Water culture

[John M]

Okay Jean. Here are some photos.

Please note that these plants look like crap because they suffered through (but survived), my freeze out last March. I will not trim the old damaged leaves off until this summer's new growth is mature.

The first two are of the Cattleya gaskelliana that I mentioned, growing in a pickle jar with about an inch of water in the bottom. I rinse it out 2 or 3 times a week and add fresh. It's been in the jar for about 3 years and has bloomed twice. It's got 2 new pseudobulbs coming up this year. As you can see, it is now too big to get out of the jar, unless I break the jar.
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Here is a Lc. Coastal Conceps that is growing in a plastic tub of clay pellets. It started out as a single front bulb with a few roots and has bloomed 3 times in this pot. There is a reservoir of water in the bottom that is about an inch deep. It drains automatically from the hole that is visible.
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Here is another clone of Lc. Coastal Conceps that has been growing in this glass pedestal dish for a few years. It also started out as a single front growth with a few roots started. It has bloomed 3 times and will have 2 spikes this fall.
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[Eric Muehlbauer]

Interesting, and encouraging. While I have thoroughly rejected semi-hydro for paphs, I am still open to using it on other orchids...I have a Phal schilleriana doing well in SH, and I potted a catt in SH a few months ago...it appears to be doing very well as of now.........Take care, Eric

 

[JeanLux]

thanks a lot for these great photos John!!!! the new growths of your plants look very, very healthy!!!

I have, besides my few Phrags, most of my Coelogyne, and some Maxis in pots standing in saucers, and so are regularly wet,wet,wet. I also have a metallic tray that always carries water some 3-4 cm high, and containing 2Coel. mayeriana (got them as parishii) since several years, as well as a Chysis aurea and some other smaller divisions of masd. and vanilla; they seem to like it because Coel. and Chysis have bloomed.

But I did not yet dare to confront catts or laelias with this lot of water!! After seeing your pictures, I will try that too.!!!

Jean

 

[John M]

You're very welcome, Jean. Good luck with your experiment. Photos in about a year????

I didn't mention that I also had a Vanda Sansai Blue in a large pickle jar as well. In this case however, I got a small glass drill bit and drilled a 1/2" hole in the glass about an inch up from the bottom. So, I could flood the jar all I liked while watering and/or misting in the greenhouse and it always drained down to the 1" mark. The plant filled the jar with HUGE, FAT roots and grew and bloomed very well. However, my big freeze killed that plant; so, it's gone and I couldn't take a photo of it for you.

 

[JeanLux]

this is very common in Germany, Luxembourg and ...: if you do not want to buy as a flower present a cheap phal., to buy a vanda or one of the alliance in a large glas (high up to 50 cm or more). I wonder, if not using your drilling trick, how many of those plants perish by drowning!!! Jean

 

[Gilda]

Thanks for sharing this !! It is very interesting to see how these grew.

 

[paphioboy]

Help those poor plants..!! They're drowning... Honestly, I never thought Laeliinae can tolerate having such wet roots all the time.. Most advice on growing Laeliinae often emphasises the importance of a free-draining, well aerated medium...

 

[Candace]

John, when you had your big freeze the bowls were full of water? So they not only survived freezing, but also were in freezing water? Wow.

 

[John M]

That's correct Candace....sort of. I don't know that the water actually formed ice; but, it would've been very, very close! I discovered that the furnace had gone off about mid-day the next day (Easter Sunday). By then, the sun was strong enough that the greenhouse had warmed up to about 80*F. When I went in the greenhouse, the temp felt fine; but, I instantly smelled "cooked spinach"! Then, a split second later, I noticed that the plants were wilting, slumping over and a sort of funny green....like lettuce that has been frozen and then defrosted. They looked wet, while actually being dry to the touch. The cells had burst inside the leaves. I checked the "high-low" thermometer and found that the temp had gone down to -1*C (~29*F - 30*F) overnight.....in the middle of the greenhouse. That means that the temp around the perimeter was lower. In fact, the plants on the perimeter benches were mostly dead and the ones in the middle benches were mostly severly frost damaged; but, not dead. Still, because I sell to florists, they were garbage too. The Cattleya gaskelliana in the pickle jar and the Lc. in the pedistal dish were right up against the outside wall of the greenhouse. So, they did get very cold and suffered some frost damage. However, I think that maybe the water helped to protect them because it acted like a small heat sink. The Vanda was near the outside wall as well. It was not killed; but, was so severely damaged (and being monopodial), that it would be 4 or 5 years to outgrow the extensive damage. So, I tossed it too. I knew that the Catts (if they really survived), would produce new, healthy looking growths and look good again in about a year or two at most.

 

[NYEric]

Help those poor plants..!! They're drowning... Honestly, I never thought Laeliinae can tolerate having such wet roots all the time.. Most advice on growing Laeliinae often emphasises the importance of a free-draining, well aerated medium...

In some parts of Columbia the laeleas grow in the wet swamps.

 

[paphioboy]

oh, I didn't know that... thx, Eric...