August 2021 Orchid Collection Update 

Hello Michael, just want to let you know the Laelio cattleya purple blue Hawaii just blooms. It’s so beautiful.

I've been following you for years, you are one of my favorite youtubers, I always love seeing your orchid collection! I'm sorry they didn't do well over your trip! It can be difficult to anticipate which plants will need extra water before going out of town. Hopefully you can get some great replacements :)

Oncidiums really love their moisture. You could try a top layer of pebbles or gravel to keep it miost and prevent the top from getting gross. River pebbles and stones work well and they look pretty. It works well for me for the 50ish orchids I currently have in semi hydro. Sorry to hear about your orchid loss😢

We delayed repoting our Green Hornet for 4 years for the same reason! It just doesn't stop blooming. This year I finally sit it and divided it, and it barely noticed, such a trooper!

Hi Michael, I feel your sadness with the struggling ones. :( I do not grow in semi-hydro, but I do grow indoors next to a window and under supplemental lighting. I've also noticed that orchids often like extra moisture in the root zone; however, I had trouble controlling the wet/dry cycles using any porous stone-like materials. Without being able to adequately drop the pot humidity enough in the cycles, mold and fungus began to slowly get a foothold in my environment. It seems to be a delicate balancing act that I'm still trying to get right. I hope this helps some. I wish you much success.

My instant reaction to the struggle attached to the oncidium media change is that the roots are acclimatised to grow in your growing system and when you change that those roots aren’t able to function and requires to grow more. . .the reverse to when you convert a plant in bark to hydroponics i imagine. . .PS: my Great Dane 8 month 60kg puppy watched intensely at your videos no other video he does this just you. . .

Love your knowledge and passion about these plants! I am inept @ plants but appreciate the beauty. Thank you

if you're thinking about going to an organic PET setup, you might be better off with coconut husk chips than with bark. Even when wet, they hold a lot of air, they are also more wicking than bark. But, crucially, they surface can dry very quickly while remaining damp below.

You should really try horticultural pumice for your oncidiums! I thoroughly washed the pumice, and mixed it in with my LECA when I was repotting my sherry baby and her roots grow into it like crazy. I swear pumice is slept on for semi hydro. @TheOrchidRoom on RU-vid has some great videos talking about using pumice in semihydro.

Olá Michael's, orquídeas são tudo de bom e mais um pouco, tenho algumas e dão flores todo ano, as suas estão lindas, parabéns pelo seu excelente cultivo 👏👏👏💐🎆🇧🇷

Oct 2021 popped up then I lost the link. The phrag I believe is Hanna powpow

With the plants that are growing outside the pot why not place another one when the next new growth starts so the roots start to grow into the second pot instead of the air and then divide when it's grown enough to sustain itself .

I keep my orchids in bark so they are used to it but I nearly lost two because I thought I'd try the miracle grow mix. It's too fine I think.

To be honest all of my orchids live in tea and water. Never used anything else. They are wonderful. Flowering for months. Just never put them in a draught.

What if you were to try just pumice for your oncodiums? Replace leca with pumice? No need for sphagnum moss on the top. Also, how about finding a larger container for your Prosthechea and setting the current container into the bigger one and fill the extra space with leca? Just a thought. Your psychopsis is the best on the interwebs 👍🏼👍🏼

The PET method works REALLY well with catasetum type orchids. However, I added some sphag moss into the mix vs doing all bark. And I used lava rock at the bottom vs leca because I think the moisture keeps longer than leca. Question for you, I found that growing my orchids in clear pots (glass jars or plastic) tend to produce algae more than an orchid that has a decorative pot that does not allow light to the roots. This issue almost killed a couple and I think it was because the algae was taking away water from the roots. Do you ever see this happen with your orchids? I noticed on the Oncidium you were sharing at the beginning looked like it had algae growing in the pot.

Could you deepen the reservoir? Instead of 3 or 4 cm something like 5?

How about a mix of bark with coconut husk? I do not grow semi hydro, but I have found that orchids I had growing ok in leca are now doing fabulous in a bark husk mix.

Miracle Gro potting mix caused me trouble too..so dust and compacts too fast via its small pieces.

I have a question. How long do I need to boil my leca beads thr first time when I am setting up semihydro

Maybe oxygen might be a factor in this equation. Basically I think of sphagnum moss atop leca mimics a peat bog. Peat bogs are inherently void of oxygen (think mummified human remains found perfectly preserved in peat bogs because of the lack of oxygen) That’s just my initial thought. You’re much more successful at your botanical husbandry than I.

Oh so looking at the media it doesn’t look good. . Yours looks too much like dirt to me. .