Rockwool for pleurothallids

[littlefrog]

Has anybody tried this? I have a few thousand dollars worth of pleuros coming (yes, I do have a problem, why do you ask?) and I was thinking about planting some in rockwool cubes. Maybe mixed 50% with something inorganic like charcoal. This will work for phrags (I'm told).

My main problem with planting pleuros in pots is that the mix either stays too wet or dries out too fast. So maybe the rockwool will help? Most of them will get put on sticks...

 

[NYEric]

I don't know. I use it for Phrags but have never used it for Pleuros. Why not ask Marni Turkle or Lynn O'Shaunesy

 

[Ray]

Rob, I have been experimenting with 50/50 mini-cubes and LECA. It stays quite moist for a long time. If that’s a concern, you might shift the mix to a greater percentage of the “dry” material.

The rock wool cubes seem to stay wet a long time. In my experiments before trying it with a plant, the cubes occupied about 55% of the pot volume, so there’s air, but in two weeks of sitting in a warm, humid room, they only lost about 2/3 of the absorbed water.

 

[TyroneGenade]

Back in South Africa I would make a custom pot with floral foam/oasis and then put the pleuros in fine gravel. Worked well to keep them cool without soggy feat. Now I grow indoors and simply use sphagnum moss. So far so good.

 

[littlefrog]

I don't know. I use it for Phrags but have never used it for Pleuros. Why not ask Marni Turkle or Lynn O'Shaunesy

Lynn isn't really growing many pleuros anymore, too many greenhouse failures.

 

[NYEric]

Lynn isn't really growing many pleuros anymore, too many greenhouse failures.

That's too bad. I wonder who took them off her hands?

 

[littlefrog]

That's too bad. I wonder who took them off her hands?

Unfortunately most of them died, I believe. I did take a few of her plants.

 

[NYEric]

OK, let me know if you have any good ones to sell.

 

[Tom-DE]

Rob, my two cents is, you might have to test this (Rockwool + charcoal) out in your own growing condition. I had my best luck with Pleurothllids while I grew them on hardwood/cork mount, especially with Lepanthes and small Pleoros. Straight moss with few of sponge rocks worked fine for larger species. I had tried seedling bark mix but it didn't work too well in my growing condition.
Since we are not thinking about downsizing now, I have been thinking about putting up a small greenhouse with automatic watering and grow some I/C mini species/Pleurothallids again....well, it is just one of my "crazy" thoughts lately. I blame it on the current pandemic (no travelings and too much free time)...... not sure yet!

 

[Ray]

Over the last while, I have repotted a warczatoria and a phalaenopsis hybrid into 100% Grodan mini-cubes, and a pescatoria, sarcochilus, and Paph. rothschildianum into a 50/50 mix with LECA. All are doing well, but I’m starting to think the straight stuff actually dries out faster, which I didn’t expect.

 

[Teresa Koncolor]

I just repotted a bulbophyllum bicolor into 50/50 rockwool/big perlite in a large wood basket. It was in straight sphagnum and very overgrown in a plastic pot. I have noticed rockwool can dry out faster than sphagnum but I tend to overwater anyway

 

[cnycharles]

A while back in upstate ny I had a media I used for phals and other things in my grow carts. It was i think 50% or more mini cubes, some charcoal, sponge rock and other things. I had fans inside the covered carts and I ended up losing a lot if plants because they dried out too hard. I had very low humidity in my apt and with air movement and such things would get too dry. But with more natural humidity it might have worked better