Some new thoughts on Semi-Hydro

My original thread was two long and diverse...so I have started a new thread about this;

Today and yesterday I have been potting up cuttings growing in pots in semi-hydro, using water in a large saucer to supply the water to the bottom of the pot. I found that the small pots wicked up the water REALLY well, and that I did not need to keep so much water in the saucer. I think it would have been more successful if I had let the semi-hydro mix go a bit drier than I had...OR...use taller pots so that the cuttings had to reach down to the water rather than the water at the bottom of the cutting.

As I continue with this method...I am making sure that there is at least 2-4" between the bottom of the cutting at the water level.... The picture is a cutting REALLY rooted...the roots out the bottom of the pot into the water.... Edited to say that DG program cut the bottom of my photo...there is a 2" root coming out of the bottom of the pot.

This message was edited Feb 15, 2009 1:29 PM

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by having the cutting 2" - 4" at the bottom. Are you saying to leave 2" - 4" between the base of the cutting and the height of the water level so that the cutting is not actually touching the water or directly wicking from it?

Great information, Carol! I'm seeing that 2" root coming out the bottom of that pot, very cool! I guess it's nature's way for plant roots to seek out that life sustaining water source! One of these days I am going to order some hydroton and try the semi hydro with a couple of plants! I remember when Hydroponics was real popular with houseplants back in the 70's, I even went to a party that a co-worker held where we could purchase the two part plastic pots and the hydroton. The pots had some sort of water level on the side so you could add water when it got real low. Apparently house plant hydroponics was a fad because I haven't seen or heard of it in a long time.

Shirley, I think that is exactly what Carol means in her description, at least that is my understanding ... leave 3-4" so the plant will put out roots that will seek out the water, growing down towards the water source?

Lin is correct, Shirley...the way I said it doesn't make much sense, does it?

I paid close attention to the cuttings rooting together....and I could find NO correlation or connection to growth and placement vis a vis light source nor N/S/E/W.

Thanks for the clarification. I've got it now.

Another thing I've done is to set a potted plant inside another container partially filled with moist peat or coir. As the potting medium dries out, the plant roots will seek the moisture below them. This also increases the humidity around plants. Plastic tubs from margerine, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc. work great as holding containers.

Edited for double post.

This message was edited Feb 16, 2009 8:15 PM

That is a great idea, Shirley. As long as there is moisture 'down there' the roots will go down. I had a pot inside a bigger pot hanging outside. Somehow the drainage holes got all plugged up and with all the rain we had, the outer pot was full of wet leaves and 2 feet of root from the plant inside the smaller pot. Forgot which it was.....

Carol,

How do you use the semi-hydro growing method with plants in hanging pots?

Thanks. Sarah

will look tomorrow for a photo to take...very easy!!!

I've been experimenting with this lately. I have to be doing something wrong, getting a lot of rot...to high a water level maybe?

Could be...I got some rot too when I keep the water level too high...and when I kept constant water in the bottom of the tray....the hydroton wicks it so well, I now let it dry out a bit.....

Carol, Would you share info or pics on how to use hydroton in hanging pots? I've ordered some hoyas from the co-op and I'd like to try growing them in the hydroton.

Thanks. Sarah

Hmmmmm. If using this method in a hanging pot...I would look at the system you are using (A pot in water, or a semi hydro pot ?) and contain the whole think IN a hanging pot. If you want it to drain, then use a hanging pot with holes...if you want it all self contained, you can use a bowl or a decorative pot with no holes..... :P

I will take a picture of my own inventive way of using hydroton in a hanging pot over the weekend and post it. Actually my wife came up with the idea, and it solved one of my biggest problems - how to have a perfectly straight adjustable hanging pot. This idea can also be used with any kind of growing method. I will have to keep people in suspense until I post the pictures.

Doug

OOh I'm interested in that Doug - I hate having things 'off-kilter' and crooked !

Paula, I'm glad that I'm not the only one! The photos and description will be posted on Monday or Tuesday.

Doug

Biting my fingernails in nervous nervous anticipation. I too am looking forward to your creation, Doug. Sounds like you have drawn your wife in to the wacky world of Hoyas.

Much to my surprise, there is a hydroponic store less than 5 miles from home. I have passed the shop a million times and never knew it was there. Could be because the sign lists only the shops initials, ALL the blinds were drawn, and it is across the street from a Dirty Bookstore. It turned out to be an interesting experience tho!

The Hydroton cost 40 bucks for a 50 liter bag. Get this! I was delighted to find the store had chunky perlite in bulk. I about choked when the ower said the 2-3 cu.ft. bag of perlite is $43. I got the Hydroton but left the perlite!
I haven't played with it yet, but, the bag looks like it has allot of clay dust, which tells me I will have to drag out the garden hose.

Mel

Mel, I wouldn't bite your fingernails too hard; you might not think my solution to the crooked pot is all that great. You got a good price on the hydroton - $10 less that I can get the stuff here. A garden hose is the right answer to cleaning off all the dust. I couldn't use one in the middle of the winter so I rinsed the stuff into a big tub and threw the water out the front door - I did not want to put all that clay dust into my septic system. Please keep us posted on how the hydroton works for you. In my own case, I'm cautiously optimistic.

Doug

Wow...the price is about as much as I pay here...but it does go a long way if you can mix it with perlite or cinders.... I rinse mine (didn't at first and it formed cement in the pot) about 4 times and then soak it....Seems to wick better that way.

Be sure to soak your hydroton overnight before you use it.

ThreeGardeners: one thing I have learned about using
hydroton is that you have to allow that the water is cooler;
in other words keep anything in hydroton in a warmer place
than you might normally for that plant.

I've still not checked around town for Hydroton, but it's on my list of things to do! I have a few of those two part ceramic african violet pots and I'm wondering if they would work with hydroton. They are shallow type pots and the unglazed inner pot takes up moisture from the outer reservoir pot as the plant needs it. I think I might have to contemplate it further. I do have my H. multiflora planted in soil in one of them and it seems to be doing well and is a lot happier than when it was in my chunky mix. It was not happy planted in a regular pot, mainly because I was keeping it too dry! I had no idea that hoya liked water so much. It just blasted two peduncles ... I thought it was going to bloom, the peduncles were there for a long time, but all of a sudden they both turned yellow and fell off, which happened last year too.

Do y'all who grow using the semi hydro method have any problems keeping the roots down in the pellets? I'm remembering the hydroton stuff being very light weight, am I thinking about the same stuff? I'm just curious if it's a very light weight medium, what keeps the plants from falling out until the roots become established enough to take hold of the hydroton?

Lin, when I transplanted my kanyakumariana into hydroton, I filled the inner container one third of the way with hydroton, then put the roots of the plant in and filled it to the top with hydroton. It never had a problem staying down - but its not a very big plant. I also started quite a few in hydroton and some have grown a lot of foliage, and so I've wedged a support between the inner and outer containers and used plant velcro to attach it. Necessity feeds creativity in this case. Maybe the same sort of idea would work for what you're facing with the roots. Or perhaps just a larger pot that would have enough hydroton on top of the roots to hold them down would be the answer.


Christine

Thanks Christine! I think I am going to try a couple of hoyas in the hydroton as soon as I find a source for it. I have one little rooted stem of kanyakumariana that I got in a trade last year. I can't wait for that one to grow and bloom, it's just so cute. I searched on the net but only found one reference for kanyakumariana: http://www.growinghoyas.com/hoya_kanyakumariana.htm

I pay 17-19 dollars for 4 cubic feet of coarse perlite here at any nursery. The big perlite (sponge roc) is only 25.00 for 4 cubic feet.

There was a thread awhile back and I don't remember the forum, but I did learn something important about my hoyas and any plant that doesn't like its' feet wet. I just got string, took a paper clip and opened it up to make a small hook that I could cram the string up in the holes of the hanging baskets. It is amazing what water drips out for days after I water the plants.

Remember that thread Lin, where the man taught us all about drainage.........even talking about turface, etc.............

The only reason I am not anxious to try this method is because this man taught me something that just made my hoyas grow by leaps and bounds with these silly poly strings crammed up in the holes of the pot.

Gail, can you direct me to that forum/thread? I've got a bunch of cuttings coming from the hoya coop that I was planning to start in the hydroton, but if you're having such great results, I'd love to learn more about that method.

Thanks.

Sarah

Sarah, I start my hoyas in the house under gro lights..........will dmail you in the morning..........they are so easy and grow so fast in the warmth............

Please know I am NOT knocking any method, but I hate to fix it when it isn't broken.

I agree with that statement "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Depending on climate where we live and different conditions, what works for one might not work for another.

Gail, I don't know that thread you are referring to. What is the purpose of using the string, is it to drain excess water, from over-watering? I'm confused. I learned about wicking African Violets and other Gesneriads on the AV forum but ended up pulling all the wicks out of mine because my mix apparently was not loose enough and the plants were staying way too wet. Is this string the same type of stuff you use for wicking your Gessie plants?

I remember someone on the house plant forum a year or so ago talking about soil and some of it sounded interesting and sounded like it made sense but I never tried his method. I figured if what I'm using now works, why change? And, I'm lazy anyway, LOL!

I was reluctant to try the hydroton method myself but was given a little kit to try out for free. I used it to renew my ailing cummingiana and had good results. Free is good, and good results are encouraging, so when I got two more kits as a present ... well, I decided to start experiment with just starting my cuttings using that method. They've never come out of the semi-hydroponics and I now have about 15, a small percentage of my total plants, so I haven't totally converted by any means. But I think I'll keep starting my new cuttings that way mostly because I have 100% success.


Christine

Lin, I don't remember the thread but the wicks are for just draining..........extra water.........not taking up water as in gessies.

Plus, I am messing up this thread because I do that wicking on the big baskets........not in starting.....will keep my mouth closed (LOL)

I will say that I have never lost a hoya cutting or leaf I am trying to root under my gro lights and a zip lock bag........with a very very light soil less mix........

Interesting about using the wicks. What material do you use...something thick or very fine? I have lots of pots outdoors and we get a tremendous amount of rain. Some are so large I can repot them into something bigger....they are getting so that I will need to wick the water out...

The owner of the Hydro store was pushing the Hydroton for orchids and I have read some good reports from folks who use it exclusively for all their orchids. I am going to divide a couple of my miniature orchids and experiment with the hydroton VS my regular planting mix.

I have an abundance of plastic quart size yogurt containers that should work great for a semi-hydro pot. I just need to figure out a way to cover the pots and hang them. I'm thinking of making crochet container covers out of plastic grocery bags.....that is if I can ever find enough time.

I also like Carol's idea of adding the hydroton to my potting mix. It will be fun to experiment rooting and growing a few Hoyas.

Mel

Carol, go to an Ace Hardware (you can use Walmarts but it is not very good) and ask for Mason's twine..........I use #24 or #36 but you could use a bigger size if you wished.........let me show you how ugly it looks coming from the basket, but it works.......will take a closeup.

I put about 3 strings in each basket. I watered yesterday and felt the strings..........they were still dripping water today.

Thanks for that, Gessiegal....will go today. I just like to experiment...

Mel...Maybe you could try painting the yogurt pots? Some spray enamels will work well, I think.

It hit me the other day that when rooting, using a TALL cup opposed to a short one wicks the water up higher...and the stem is not likely to be sitting in the water. I have had good success with the taller cups....

Mel,

I learned much about using hydroton from orchiders. Use tall containers,
like Carol is saying,
and the one thing that is not debatable among them is regarding watering:

flood the pot every time.

One other thing I learned *about* orchiders is NEVER start a thread about
favorite LECA....that will cause a ruckus.

But to avoid build-up - use something tall, make the holes about an inch
up from the bottom, and flood it well when watering.

Just out of curiosity, what is LECA?

Leca is another name for hydroton, which is the clay pellets used in semi-hydroponics.


C.

Light Expanded Clay Aggregate

(Like Ceedub says - hydroton, primeAgra, hydrostone, hygro rokz, etc.)

Much discussion over who likes what. I think it mostly comes down to
what you can find nearby because shipping rocks is expensive.

I know, Alison...........I called Southwest Fertilizer in Houston wanting turface for my hoya mix........he said it only cost 12.00 but would probably cost 50.00 to mail..........will wait until I go to Houston for some reason....