Basket culture update 1 year 8 months later

[dodidoki]

That is incredible, especially Kolo progression!
Many thanks for sharing!

 

[dodidoki]

By the way: you wrote you use CHC. I tried few years ago, my experience was that at the beginning my plants loved, there were many new roots but after a while plants suddenly died without any visible reason. Now I know tha reason was maybe K, I used normal, available NPK formulas and someone said, that CHC can accumulate salts very quickly.

 

[Rick]

By the way: you wrote you use CHC. I tried few years ago, my experience was that at the beginning my plants loved, there were many new roots but after a while plants suddenly died without any visible reason. Now I know tha reason was maybe K, I used normal, available NPK formulas and someone said, that CHC can accumulate salts very quickly.

Yes it exchanges Ca for K quite efficiently.

I restarted playing with CHC a year or so ago, but with low K and TDS monitoring (heavy flushing with low TDS water). The plants in CHC are doing just fine.

The kolo are doing even better today. The one on the first page had roots coming out all over so I stuck it (basket and all) in a larger basket, and it continues to grow. I was just looking at my P tonsum and it has monster thick roots coming out all over (still in 4" basket though).

I put a 9" kovachii seedling in a basket a year ago and now the original growth is shed, but it has 2 growths with over 12" leafspan.

 

[Ozpaph]

Some people make a moss shake, moss, yogurt and milk. then spread it all over where they want to grow it.

Wont the yoghurt go off and smell and grow fungus???

 

[The Orchid Boy]

I've heard of people doing the moss shake thing with moss and buttermilk in a blender then paint it on. I haven't heard of the stuff growing fungus or mold...

 

[myxodex]

Amazing results Rick, and very informative. I guess I can conclude that paph roots have a higher oxygen requirement than I would have guessed, ... or at least the "micro-ecology" of the potting mix does. As for sphag acidification, I was told by someone working on the poor nutrient bogs in the mountains of Wales that sphagnum moss contains a lot of polyanionic carbohydrate in order to hang on to the scarce cationic nutrients. I've wondered whether the acidication from sphag is just the result metal ions substituting for H+, which would then get saturated (CEC used up) after a period of feeding.

 

[Rick]

May be difficult to generalize for all slipper species. Some of the cliff dwellers have roots totally exposed like any other epithetic plant. A handful are epiphytic in trees, but generally accumulate small amounts of debris around the roots. Many of the species in "soil" are on steep inclines that afford very good drainage, but still have almost constant seeping water flowing by.

I'm not sure if it's the aeration that makes this system work, or the lack of the accumulation of salts/metals. Baskets tend to force more watering (like mounted plants), but it was still noticeable before implementing low K that salt accumulation was still going to be an issue. So increased flushing with low K water seems to be equally important.