Definitely. I sometimes use hydroton pellets in my soil mix to "chunk" it up.

Gabi

I have used aquarium gravel when I had no other choice and it worked as well, not quite as good because the mix is heavier and holds less air but nothing has sulked terribly because of it. I often use Hydrotron as a drainage layer in the bottom of pots. It would be neat to see a Hoya grown in Semi-hyrdoponics using Hydrotron.

Mike

Thanks everyone! I will replace the orchid bark with Hydroton until I can get the bark again.

Trish

Mike,

I recently received a nice sized pot of H. lacunosa grown in semi-hydro with hydroton from a friend of mine in a hoya swap. It is VERY healthy and so simple! He even makes his own hanging pots with entwined paper clips (which is what I got...very cool!). You can just take any clear container (like those from chinese restaurants used for soup) and make some medium-sized holes maybe about 2 inches from the bottom. Fill the water until it reaches the holes, and then just refill when you see the water is gone.

I know linearis is another one that people like to use this method with.

Gabi

There are a few growers in Canada that grow all of their Hoyas this way but I have not tried. I did grow some orchids in semi hydro and they did very well with tons of root growth. The trick is to start from cuttings because the old roots often die off and can cause rot, same with orchids.
Repotting is so much easier and all you really have to worry about is flushing the pots with clean water once and a while. Semi Hydro is probably great for vacations depending on how deep you make the reservoir.

Mike

True....it's great for vacations. It's just so hard to even imagine doing a full switchover!

Gabi

I use the hydroculture method on most of my hoyas. I'm too cheap to buy the containers specifically made for doing hydroculture, and I'm not sure they would be large enough for growing hoyas if I did.
The biggest problem I have run into is finding plastic pots, especially hanging baskets, that don't have holes. Saucers are ok, as well as self waterers, but they are limiting as to how much water one can put in the reservior. Until I solve this problem, it's almost more trouble than using soil (but I'm working on it). Having said that, I don't know if I'll ever go back to a soil type subtrate.
I know there are others on this forum that use hydroton. Maybe they would like to chime in.

Sande

Sande I used a nice blue semi transparent kids sand bucket for the beach when I was growing a big Cymbidium in semi hydro. The bucket came from the dollar store for next to nothing. I guess you could use just about any pot as long as you can make a hole in it fairly easily. You could adapt pots that have a hole in them by sealing it with a plastic patch of some kind and some silicone.

Mike

Mike,

I've thought of sealing the holes...infact, I have done one or two that way. Seems like I looked at buckets too but most were way too large for what I have right now. However, I will keep those suggestions in mind. The bucket might be the answer for the hanging basket. I'll have to check that out.

I'm thinking of getting a large tray or plastic tote and sitting many of the smaller ones in it with the tray water level where I would want the water level in the pots. The old simple saucer effect. I have a trip coming up and I'm trying to figure how to keep all my children safe until my return.

Sande

Sande I was going to mention that because it was my first thought, the plastic tote as a reservoir. I will be finishing my self watering project this weekend I hope, will post photos but it is geared towards pots filled with soil mix and watered from below. I did pick up a fantastic drip irrigation system that uses a reservoir like a plastic garbage can and gravity to water plants, that could work very well for semi hydro if the pots were in a tray to catch any overflow.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Drip irrigation

I have always found that sand or gravel just make the soil mix heavy and do nothing to aid drainage. If you cannot get any bark, I would just add a little extra perilite to help lighten the soil mix. I also grow succulents and I use no sand or gravel in my mix; I just use perilite to lighten the soil and aid drainage and the succulents do great.

Local growing conditions (both inside and outside) will also play into what works and what doesn't so you just need to experiment a bit and go from there.
My .02
Mike

Mike,

I use to have an AV collection. They were watered with the pots sitting on a grate. The grate was in a large pan filled with water below the grate. There was a piece of string or yarn stuck in the bottom of each pot that acted like a siphon as it dangled into the water under the grate. It worked great as long as the siphon string didn't become disengaged or got dry. It happened more times than I care to remember.

The ebay drip irrigation kit looks pretty interesting. Did you get that for your self watering setup? Regardless, I'd like to see pixs of what you did. I'm always interested what others have done. Often it's better than anything I could think up.

Sande

I got the drip irrigation for my plants that are in pots out on the balcony but what you described is similar to what I am making to water some of my Hoyas and orchids that don't like to dry out. I am planning on using the set up if I am going to be away for more than a week at a time. I have a feeling I should have gotten one of the ten dripper sets to have as backup for the left over indoor plants that wont fit in the trays.

Mike