Media Tests Part 3 | Wicking efficiency and Drying times | Does Lava rock wick better than LECA?
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- Опубликовано: 1 авг 2024
- Hi everyone, it's Annabel, welcome back to my channel! Today I am finishing up with the media testing we started a few weeks ago ( • Media Tests Round 2 | ... ) for the following materials:
Bark (small, medium, large)
Pumice (small, medium, large, 2 brands)
Moss (besgrow)
S-te / kyodama (Kaizen bonsai)
Lava Rock
Superlite black (Kaizen bonsai-small LECA?)
LECA
(Bonsai supplies purchased from www.kaizenbonsai.com )
We will be picking up where we left off in the last video. The last video quantified pH of each media, and the amount of water in grams that each cup of media was able to retain after soaking to saturation. We will be using that fully saturated weight, leaving to dry for 7 days and measuring the new amount of water per cup, to see if evaporation varies between the different sized and shaped media.
We will then be pouring a small amount of water into the reservoir of each cup, careful not to soak the top of the media when pouring. we will be leaving this for a further 7 days, then looking at how moist the top of each cup is. this will tell us the effect each media has on ' The Dry Layer '- which is simply how efficiently each media can 'wick' water. If the media wicking rate is slower than the rate of evaporation, the dry line will emerge. Just how dry this is will depend on a variety of things, including environment, pot used and the actual plant in the pot.
I hope this can be useful in informing us about the properties of each media, and how this can be applied to growing orchids!
Time stamps
00:00 Introduction
01:20 Drying Test | Weight Results after 1 week
04:45 Drying Test | Graphed results
06:45 Wicking Test | Adding the reservoir
08:45 Wicking Test | Results after 1 week
09:00 Discussing each media
24:00 Comparison Between LECA and Lava
27:00 Discussion
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Instagram: / the.orchid.room
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❀ My Orchid Room ❀
UK Spare Bedroom Currently Moving to a New House
Temps- 18-35C
Humidity 50-75%.
Artificial lighting, supplemented with daylight
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✩ Plant Products I Use & Love ✩
Quick Disclaimer - These are products I genuinely love, buy and use- I wouldn't list something I didn't use regularly and purchase myself. I've provided links to try and make them easier to find, some of these are Amazon affiliate links. If you choose to purchase any of these products through the Amazon links below, I may get a small percentage towards future purchases, which really helps!
❀ Inorganic Media ❀
RHS Alpine Horticultural grit or washed gravel- non wicking pebble top layer
LECA - Canna Aqua Brand: amzn.to/2Z5sPPy
or IKEA
Lava rock, small grade, used here: amzn.to/30J3Z9y
or larger: amzn.to/2CPXCt0
This seller in Germany has free, quick shipping, and is also on eBay.
Pumice : Medium grade ~10mm : amzn.to/3aTCIFn Or Kaizen bonsai, small or large grade: bit.ly/3aeYKRW
Synthic: UK supplier bit.ly/2RCb4oI
US: Glassbox Tropicals : bit.ly/2wHy2na
Seramis : amzn.to/2QdyP59 or bit.ly/2V90RSJ (cheaper)
Perlite
❃ Organic media ❃
Sphagnum moss by Besgrow
Orchiata bark- UK Supplier: bit.ly/3elQItD
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💧Water & Nutrients🌱
ZeroWater Filter: amzn.to/2KaaYjP
Rain Mix:
UK: bit.ly/2yaTfX5
Akerne: bit.ly/2XEj3W3
Silicon: amzn.to/2K41IxJ
Seaweed: Maxicrop: amzn.to/2VbQ0rv Or Envii: amzn.to/3fZ1bek
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🐛Pest Control🐛
Pink Sun Neem Oil/Soap duo: amzn.to/39qyPam
Systemic insecticide Bug Clear Ultra (5g/l Acetamiprid):
Large size, better value but lacks dosing: amzn.to/39nTzzS (Use at 10ml/litre)
Or smaller size with clear dosing: amzn.to/2smCUfp
💡 Lighting 💡
Lower Light Orchids (Phalaenopsis, Oncidiums)
Cool white LAP '4000K' under cabinet lighting- Screwfix: bit.ly/2V5KBlv
IKEA Tertial Lamps: bit.ly/2Vs492t
Fitted with 1500 lumen LED bulbs: amzn.to/36RnRsG
High Light Orchids (Vandas, Cattleyas)
GEMMA Lights: bit.ly/34CqY7Z , 10% discount with code 'OrchidRoom'
Mars Hydro TS600
MARS HYDRO TS600 Amazon Link: amzn.to/3bagRcS
❃ Shelving ❃
Wire shelving, Hartleys direct: bit.ly/2REpeWl
Metal shelving IKEA Mulig : bit.ly/3bkUjGc
✩ Pots ✩
13cm Buckets Amazon: amzn.to/2V92cci (£~20 for 35)
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Cheaper alternatives to Elho outers:
18cm white pot cover: bit.ly/3cmwTRb
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Wick for self watering pots: amzn.to/2sMuWM7
#mediatests #orchidmedia #wickingtests
Sorry for using the word moist like a million times here 😂
I don't see anything wrong with the word moist x)
Good! It started to bother me while I was editing, like, get a thesaurus and find another word please 😁😂
Lol
@@sunsundks3891
Oh
All your tests are pure gold. Thank you for taking the time to do this. You are just amazing
Thanks so much for doing these extensive tests and sharing. That was so informative!
I think the difference between the lava rock and the small pumice is that the lava rock keeps the water as a thin film on its surface, whereas the pumice absorbs it through its whole internal structure and then releases it. I think that explains why both were moist to the top, but there was still a pool of water at the bottom of the lava rocks and not the pumice. They both wick well, but one only along its surface while the other absorbs and stores it more like a sponge.
Moist triggers galore 🤣🤣🤣 I found the small pumice wicking test result fascinating. It looked to me that the small pumice was still properly damp/moist all the way through even though it had no water left in the cup. To me, that implies that the small pumice has a better water wicking to aeration ratio - I hope that makes sense 🤣🤪. It also says to me that the small pumice most likely stays cooler in comparison to the bark and leca, and could be used for the cooler growing orchids. Very interesting tests, and it seems to me that we should all be doing something similar to work out what works for us in our own growing spaces. Thanks Annabel for the great video 💗
So cringe-worthy! 🙈 I can't fully explain why the small pumice had zero water left but the lava had loads of water left, although both were moist to the top. You're right about the potential use for evaporative cooling though! I hadn't considered that, great thinking 🙂
@@TheOrchidRoom ha, I'm still laughing over the moist thing 🤣🤣 I don't understand why people are bothered by it, but it's funny. Thank you for the thought provoking content 💖. Because of you and Ninja Orchids, I'm giving leca another go. I tried once with no clue of when to re-pot or basic care and maintenance after potting in leca, and it did not go well at all. So 🤞 this time around everything goes ok 😬
This seems to've taken a lot of time and effort. Thanks for putting it together and sharing, I found it very interesting. :)
Rotting logs don't tend to have plants on them despite artworks depicting them as so. So good points! Also, rain supplies oxygen and air to the ground, so watering top down with sprinklers help, also roots leave a lot of enzymes in the soil to break down their food, these enzymes need washed out every two months to refresh the dirt and roots. Great video, thank you for showing these!
Andrew's Orchids uses Lava rock, with fantastic success. Huge, healthy plants.
Someone just commented that the scale wasn't zeroing, but the comment seems to be unavailable and I can't reply to it- sometimes RUclips does this 🤷♀️ . Just to let you know- it was zeroed to the empty cup, around 8g, so every time I took a cup off and re zeroed it, it was reading minus 8g before I put the new cup on. I edited alot of my faffing out for the sake of time. Regardless, the cup weight remained constant, so even if I hadn't zeroed, the changes in weight would be valid across the media, since the cup weight would be exactly the same for each. But the scale was zeroed in between each new cup, in case of drift from the first zero, so that's irrelevant 🙂
Best inorganic media for orchid growing tests ever!
This is so super usefull, even 3 years later!!!
Very interesting. Thanks for your diligence..
Annabel thank you so much for sharing another wonderful video with us. I have found more success with My Orchids after trying some of your SemiHydro media mixes. So enjoy your videos. Keep them coming please.
I love these experiment vids keep up the good job👍🤩
In my view, the best way of measuring the ability of the substrates to draw-up water is simply to measure the decrease in water level at the bottom of each flask. In order for the water to evaporate, it has to reach the top and it can only do that by being taken up to the top by absorption through the media.
So many variables! If mixing media will wicking take place? What about design of pots? I think you did as well as could be expected and I thank you. By the way, your hands are lovely....
It’s been very interesting! I’ve converted most of my indoor plants to leca, a few are in pumice, both substrates have a reservoir. Now I will try lava rock, especially for plants that like moist soil.
Very interesting and informative. Lava rock is dug and crushed locally so is very cheap. Thus my interest.
I think your weight measurement approach was reasonable for measuring wicking; more total weight loss meaning more lost to evaporation at that surface. And the other hard to quantify measure is how too much wicking (ala cotton) might result in insufficient aeration of roots for various plants. Making it very hard to quantify, as you discussed articulately and intelligently. Thank you for your effort and for sharing your results. It's quite helpful.
You could publish that in a paper and I would not be able to tell it apart from the professional articles! I really appreticate you taking the time to do it seriously!
Hi Leonard! I do feel that there were things I could have done better- this is always the way everytime you perform an experiment for the first time though. Repeats would be ideal, but these tests are super time consuming with so many media at once... In future I would probably zone in more on each media type separately and try to adopt a more refined methodology...but I wanted to do a wider experiment as a comparison across the board first, since otherwise it would be difficult to generalise them. If I did each separately, the numbers would drift, temperatures wouldn't be consistent etc- environment plays quite an important role for these in terms of being able to compare between them. But to compare within groups, for example the different sizes of the same media, smaller experiments would be ideal 🙂Thanks so much for your time and for watching!
"I don't know how to quantify this"
well, a piece of tissue touched to the surface would give some idea. It will show wet or dry on top and, depending on how much water that tissue soaks up, might give an idea of dampness. Just a thought.
I’m telling you... genius! You are such a breath of fresh air! 😅
I did consider that, it's a good idea, but still no more quantifiable than touching the media? I want numbers Michael 😂
@@TheOrchidRoom well, if you want numbers, then you need to measure the dry weight of a piece on top and the weight after sitting for one week. I don't know how you would weigh one of those little ones, though.
@@michaelmccarthy4077 Yes that's what I was thinking at the end of this video, about marking one piece of media and weighing for each. But then like you say, many weigh too little, I would need a more sensitive scale. I think I want what I can't have here 😅
The Orchid Room Ove has a loose tea scale that looks like a spoon and measures minute amounts! Just in case you really wanna try to do this :)
Should do, pre-weight of water then dumped out anything remaining then checked the weight of the cup+water+material and normalized for amount of water added to determine how much was absorbed
Very interesting! Thanks for doing it :) It does match my experience (inorganic). Wich is: 1. Lava rock - extremely wicking and holds moisture very well (to the point it can be a problem). 2. Pumice - often the best (but the most expecive here) 3. Leca - problem with dry top layer. I've been experimenting with just lava rock for top layer, with the rest of the pot leca and pumice. The lava rock still stays too wet and cause mold and rot. My environment is quite dry (living room). I need to find the perfect ratio. I'm looking forward to keep following your experiences!
Oh no! I have never had to consider things swinging the other way, and having 'too wet' top layers! There is a whole other issue in itself I could be introducing with the lava. I put it in a few pots and have noticed things seeming to stay very wet.... could be an issue with winter.
@@TheOrchidRoom If you mix the lava rock with leca and/or pumice it should work (I haven't found the perfect ratio yet).
I mix leca and lava and it has worked well for me.
Thats what I've been doing and then putting a top layer that's more lava, I'll go and check them for mould tomorrow though, I just noticed it was staying nice and moist. But it's been raining today and the humidity will have been super high over there.
This was so interesting!! I just started using lava rock. I repoted a mini phal in it and 7 days later, the roots are still bright green. So weird.
This was interesting. I have to agree that it would be hard to really measure dryness to wetness. I wonder if you had fill the materials to the top or near the top like it would have plants in it and tried the testing that way. Very interesting video anyways. Have a great weekend.
excellent I have a ebb n flow and running 24/7 cycling every 15 min. I'm using masterblend.
One way to get numbers, would be to possibly pre-weigh a certain number of pieces of dry media on the top layer (you could mark them with a little dot of nail polish for identification, maybe the equivalent of the top 10% of the cup) before adding the water. After 7 days, re-weigh those pieces and express the water retained as a % of the dry weight. That would tell you moisture of the top layer. That being said, I think for practical purposes just knowing moist vs. dry is sufficient😊 I’ve used lava rock for about 3 years for several types of orchids and in general it works well in my environment. Some orchids seem to prefer it over other media types. I don’t use it in a semi-hydro set up, but I know others have with success.
Can’t tell you how to measure top layer dryness... I go by what I see and take it from there 😬 not very science am I? 😅 I love my lava rock in the little pots for small dendrobiums, the larger lava rock does not stay as moist at the top as the smaller one does, also... pot size plays a factor... the larger the pot, the less wicking there is regardless of reservoir size and media size. That’s where your top layer pebbles take care of that 😊 love it when you do sciencey things... makes me feel like a dodo in the corner, but I appreciate trying to put things into visuals and words 👍🏼👍🏼
I don't think there is an easy, reliable, accurate way to put the top layer dryness into numbers unfortunately 😅 As much as I would love to. I always scale up reservoir height to pot size, so proportionately they should be the same- I use approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of the pot as reservoir as a general rule, depending on the type of orchid. But as each piece if media passes moisture from one piece to the next, there is an overall net loss I believe. So by the time you get up 2 feet of media vs 10cm, the efficiency would be compromised. Also, if your environmental conditions mean that the rate of evaporation exceed the efficiency of wicking, there will always be a significant dry line. So many variables, it really is a case of try and see... but having larger reservoirs allows me to top fully in summer, don't need to fill it to capacity in winter. Self-watering takes alot of that issue away, can fill as high or low as I like and still flush easily! The larger grade lava I bought for Vandas also seems to stay very moist up to the top, but getting much larger there will be less contact between particles I agree. But then for this large grade pumice it still wicked really well so who knows 🙈🤷♀️🤷♀️ Makes you think, can we ever really fully advise someone else in their conditions, probably not, which I think is the major learning curve as a grower. Some still try to dictate though, but often I believe it's just trial and error for us all! 🙂
The Orchid Room totally agree with all of the above ... but I still love all your sciencey stuff (
🙂❤ Science stuff 🧪🧪
I wish you would do a video on which one filters water better
Such a great video! Exactly what I was looking for 😊 Do you have these results/thoughts about Perlite? I'm trying to switch my substrates to pretty much rock and with/without reservoir depending on plant type.....I think to quantify the wicking maybe have the substrates in cups with bottom holes then a secondary cup with no holes holding the equal amounts of water sitting underneath stacked, then measuring how much water was left in each "reservoir" after the period of time...
I just came across this informative video while I was looking for the answer to Lava vs Leca. Thank you for this time consuming experiment. I know this a year old video but I have a suggestion for more accurate wicking measurement. What if, 1- install a same length wick 1/3 from the bottom with equal length over hang the cup. 2- Fill all the samples to to the top of the cup. after 7 days measure the weight of the wick and compare it to dry wick. I would be interested in the result. I suspected Lava rock would be good media and is much cheaper than say Leca at least here in Northern California.
I have to watch the previous videos again... I'm curious, Did you ever do seramis, And synthec? Your videos are always appreciated.
Seramis mixed with synthic isn't necessary for me as seramis stays wet all the way to the top and has no top layer issues- a mix of the two would be very wet and soggy. One or the other for me
Thank you so much for your time and efforts. I want to convert to all semi-hydroponics but am nervous to make my own recipe per plant unless I have some actual recipe examples for different types of plants. If anyone has some successful experiments, sharing would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to experiment with Phalaenopsis orchid, Dracaena candelabra, Jade plants, Christmas cactus, avocado plants, citronella plant, cat nip, dill, basil, clematis, and fuchsias. I live is Seattle so growing indoors with a steady temperature and plenty of light and windows. I have always had a green thump so that's what makes me so interested in semi-hydroponics. I have small and large pumice, LECA, crushed red and black lava, perlite, vermiculite, & premium orchid moss. I will be happy to share my experiments too 😺
Top on what Michael said... maybe how quick the paper towel or tissue would soak up the “moist”ure would be good indication? Good video. I already have been issuing a LOT of Lava rock in many orchids. Pretty much all the ones I repotted have a lot of lava rocks. In japan, we buy a HIGE piece of lava rock and make a some sort of mini moss garden thing. It is all because the rock soaks good level of water. I love them. The mineral (salt) content seems WAY lower than LECA too so it is good for orchids to begin with.
For me- not quantitative....Had a suggestion to do it in reverse. Fill with water, wait a week, pick off the whole top layer and weigh, dry it out and weigh again! Then no fussing with putting it back- Simple! The large lava rock moss Gardens sound incredible 😍
I was thinking they all seem to wick to the top. Maybe you should have put a mark at the leave of water still in pot. Another thought leave them for another week and check them daily for water leave & dryness. This wicking lasted 8 days this one 10 days and so on. The large Pumice had no water left, it will dry out at top first.
Not sure how that is helpful though. As I mention, it could be the top of the cup providing a humid microenvironment that is the issue. Take these findings and extrapolate them to a real life situation- Leca too dry, maybe there is another alternative etc. No water left doesnt really tell us anything useful I think. Not really. For some it does, like the small pumice- but compare that to the lava, which still has most of its reservoir, while being super wet at the top- so something else is going on when you add a reservoir, but I dont think measuring thay really tells us anything. For the larger media it could just mean more air gaps so more evaporation. But for the actual media itself, I showed that evaporation remained constant between the different sizes.
Why do I want to dry them fully? I already did that for the previous tests 🙂 no new info for that. The water level in the reservoir wasn't what was being measured. The dryness at the top varied between the materials. I wasn't saying one was bone dry and the other was wet- just comparing between the different media for how I felt about the top layer. Honestly, this was extremely time consuming and labour intensive, so I won't be repeating for a long time 😅 You are welcome to take the experiment and carry out further work 🙂 That's really the point of this- environmental factors and plant variables mean there is so much more going on than just what happens in controlled Cup experiments. Trial and error is needed for us all in our huge and varied different environments, medias and styles of growing.
The Orchid Room A lot of factors come into play. Does the plant have big cunky roots or fine roots, airy or Suffocating, environment, medium, temperature, what the particular plant likes. It was interesting that they all wicked. I kept a record of your finding.
Lava rock may be more moisture retentive and more wicking but leca is easier to come by and a lot cheaper I think. Thank you for sharing your experiment with us.
Yes- but that is redundant if the LECA burns all your new root tips, which has happened to me frequently before starting experimenting with different inorganic media and non porous top layers. It doesn't happen for everyone, depending on environmental factors and the individual plants, but that is why I began searching for fixes and alternatives. Since all are reusable, while lava is an initial investment, I am happy to use it in combination with LECA- which will bulk it out. In the long run both options are cheaper than moss or bark for this reason 🙂
@@TheOrchidRoom Also using organic materials need to be repotted every year or too, right? It can be expensive at first using inorganic media but in the long run time is money. Not having to repot and buy new organic media is a plus. AND my cats won't want to dig because it's not dirt! LOL! Not messy either, and not as many fruit fly's. 😺🌻
I've been really looking forward to this! I was so interested to see how these media wicked, just academically. Semi-hydro and self-watering wouldn't work in my environment; I find that if my orchids don't get a slight drying out between watering, their roots start looking really attractive to mould! It's awful, and I keep my home so clean and the AC vents bring in air from outdoors and then pump old air out... But it's no good, the mould loves wet roots : (
I do think it's worth considering, too, whether a dry top layer in different media is actually harmful to root tips or not. My neofinetia in lava rock has quite a few new root tips (I think we're up to five?) growing, and they never seem to mind when the rock at the top is a bit dry.
What is this magical wicking sphagnum moss that everyone else seems to have? In my environment, it's always bone-dry at the top and soggy at the bottom! Dried root tips and soggy, damaged roots underneath. (Edit: it was Besgrow NZ moss, and the moss that came in a Repotme mix did exactly the same thing. Just for clarification)
The part about air-filled porosity is very interesting! I do find that some lava rock lacks this- very small grade lava rock sold to bonsai growers as a top layer (only a few mm across) doesn't always have enough air pockets and isn't suitable for epiphytes, whereas medium grade lava rock tends to have a huge number of airy pores which is great for roots.
It's probably because of the quality of your moss
Thankyou! 🙂
In my climate, dry layers for porous materials dessicates new root tips, which is the whole issue I had with LECA, that started the search for better inorganic media or non wicking, non porous alternatives as a top layer. Im not saying for all media a dry layer is bad- bark for example stays dry at the top yet doesn't dessicate new roots. If the top layer isn't porous and wicking, or if it already moist, or is only slightly porous but not enough to pull moisture from root tips, it won't kill new root tips. As a top layer, lava stays wet for me, so maybe that is why is doesnt dessicate root tips for you? Or, it sounds like you have a very humid environment if you have lots of mould issues ( as a general rule- mould usually only grows on dead roots, not live ones, natural decomposition). So it could be that very moisture retentive media combines with your environment in such a way as to provide a slightly suffocating environment within the pot.
I have never experience a dry layer with sphagnum though, very odd indeed. Maybe as Sunsun suggested, it could be a poor quality moss? Otherwise that rules out a humid environment, moss always stays extremely wet right to the top for me. Besgrow sphagnum is the best quality I have found, new Zealand sphagnum tends to be better quality overall than Chilean moss also.
@@sunsundks3891 Maybe it was a bad batch? It was Besgrow. But I also had similar problems with moss in a Repotme mix, so I'm leaning more towards it being a reaction to my home's environment.
@@TheOrchidRoom Oh, no, my environment is on the drier side! 40-55% humidity, never more than that. I wouldn't say I have a lot of mould issues- it's just that one thin white layer which sometimes tries to attach itself to roots if they're wet for too long. It's also not a very vigorous mould; a little bit of hydrogen peroxide kills it off very quickly. It definitely attaches itself to healthy roots if they're wet for too long, hence why I'm letting my orchids dry out a little between watering. I also would say that, while I never open windows, my home isn't poorly ventilated. I have vented AC (very common in the states) and it essentially pumps air from the outside to the inside, and also has a few wall vents dedicated to sucking up old air for circulation. I also keep a fan running on a lower setting in the living room where the orchids are.
The moss I got was Besgrow, actually! I checked the listing at the nursery I got it from to be sure (I've since thrown it out, since I can't make it work for the life of me and it creates a huge mess, which I'm also not fond of). I also had sphagnum moss in an organic potting mix from Repotme, and it did the same thing. So I'm really leaning towards it being some reaction to the air/temperature/humidity conditions in my apartment.
You need a high quality New Zealand moss. I get mix of moss Monterey bark small leca and lava rock. I grow in high quality plastic carousel pots that are tines not solid construction. I never have soggy roots as there are plenty of drainage holes on the bottom. The pots are a German company. If you can shop on Repotme.com, they have everything you need.
Interesting experiment There are many variables ie atmosphere speed of evaporation also with the plants in each media. Volume of water in each media temprature measurements humidity in your grow space. Very good experiment Thank you loved the experiment . where do you get lava rock and pomice stones Thank you
Hi! 🙂 Thanks! Links are in the description to the products I used, you may be able to find similar in your area 🙂
Maybe you can use those water ball level thingies you made for the self-watering pots or place humidity meter in each cup if you want to do this study again... But I think eyeballing it is graphic enough.
I am moving my orchids into semi hydro, I live in Guatemala City and had the concern if I should import Leca from the US. Here a 10 pound bag of leca flown in from the US is a 140 us dollars, pumice is 2.50 dollars per 10 pounds, and lava rock is 6.50 dollars per 10 pounds. With both pumice and lava I have the option to drive near a volcano and pick them up for free. Price and availability are relative, your experiment makes me see that Leca will not solve all my problems, makes me appreciate what is at hand, and also to leave less of a carbon print if it is unnecessary.
I think Pumice and Lava are excellent alternatives to LECA, and if you find that in some humid months you need to let them dry a little, many growers use lava as a sole medium not even with a wicking reservoir system, so there is more of an option to do that with Lava than there is with LECA, which can be a bit more problematic when it dries out. I just wish Lava was cheaper here! I've taken to mixing it with leca to make it go further and that works well for me 🙂 lots of options! Just be aware that you may need to pH down nutrients to around 6.0 as rocks have a higher pH than organic medium (if you're using rain water this is usually around this anyway) , other than that they're a much easier and more sustainable/ reusable option IMO.
@@TheOrchidRoom thank you again for your experiment!
In your educated opinion what would you consider the best substitute for seramis? I live in the U.S. and cannot get it here. I would love to try seramis but I am stuck searching for something similar besides smashing up terracotta pots.. Thank you ☺
Hi Darcy 🙂 Turface is a calcined clay product similar to seramis, although we cannot get turface over here so I have no way to directly compare the two. On paper they have a similar composition and properties, so if you could get a large grade of that it should be similar. Alternatively, fine grade crushed lava rock, fine grade pumice or large grade perlite 🙂 Worth checking bonsai supply stores also. Hope that helps!
if you are ever unsure of the top layer use coffee filters... they shall tell you easily if the media you are testing is wicking all the way to the surface.
Where the heck can you get perlite like that?!? The largest I can find is like 5-10% of that size AT BEST
OK, second🥰🥰
Thanks Pix! 😁 Second the best right? 🥳
Hi, have you applied the light and air movement during the experiment?
They are all in the exact same location, windowsill, light, window ajar- but we are comparing between them under the same conditions, so the differences between them are the only take home from this. Not what would happen in the pot- where there are an even larger amount of variables at play.
@@TheOrchidRoom was just asking because of the top layers being wet :)
@@35o125 I think this can be explained by the humid microenvironment created by the top third of the cup 🙂 Next time I will use larger pots filled higher to test more thoroughly on a few, this gives us a broader overview and comparison though.
Just wondering if you could help me plz I got the dendroblum berry and they call the other one the dancing lady got yellow flowers got them out of Sainsbury yesterday I'm not sure what to repot them in ppl was telling me bark and moss but I'm not sure what to do thanks
Hi Steven 🙂 Dendrobium Berry oda does very well for me in LECA, but bark and moss will be fine for it too honestly, it's a tough cookie. The oncidium types have finer roots and want more moisture around them, so a bark moss mix with a little more moss in will work well for them too. Or you can do less moss and water more often, but oncidiums can be a bit tough to keep up with in hot weather sometimes, they are very thirsty things. Just remember the more moss you put in the faster the media will break down, so you'll need to repot sooner. For pure bark you could probably do a 2 year repot cycle if large grade. Adding moss tends to mean a yearly repot is needed due to the media breakdown. Hope that helps 🙂
@@TheOrchidRoom would love to do leca thing but I'm new to those type of orchids so hard what to do I've done the leca with my phals they are doing good in it but it's just the new orchids what's worrying me
If you've got phals established in LECA and doing well, I would say the Berry oda should do great for you in LECA- it is super vigorous, probably easier than a phal honestly! The oncidium though, for me I found them to be a bit trickier in LECA, dry top layer issues burning new roots. Lots of people do not have this problem at all though. But for a safe bet for both, you can't beat bark/moss to help get them established with your environment while you get to know them 🙂
@@TheOrchidRoom bless ya bab thank you so much I'm going to put berry one leca and the other one in moss and bark just till I know the plant love your videos always helps 😘😘 thank you
First! I just wanted to say it.
Yay! Thankyou! 😁❤
damp
humid
muggy
rainy
soggy
watery
clammy
dank
Do any of those sound right applied to pots? 😆
To me you would need taller glasses with more media to see which media wicks the highest . You don’t want any to actually reach the top and the highest one would be the best wicker. Your numbers would be the height of the wicked water.
I would prefer to actually have something to measure accurately, not just height of water, which may be deceptive and hard to measure. I agree on the taller, larger containers, if we want to mimic a pot. This gives us comparisons between each media as a starting point though, which is time consuming for such a large range of media. Future work would potentially take a smaller group individually and perform more detailed analysis, taking off the top layer and weighing to obtain water held 💧
The Orchid Room you are doing a lot of work for sure!
If you want to quantify the wicking, remove the top layer, weigh it, wait for it to dry completely, weigh it again.
The difference is the water that was still in the top layer :)
Yes totally 🙂 the only thing that puts me off is the smaller media, how many pieces I would be weighing etc to make up a top layer. I suppose I could count 10 of LECA, 20 pieces of pumice, 40 or 50 of kyodama, but then would I be picking up the same pieces after the 7 days? There is a large natural variation. I couldn't mark them all. I could mark just one, but then I would need a more sensitive scale. Will think on it 🙂 It would totally be a viable way to maybe do a smaller experiment just comparing some of the larger media.
@@TheOrchidRoom You don't have to reselect the same pieces, just scoop off the top layer after the week of wicking test, weigh it, then let it dry out completely, weigh it again - the pieces never need to go back.
Yes, there's still a question of 'how much' to consider as the 'top layer'... but it's at least part way to quantifiable.
Maybe you say the top 10% by volume is the 'top layer'? Difficult especially for the chunkier media...
I see- do it in reverse, I like it, eliminates the issue! I'll plan something out 🙂 Thinking, fill cups to the top too and put them in my grow room, really test them a bit more harshly.
@@TheOrchidRoom Yep, in reverse! :)
I thought the best test would be a conventional 12cm orchid pot & container, without a plant in it of course. In the grow room also makes sense (so long as they're getting the same solar exposure).
Excited to see the results! :)
Could have measured with a moisture meter
Annabel,
Sorry, hit the wrong key. Thanks for the little experiment. To digest the results requires putting a different thinking cap. Anytime you attempt an experiment, it always plays in the back of your mind "can i reproduce the results". But i found your thought process to be excellent. I also though you have the same addiction to iced coffees like i do. But thanks again, i believe i need to go back and re-watch the previous steps/videos. Have a great day and i look forward to seeing your future videos.
Hi again Tom! I do feel that there were things I could have done better- this is always the way everytime you perform an experiment for the first time. It's unlikely I'll be able to do experimental repeats for this one, these tests are super time consuming with so many media. In future I would probably zone in more on each media type separately and try to adopt a better, refined methodology...but I wanted to do a wider experiment as a comparison across the board first, since otherwise it would be difficult to generalise them all if I did them each separately, and it would rely more on how I felt- the numbers would drift, temperatures wouldn't be consistent etc. Thanks so much for your time and for watching!
I notice that you use the word media as a singular. I think it should be medium. Media is plural. Lots of orchid growers use the word media to describe their plants' living conditions but medium would be correct. I know I'm being pedantic....sorry. Blame the lockdown, old age and too much time for nitpicking. I thought your experiment was very, very helpful. One of the unknowns for me is; how high can water wick before it runs out of oomph? I have been using plastic mineral water bottles as pots for all my plants. They are tall and narrow and the roots will need time to reach the reservoir. I guess just observation is best. Thank you for your invaluable information, I really enjoy your site the best.
We routinely talk about media in the plural in the lab, so I guess I carried that over 🤷♀️ apologies if it offended you
www.labome.com/method/Cell-Culture-Media-A-Review.html An example. Medium would be one bottle , general talks about media, components etc would be media. I don't see why that doesn't carry across to orchids- basically the same thing. If this isn't correct and precise English then I do apologise- it's just how I've been taught. No-one is too worried in a general lab conversation, maybe I was too informal. Again, I apologise.
The Orchid Room Please don't take offence or too seriously my comments. I certainly wasn't offended and I hope you aren't either.
@@TheOrchidRoom I agree!