Recent content by Ray

Overhead watering, especially with a "water breaker" to simulate rain, in my opinion, is advantageous for three reasons - it wets, flushes and aerates the medium at the same time. The buildup of mineral deposits is inevitable, but it less about watering technique than it is about drying of the...

Generally, I don't use rockwool cubes in S/H culture. The only necessity for it I've seen is when your RH os so low that it dries out the LECA too fast, then, keeping a layer on the top moist can slow the evaporation rate from the LECA. Grodan rockwool is basalt rock that has been melted and...

Phrags can really benefit from pure water, maybe more than most other orchids, but they all do. It was likely the sodium chloride in the softened water that was your prior issue, but "drinking water" may-or may not be particularly "pure". For about less that $100, you can pick up an "RO...

Welcome, Nevin.

It’s derived from mass calculations, an estimated bulk density for powders, and a conversion from the metric to teaspoons/gallon

You can grow any orchid anywhere, if you control the environment. I met a guy in Delaware (Dr. Rah?) who was into cold-growing species. Instead of a greenhouse, he bought a 40-foot refrigerated shipping container, outfitted it with lights, water, and benches, and away he went.

Yep, it's all about resources, created and stored at rates that give the plant "confidence" that it can continue - i.e., great culture. @Drewm Read this.

My Sorcerer's Apprentice, a division of Hadley Cash's plant, has been in semi-hydroponics for nearly 20 years. It can be monstrous, but stops blooming only when I divide it, which I have done at least 5 times.

Until Easter Sunday at midnight, buy two bottles of Kelpak, use the coupon code "GOSPRING" and one will be reduced by a third of the price. Buy 4, two will be reduced, etc. Still includes free shipping to US addresses, but this offer cannot be combined with other discounts.

Tyrone, I really have to “wonder out loud” about the “suddenly dumping” part. Adsorption doesn’t work that way. In that process, there is an energy-reduction driving force that causes the ions to be attracted to-, and adhere to the surface of the substrate. Activated charcoal is so commonly...

That is exactly how some larger-scale growers I’ve talked to used it- a small amount to provide a longer-term “baseline feed”, with periodic doses of water-soluble ferts to supplement it.

The high EC of that particular charcoal maybe a surprise, but that doesn’t mean they’re all like that. A few decades ago I did some digging into the “sweetening” thing, and there were two general schools-of-thought. One was the absorption of residues and the other was related to the very slow...

I just searched members for hyyui87, and the member does not exist.

Assuming you have started by mixing it with fairly pure water, it will remain stable pretty much indefinitely, stored at room temp.

That business about fertilizer burn is an indication of improper choice and/or improper use of any such product. They’re all just ordinary fertilizer encapsulated in a porous polymer. Once water has entered the pellets, the solution starts to seep out. The polymers have engineered porosity...