Just to confirm - are you talking miltonia or miltoniopsis? Could you also describe temps and the medium they're in? Assuming miltoniopsis, for these warmth and light have to be more carefully balanced with moisture supply at the roots (and secondarily, in the air) or else those thin leaves can have a hard time balancing their moisture content with rate of growth. Best to keep it a little cooler, maybe a little less light since you mentioned it looked paler (which also will help with the coolness). If your medium is bark, it should be well-conditioned so there are longer periods while it remains in a lightly moist condition as opposed to wet-dry. Sphagnum can be a good medium for these. Such gorgeous plants. Attractive in and out of flower. Good luck. John

Tina I believe if you get the nutrition down to a system for your plants in s/h you'll find they beat out most other plants grown in more traditional mediums. The nutrition is key. Because of the inert nature of the clay, you have to the one provide what the plant needs. Orchids are very easy to grow in s/h because they are not heavy feeders. It has been my experience with hippies that they are not heavy feeders as well, but there is a careful balance to strike. I found that having a quarter strength, balance fertilizer does the trick for me. In the Spring, Summer and Fall when it is safe for me to have the plants outside, I will water them a few days a week with this method but will flush the pots thoroughly with fresh, unfertilized water between each fertilized watering. This will get rid of gases and other nasties that build up as a result of natural processes but most importantly, it'll carry away salts that build up. I see you're in zone 8 so I do caution you on clear pots if you plan on growing outside. Though the water provides some cooling through evaporation, you can cook your roots if the pots are not shaded. My remedy? I cut mylar in long strips that shielded the pots from direct sun-- kept the roots warm but not hot-- worked well. But anything will do-- a board, other plants without clear pots etc. Good luck!

I do semi-hydro one of two ways - with small cuttings/plants, I use small net pots (I'd guess about 3" in diameter and about 3.5" tall or so) that look like this:Fill it with the clay balls (and yes, do rinse and soak them) filling in around the roots or cutting. Then I plop the whole thing down in a coffee mug (perfect size cache pot) and keep about 1/4 to 1/3 water in the bottom. Or you can also buy these really nice specialty pots for them... follow this link If you just need a few, they're great. It would be cost prohibitive to have to buy a lot of them! What I like about these is the little meter tells you when to add water, whereas the net pot & coffee mug method, you have to pull the pot from the cup now and then to check to see if it needs more water. I have had nothing but good luck with this method of growing. Have fun with it! Denise in Omaha

While I see African Violets successfully grown in semi-hydro - in hydroton pellets and similar media - Leca stones etc. - I am still waiting to see them grown exceptionally well. When I attend our Rocky Mountain African Violet Council Show - and I look at the sales and show plants - some growers consistently produce amazing plants - and it is not a national Convention - it is a small regional show. So far I didn't observe anything of the comparable quality in ceramic stones. Normal, but not to knock your socks off. If your AVs in semi-hydro achieved this quality - please post the photos - it will be very educational - and I will eat the crow, I am thinking that the other gesneriad requirements to soil are mostly similar to AVs - so you should have no trouble converting them to s/h. It probably be of advantage for the plants that hate an acid soil - like Gesnerias - provided that the air humidity is high enough. For our Colorado climate mats, wicks and peat based soil mix works really well. On the other side my friend in Tampa had so much trouble with peat going acid very fast in FL heat, he came with his own solless mix - he replaced the peat moss with Rockwool mini cubes - the smallest he could find - poprobably around 1/4 of an inch each. So his mix is perlite:vermiculite" rockwool cubes. He treats his mix the same if you would treat soil - and it is not deteriorating, not going acid , can be wicked and matted. I think the maintenance for this kind of soil should be periodical leaching to get rid of a residual fertilizer. I would say that it solves problems, plants are less prone to rot, do not need repotting that often and so on and so forth. It is significantly more expensive than peat moss. But in a hot climate it makes the diifference. This mix is suitable for producing show quality plants.