issues to be an over-rated problem. I follow the Antec guidelines...3 soaks, middle one with CaNO3 and MgSO4. I have never found salt burn a problem, and it is true that paphs show an initial positive response to CHC...in fact, if you are willing to repot every 6 months, go right ahead and stay with it. They would do very well under those circumstances. Aside from paphs, and phrags (and pleurothallids) which hate it even more, CHC is still my medium of choice. Best thing for epiphytes...my Catts, Oncids, Dends, Cyms, and Vandas all love it. If you can't get Orchiata, and are stuck with Rexius, be careful. it breaks down pretty quickly, and a bad batch literally killed off my very best paphs a few years ago, even though my phrags loved it. Can you get Sequoia brand? That's much better.
SlipperFan
Addicted
Interesting how different people have different luck with different media. My Phrags seem quite happy in a mix of CHC/Diatomite/Sponge Roc. Been using it for 4 or 5 years.
ehanes7612
Well-Known Member
i really think root growth has more to do with drainage than type of media..i have had good success with one third bottom styrofaom peanuts and the top two thirds CHC (with oyster shell for some ) and allowing mix to completely break down (about 2.5 to 3 years, after setting back some plants from repotting every year i just let the plants sit..they seem to like it)...i also fertilize very sparingly (which i learned the hard way with my roth seedlings)..but they are recovering now with a low K diet...i only wet the CHC , my source doesnt seem to have any issues with salts
Rick
Well-Known Member
Well wait and see how the knew K-lite feed works with your CHC.
Remember that CaNO3, and MgSO4 are just 4 of the primary major cations and anions that make up 99% of the "salts" that we expose our plants too. Of the other 4, Na, K, HCO3, and Cl, K ends up as the most common, and most influential.
So in the case were you "condition" the CHC to drive out the "salts", you set up an ion exchange system, so each time you fertilize,the CHC gives back the Ca and Mg, and sucks the K back up (we always use sodium free water, so K is all it gets to take). It doesn't take too long with 100+ ppm doses of K in our fertilizer to kick out all the Ca/Mg that was used to condition the CHC in the first place, and before long your CHC is even worse than when it got washed with sea water in Mexico!
Remember that CaNO3, and MgSO4 are just 4 of the primary major cations and anions that make up 99% of the "salts" that we expose our plants too. Of the other 4, Na, K, HCO3, and Cl, K ends up as the most common, and most influential.
So in the case were you "condition" the CHC to drive out the "salts", you set up an ion exchange system, so each time you fertilize,the CHC gives back the Ca and Mg, and sucks the K back up (we always use sodium free water, so K is all it gets to take). It doesn't take too long with 100+ ppm doses of K in our fertilizer to kick out all the Ca/Mg that was used to condition the CHC in the first place, and before long your CHC is even worse than when it got washed with sea water in Mexico!
O
orchideya
Guest
There will be show in Montreal in March, I will try to make it there and see if there will be any supplies for sale. Here in stores we only have Shultz mix. I will look for Sequoia brand or maybe there will be some pre-mixed substrat for paphs. If not - I will stay with chc and repot often.
I have one and only phrag - Phragmipedium pearcei and it grows fine in Shultz bark mix, although I need to water it quite often to keep it moist. The top part dries out especially fast.
I don't fetilize because I still didn't choose the ferts for my paphs, we don't have much choice here and I am afraid to do more harm with the wrong stuff.
Would 20-20-20 general purpose fert be OK? I get it from the earlier post that 1/4 tsp for 4L would be the concentration, right?
I have one and only phrag - Phragmipedium pearcei and it grows fine in Shultz bark mix, although I need to water it quite often to keep it moist. The top part dries out especially fast.
I don't fetilize because I still didn't choose the ferts for my paphs, we don't have much choice here and I am afraid to do more harm with the wrong stuff.
Would 20-20-20 general purpose fert be OK? I get it from the earlier post that 1/4 tsp for 4L would be the concentration, right?
SlipperFan
Addicted
My CHC does not come from Mexico.
Yes that is correct.
You are going to need to fertilize your paphs. If you are using rainwater, suggest mixing in tapwater when you fertilize. Just go easy and alternate with pure water and you will be fine.
Rick
Well-Known Member
Actually mine comes from Roberts, which I think is Sri Lanka in origin.
If it wasn't for the freshwater washes of this source it would be ocean salty like the Mexican stuff.
But since coconut is essentially a coastal product, it normally is full of salt when raw.
SlipperFan
Addicted
Mine is from Sri Lanka. I get it though the Kinsman Company in compressed brick form. I still rinse it 3 x, but I truly have not had any problems with it.
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