John M
Orchid Addict
I once grew a Phal seedling up into an enormous flowering plant by placing it on top of a wire grid over a tall, 4" diameter, glass flower vase full of water. Sorry, this was pre-digital camera days and I don't have a photo. I also had an aquarium airstone bubbling 24/7. The base of the plant was just touching the water and the massive root system that developed over a period of about 2 years, went down through the grid into the water. The plant grew from about a 3" leafspan to a monster with a 20" leafspan and 6 huge leaves. The first flowering was spectacular and had multiple side branches. I killed the plant when the air pump died and I decided to pot the plant in my regular Phal mix and treat it like the others. It liked aquaculture so much, that regular Phal culture killed it. After potting, it suddenly got crown rot and dumped all it's leaves within about a week from the first to drop to the last.
Right now I've got a Cattleya gaskelliana growing in a pickle jar with no drainage. I'll take a photo and post it if anyone is interested. There's no airstone this time. I only allow about an inch of water to sit in the bottom; but, there is no potting medium. The plant is bare-root, just sitting in the water. I change the water 2 or 3 times a week. Unfortunately, the plant is now too big to get it out of the pickle jar without breaking the jar!
I've also got a Papilionanthe (Vanda) teres that is potted; but, has only one or two roots in the pot, most of the rest are air roots. However, some of them have grown down and into a tray of water that I use to propagate tropical waterlilies. Once those roots got into the water, the plant really took off!
There is definately good reason to experiment with water culture for orchids (using expendible plants....just in case!). As Candace has shown us, there could be some surprizing successes.
Right now I've got a Cattleya gaskelliana growing in a pickle jar with no drainage. I'll take a photo and post it if anyone is interested. There's no airstone this time. I only allow about an inch of water to sit in the bottom; but, there is no potting medium. The plant is bare-root, just sitting in the water. I change the water 2 or 3 times a week. Unfortunately, the plant is now too big to get it out of the pickle jar without breaking the jar!
I've also got a Papilionanthe (Vanda) teres that is potted; but, has only one or two roots in the pot, most of the rest are air roots. However, some of them have grown down and into a tray of water that I use to propagate tropical waterlilies. Once those roots got into the water, the plant really took off!
There is definately good reason to experiment with water culture for orchids (using expendible plants....just in case!). As Candace has shown us, there could be some surprizing successes.
