Estudos hídricos com substratos vegetais para cultivo de orquídeas epífitas

• Autor(a) principal: Ioriatti Demattê, Joäo Batista [UNESP]
• Data de Publicação: 1996
• Outros Autores: Payäo Demattê, Maria Esmeralda Soares [UNESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://seer.sct.embrapa.br/index.php/pab/article/view/4552; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/64873
• topic: Growing media; Orchidaceae; Water adsorption; Water loss

Different growing media were compared as to water adsorption and water loss, at Jaboticabal, SP, Brazil, through a three-year period. The objective was to recommend substrates other than tree fern fiber for cultivation of epiphytic orchids. Two treatments of each substrate were used in each sampling: materials stored in laboratory (without use) and materials exposed to conditions of orchid cultivation under laths (used). Generally, the substrates without use adsorbed less water than used substrates. When materials without use were compared, the tree fern fiber retained initially the greatest quantity of water and the blocks of pressed coconut bark, the smallest. However, these blocks gained a great capacity of water adsorption after being used. Charcoal added to the growing media did not cause significant alterations in the studied characteristics. In terms of water relations, the best growing media to substitute the tree fern fiber were composed by blocks of pressed coconut bark or by mixtures of this material with charcoal or Eucalyptus grandis bark. Bark of E grandis alone or in mixture with charcoal did not give good results.