My first attempt at Semi Hydro

[WolfinKW]

I'll just check at my fav greenhouse on the main land on our next trip up... someone's bound to carry little poop colored balls of clay here in florida.

[Tanya]

Its a good thing Gilda started this thread.

My first attempt with s/h is not very good. The plant is still alive (Paph) but progressing veeeeeery slowly. My second attempt is better. I bought 2 NOID Phal seedlings last May. One I repotted in s/h and the other in my usual bark and coco shell chip mix top with sphag. The one in s/h adopted much quicker and didn't lost its first 2 baby leaves but it grew smaller leaves compare to the one growing in bark mix. Both get the same amount and frequency of fertilizer.

Here they are now:

[Gilda]

Wolf,
I think these rocks came from Fla. I might be able to find out exactly where...will let you know if I do.
Tanya,
Both plants look good...could the leaf size difference be due to the parentage ??
Ennui,
I don't like algae growing in pots either.... I have some friends that it doesn't seem to bother their orchids in SH ??? I can always sit mine inside regular pots... who knows, they might be going back into bark mix. I will be closely monitoring them for problems.

[Ennui]

I'll just check at my fav greenhouse on the main land on our next trip up... someone's bound to carry little poop colored balls of clay here in florida.

I found my Hydroton brand LECA at a local
hydroponics shop,
my local nurseries/greenhouses are better for
pretty pots than supplies.

[Tanya]

Tanya,
Both plants look good...could the leaf size difference be due to the parentage ??

Could be, but I got the seedlings from the same box (one big box of Phal seedlings of the same size) so I assumed that they are from the same batch of seeds, the same parents.

Wolf,
Try the aquarium shops, you might find clay pellets there that you can use for s/h. I saw some in aquarium shop here in HK, irregular shapes of clay bits. I think they are better than the round shape one.

[Gilda]

Could be, but I got the seedlings from the same box (one big box of Phal seedlings of the same size) so I assumed that they are from the same batch of seeds, the same parents.

.

Ahhhhh.............just because they are the same parentage, doesn't make them the "same". Just like us ...they can be bigger, taller ,shorter, different colored.....only seedling clones are the "same". You will enjoy seeing the difference in the blooms if these are just seedling crosses !

[WolfinKW]

I'll check those places out, though I can be fairly certain we don't have a Hydroponics shop here... I'm on a 2x4 mile island, it can't have hidden for 3 years.

[Tanya]

Ahhhhh.............just because they are the same parentage, doesn't make them the "same". Just like us ...they can be bigger, taller ,shorter, different colored.....only seedling clones are the "same". You will enjoy seeing the difference in the blooms if these are just seedling crosses !

Hmmmm..... I like that. If things goes well, they might produce their first spike next spring.