Helpful list of tips/tricks for noobs?

[merc]

I was hoping to compile some common quick tips and tricks you guys have used in the past that has worked for you. Stuff like:

• things that promote root growth (i.e. seaweed, etc.)
• anti-fungals/anti-bacterials (i.e. cinnamon, etc.)
• anti-bug stuff (i.e. keeping carnivorous plants, etc.)
• medium additives and why you chose to add them (i.e. moss, charcoal, perlite, oyster shells, etc.)
• random stuff that helps you in some way (i.e. bamboo sticks to help tell you pot moisture level)

Also, please include things that you have found do not work for you (i.e. pots with lots of holes because repotting later is a nightmare). Not trying to start any product preference wars, but if you have found something that really helps you please post it. I don't really have any problems I am trying to address, but want to be prepared in case problems do arise.

Thanks in advance!

 

[merc]

Here's one: Go out and buy a thermometer/hygrometer so when people ask what your temp/humidity conditions are like you can intelligently answer.

 

[Linus_Cello]

Dragon’s blood

 

[merc]

oooh thanks for the tip! found this post (https://www.slippertalk.com/threads/what-is-dragons-blood.46379/) that details how to use and examples. i'm on it!

 

[Linus_Cello]

Semi-hydro

 

[abax]

What plants are you growing? Specifically, just orchids and what
genera? Orchiata orchid mix is very good and Ray's low potassium
fertilizer is excellent for orchids.

 

[Ray]

After 45+ years of growing (a paph was the first orchid I ever purchased), I have concluded that THIS is an excellent approach.

 

[shade131]

Good topic. I don’t have nearly the experience or expertise that others on here have, but two things I did recently have been great - moving to transparent containers and using the same media for all my paphs. Bought a bunch of aircones, and while not cheap, being able to see the roots and moisture takes a lot of guess work out of it. Using one mix helps me keep track of when I need to water as they dry out at a similar rate, but there are exceptions.

 

[troy]

Best advice I can give you is listen to bill thoms at bulbophyllums.com he gives speeches at orchid society meetings and shows!!

 

[Tanner. C]

Two things that really helped me where
1. Using clear pots so I could monitor when to water based on condesaconde in the pot .
2. Invest in a light meter. Although my light is not perfect it helped me figure out where I was at and how much my extra lights added.

I still consider myself a rookie but these two things helped me greatly!

 

[richgarrison]

ditto to Ray's response above...

you can play with 'what' you put into your 'pure water' but knowing that 'pure water' is an objective, adding 'little' of whatever you are playing with should be your guide (notice the concentrations that Ray recommends)...

If you focus on nailing the watering approach, and root system health, you'll kill very few plants... then you can figure out how to make them flower well...

Not sure how to make this message rise above all the tips you will get, but it's a lesson that many of us have learned and re-learned...

Happy growing

..... and learning ;-)

 

[merc]

What plants are you growing? Specifically, just orchids and what
genera?

i have mostly paphs and phrags (species & hybrids). i also have a couple vandas, phals, bulbos, dendrobium nobiles i picked up along the way.

---

+1 on the clear pots (aircones) and orchiata medium suggestions. these were one of the first things i did to help out my orchids and wish i had learned about them sooner.

i def want to try k-lite and kelpmax, but currently have a gang of other products i am trying out. how long do you guys give products before they go in the trash? do you think a 3 month window is ample time to see whether or not a product has produced growth and vigor? i am weary of giving up on something too soon since my first product experiment (using keiki paste) took +3 monthssssss to produce results (yay for 1st phal keiki!).

 

[Ray]

In my experience, there is no hard and fast rule about the term of evaluation.

For a change of fertilizers, you might not notice any effect for 12-18 months. For a stimulant, you should see some impact in a matter of 4-6 weeks. For a supplemental additive...who knows?

With a product like Concentric Garden Solution used as a probiotic, what you'll eventually notice is a trend toward fewer rots and diseases in general, and a general improvement in hardiness, so it takes thinking back to your prior experience. On the other hand, as a curative, they response is a matter of days.

For example, I have a Phalaenopsis parishii that had been bit by something, and developed an infection that was yellowing outward with a radius of about 5mm, and no-doubt would have take the entire leaf. I sprayed it with 1:100 GS a couple of times a day, and in less than a week, the yellow started subsiding. That was more than a month ago, and it still has the leaf.

 

[merc]

how about the use/application of live moss? the plants i receive with the biggest fattest root systems almost always had a thin layer of live moss. do you expert growers seek out and add live moss or does this occur naturally?

 

[NYEric]

Live moss is good for roots, All you need is a bit of it and if you keep media moist and fairly light it will grow.

 

[abax]

I agree live moss is better than NZ moss, but how on earth do you
keep crawly critters out of the greenhouse with collected moss?

 

[merc]

here's another noob lesson learned the hard way! examine your new plants VERY VERY carefully/thoroughly and quarantine your non-nursery eBay purchases! (nurseries are state inspected and will loose their license if they ship out sick/infested plants so you can be fairly sure their plants will be "clean".)

i "scored" a LS paph woluwense from a hobby grower (eBay: phrago). it was well packed in newspaper, but not insulated against the cold. since it came in the middle of winter i gave it a once over and assumed the brown bruises and discoloration on the biggest/lower leaves were shipping/cold damage. being new to the hobby i just sucked it up and considered myself lucky to have "scored" such a great find and would attempt to nurse the plant back to health. however, i made sure to take pictures and send it to the seller to let them know they might want to include a heat pack for future deliveries since my plant seemed to incur a lot of shipping/cold damage.

fast forward about a month later i was poking around and noticed a raised brown spot on my plant. actually, there were quite a few. when i touched it i squished whatever it was. after a flurry of googling i had my plant swimming in neem then sprayed it down with a isopropyl alcohol solution and quarantined that bad boy. my paph woluwense had scale! i checked all my other adjacent plants and none are showing signs, but they also got a spray down of isopropyl alcohol solution just in case. i went back and looked at the photos on my phone to see if the scale was present when the plant arrived and lo and behold all my plant arrival/repotting pics had little brown dots that i completely overlooked because i was so focused on the shipping/cold damage!

ps: even in the dead of winter there will not be bruising/browning like you see above if purchased from an experienced seller/nursery! all my other plants purchased right around the same time frame did not have the browning/bruising as seen above.

 

[Martin2020]

Those paphs were already sick before shipping.
Sick from malnutrition.