You’ve undoubtedly seen the abbreviations S/H and Semi-Hydro searching through Orchid forum posts, not at all knowing what this means.

S/H and Semi-Hydro are simply an abbreviation for Semi-Hydroponics, a growing media that is non-organic or simply growing plants and vegetables without soil.

S/H is not a true hydroponic ebb and flow system, thus it is referred to as ‘semi’ or partially hydroponic.

Actually, what you are seeing are not fruit flies at all, but rather fungus gnats…pesky little critters that are more annoying to us than they are to our Orchids.  Rest assured that fungus gnats are a very common annoyance that even the most reputable greenhouses deal with on occasion.

There are two reasons why fungus gnats are hanging around your Orchid:  first, your potting media may be so broken down, it has become a haven for fungus gnats to lay their eggs, so their larvae can feed off the decaying media; or second, your Orchid may be dealing with some rotted roots which are feeding the fungus gnat larvae.

Yes, you read correctly, finally a use for these packaging peanuts other than tossing them in the recycling bucket or trash.

At some point, you're going to be repotting an Orchid and you quickly discover, after removing the Orchid from its pot, that the roots have totally outgrown its current pot, and it won't fit comfortably back in its original pot.  So you grab the next size-up pot and discover the new pot is a little too deep.  So what do you do?