Root Health, New Potting Technique

[cindiras]

Maybe you should check out the postings on water culture, too. Once the plant is acclimated to a water environment, and has grown the appropriate roots for that situation, you wouldn't have to worry about taking short vacations, or watering on a daily basis. Fertilizing would be done with a very week solution and would be constantly avilable for uptake.

[douglas]

Thanks Dail, I will have to research S/H systems. I am not at all familiar with it, but it sounds like a good system for what I need.

[douglas]

Do water culture and S/H work together or is that two completely different systems? Thank you both, I'll look into it.

HaHa, Dail, so how many is my limit? So far I am working on 3 plants with this system, and have not killed any yet, but..............

[phytochrome]

I wonder how much air the roots are getting? I think it would be pretty tight growing?

[Halloamey]

Another thought is that so much light getting into the medium causes it to heat up, also glass having very low heat conductivity will remain hot for a longer period of time. Most plants don't like to have their roots hotter than the air. Just use a thermometer and meausre the temperature at the root ball and then in the air. Temperature at the roots should be about 5 degrees cel. cooler than leaf temperatures. Also glass beads act as tiny magnifying glasses concentrating the heat on the roots.

[gidi]

I did an experiment as well but i used a mix of hydroton and transparent plastic beads.
at the beging the plant lost his bloom and his spike dried out, i think due to the change of the media that the plant sufered a shock.
Now it's still in that media and it sent a new spike with buds and should start to bloom once more very soon