Seedlings experiment - your bets please

[TyroneGenade]

I have a fat pod on my tiny thaianum (thanks to a certain someone) so I am very eager to know how this thread ends...

I think sphagnum will give the best results initially, but if enough humidity is maintained for the pumice and lava rock I think they will be the winners in the end as they have a higher nutrient content than the moss---and it is very difficult fertilizing plants in moss and the moss tends to melt in response to fertilizers.

tt4n

 

[etex]

Very cool experiment!! You'll have to keep us updated on the progress.

 

[hardy]

Hi Ricky, those are very healthy-looking seedlings! Congratulations on your purchase

My experience with thaianum seedlings in live sphagnum is that they grew well initially with 100% survival rate, but after a while the growth stalls (I did not fertilize them at all).

I'd like to share my experience about fertilizing plants grown in live sphagnum moss. Fertilizer cant be applied by drenching, since the moss will die quickly. I find that even drenching the moss with very dilute fert (0.15 g/L) will cause them to turn white in just a few days.

But following Mrs. Paph's suggestion, I tried applying foliar fert on my sphagnum-grown plants with great results. I spray my plants (nepenthes in this case ) with 0.3 g/L fert, twice a week. The moss just gets lightly sprayed with fertilizer, and is not harmed at all. Never tried that with my paphs grown in live-sphagnum though....

 

[Ricky]

...and it is very difficult fertilizing plants in moss and the moss tends to melt in response to fertilizers.

I cannot confim that sphagnum has problems with fertilizer. I have some sphagnum that grows on the bottom of my terrarium, the water there has about 2000µS/cm. The sphganum and other mosses there grows very well. Some Phal roots also has contact with this water - no problem for them.

But I know that mosses don´t like tap water, maybe because of the CaC03 and chloride in there?

 

[s1214215]

Hi

If you start them in spagh or other moss I would be careful just not to rot the roots.

Mature plants I have in rock, broken brick to emulate what they grow in in nature. They do get lots of moisture, but drain fast.

My plants did well in the rocky mix I watered once a week, and sometimes if I was lazy two weeks, but in 90% humidity, misted indirectly 7 times a day, at 80F, they thrived.

Now for seedlings I cant say, but I had a few very small plants and they seemed even less tolerant of wetness. I lost a few that were flaskling size.

I guess thats what I am saying, I think dont keep them too damp. I think it could be a killer.

I am happy if proven wrong on this, but I had 25 plants to observe and under what I am told is natural conditions. Mind you, if your conditions are dryer and hotter, maybe thats another thing too.

Jason, if you are watching this (Aquagem), can you give your opinion.. You have thaianum in Singapore and a number of them. You grow them outdoors?

Good luck on that pod Tyrone.. Hope you get a good lot of seedlings out of that one.

Brett

 

[TyroneGenade]

I cannot confim that sphagnum has problems with fertilizer. I have some sphagnum that grows on the bottom of my terrarium, the water there has about 2000µS/cm.

My only experience is with the sphagnum moss from Table Mountain where it lives off mist run-off and rain water. The water is very soft and it doesn't like fertilizer in any form at all. I have no problem with tap water (which is also soft).

I suppose it all depends on the source of the moss.

Hardy, what foliar feed are you using?

 

[Ray]

I always assumed the "moss-covered" cracks were preferred because that's where the moisture was, not the moss, specifically.

As to the hydroponics question, I have been quite successful planting the entire block of agar in LECA in semi-hydro pots.

I pot it up so that the medium is to the same level as the top of the agar. As I water, and some of the agar dissolves/washes away, I fill-in the voids with more LECA pebbles. Eventually, the plant are fully-established and growing nicely, and can be split up. Not too surprisingly, it is a particularly good method for phrags.

 

[eggshells]

Any update on this? I am thinking of getting a flask of thaianum and wanting to know the optimum substrate. I see people growing brachies in pure rocks so I'm thinking 1:1 fine bark and perlite or even 40% bark and 60% perlite.

 

[Ricky]

@Eggshells

No good new from here.

Sphagnum: all seedling survived but growing is very slow
Pumice: only one seedling survived
Lava rock and Perlite: 2 seedlings are still alive

One seedlin in lava is growing very well.

Maybe the conditions did not fit ... who knows?

 

[eggshells]

Sorry to hear Ricky. Maybe I will go with the traditional approach.

 

[Rick]

@Eggshells

No good new from here.

Sphagnum: all seedling survived but growing is very slow
Pumice: only one seedling survived
Lava rock and Perlite: 2 seedlings are still alive

One seedlin in lava is growing very well.

Maybe the conditions did not fit ... who knows?

Is the sphagnum still alive? Is it getting covered up in bluegreen algae slime?

Since reducing the K in fertilizer and overall feeding N at less than 50ppm been getting much better seedling results and better growth of moss and ferns.

 

[PeteKurt]

Hi Ricky, I just bought a flask of P. thaianum. I'd love to hear how the survivors from your experiment went. Looks like these were the ones in lava rock and sphagnum.

 

[NYEric]

Hi Ricky, I just bought a flask of P. thaianum. I'd love to hear how the survivors from your experiment went. Looks like these were the ones in lava rock and sphagnum.

2012