# Pots etc.



## Stone (Aug 31, 2012)

Someone should make pots designed for paphs. To me, one of the biggest problems with standard pots is the drainage system.
They're fine for woody plants with branching roots but I find paph roots are reluctant to branch.
When the paph root reaches the bottom it finds a hole and nine times out of ten it will either go through and stop growing shortly after or just stop dead. 
If it misses the hole it will continue to grow (assuming everything else is right)
which is what it wants to do. I think this continuation of root growth is very important and possibly one reason why they seem to do so well in baskets.
The longer the root, the more vigourous the top.
So where is the pot with no large holes at the bottom but many tiny holes or mesh and thin slits up the sides so the roots have no reason to stop growing??
Or better still a round bottomed pot to prevent spiraling.


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## keithrs (Aug 31, 2012)

Rand air pots?


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## keithrs (Aug 31, 2012)

Ray also sells other pots that would work.

And I had been looking at Rootmaker pots and bags.


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## eggshells (Aug 31, 2012)

In my opinion. Many roots is still the best way rather than a few longer roots. I think its not a big deal when the roots got out of the pots and dry out. Its ideal to have both but you cant have it all so I prefer the former. 

As for rands air pots. I use those but its drainage is weird once the roots reach the side and the drainage, they all go out. Again It is not a deal breaker for me.


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## abax (Aug 31, 2012)

I've been most pleased with clay orchid pots with lots of
holes around the sides and a large drainage hole in the
bottom. There's plenty of air movement through the potting medium and roots can spread wherever they choose to go.


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## Stone (Aug 31, 2012)

eggshells said:


> .
> 
> 
> > Many roots is still the best way rather than a few longer roots.
> ...


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## Stone (Aug 31, 2012)

keithrs said:


> Rand air pots?



Never seen them.


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## Stone (Aug 31, 2012)

abax said:


> I've been most pleased with clay orchid pots with lots of
> holes around the sides and a large drainage hole in the
> bottom. There's plenty of air movement through the potting medium and roots can spread wherever they choose to go.



Yes I like those for 'dry' growers like oncids. but they would be too drying for paphs in my conditions.


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## naoki (Aug 31, 2012)

If you don't like roots coming out from the holes, can't you just cut a piece of plastic bug screen and put it to the bottom?'


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## NYEric (Aug 31, 2012)

Cymbidium pots?


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## eggshells (Aug 31, 2012)

Stone said:


> I think I would prefer to have a few active root tips rather than many roots with dry tips. From what I've noticed, the tops really seem to stack on the growth when the the root tips are moving and slow down when they aren't.
> Maybe more nutrients are absorbed near the tip? Maybe more water? Ca. for sure.



Hmm. What you are trying to accomplish is a little hard to acquire if you use plastic pots. Even if the roots do not grow through the bottom holes. It will just grow until it reach the top and then once again dry out. So here we are back again with the same problem.

If you really want to accomplish this try an organic pot. Maybe a tree fern pot or wooden basket. Make sure that the basket is always moist so the roots won't dry out. *Maybe* that will work.

I guess the question is. Is it really worth it?


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## Stone (Aug 31, 2012)

eggshells said:


> > I guess the question is. Is it really worth it?
> 
> 
> 
> Only if its not too much troubleoke:


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Aug 31, 2012)

Does anyone remember the "Paphperfect" pots? They were basically just deep nursery liners, with a screen bottom and a few holes in the sides.


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## Rick (Sep 1, 2012)

Stone said:


> Never seen them.



Actually called "Rand's Aircone Pots", or by now just Aircone pots

Most available are square. The big feature is a slotted cone that comes up from the bottom of the pot to "inject" air into the bottom of your substrate mix in the middle of the root zone. But they also have some traditional small holes around the base. Also since they are a soft plastic, they are easy to drill (or melt) as many holes as you want.

Also most of them are clear (so you can watch the roots:wink 

I have a ton of them, but before Klite I gave up on them, to switch to the baskets. But since K lite, (and a build up of seedling compots) I've been pulling them back out of the storage bin to use with the old standby bark and CHC mixes.

So far they are looking as good as they were supposed to be in the first place.


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## Rick (Sep 1, 2012)

Here's a couple pics of Aircone pots, and an example of a paph with visible roots.










The Paph is a hirsutissimum seedling that came out of flask Jan/2010, and is now 3 growths and 10" leaf span. However, it was in compot until about 6 months ago, so you really can't put the bulk of leaf growth and new growths to the aircone pot/potting mix (which is a CHC mix). But all the roots have really gone nuts since getting potted up individually.


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## Stone (Sep 1, 2012)

Eric Muehlbauer said:


> Does anyone remember the "Paphperfect" pots? They were basically just deep nursery liners, with a screen bottom and a few holes in the sides.



They sound interesting!!


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## Stone (Sep 1, 2012)

Rick said:


> Here's a couple pics of Aircone pots, and an example of a paph with visible roots.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



They look better.. especially with extra holes in the sides. Most of the ''orchid pots'' here have a ton of holes on the bottom and up the sides. Plenty of escape routes for the roots which is fine for Dends because they just keep on growing in the air.
Other ''normal'' pots, have a few huge holes around the pot corners which not ideal either.
I'm thinking to try clay pots with one hole in the middle and sprat them with a sealer?


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## SlipperFan (Sep 1, 2012)

A sealer would prevent the pot from breathing and transferring water, wouldn't it? And the roots would still cling to the clay making repotting more difficult.


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## abax (Sep 2, 2012)

I've never used anything but clay orchid pots and have had
no trouble repotting if I soak the whole shebang in warmish
water for 15 minutes or so. If there's a problem, I just
smash the pot with my little hammer.

The real problem for me and plastic pots in my gh is
ugly. They're just plain ugly. Also they stay wet far too
long in my very humid conditions.


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## consettbay2003 (Sep 2, 2012)

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/805/026bz.jpg

This how I deal with escaping roots and invading creepy crawlers.


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## Rick (Sep 2, 2012)

I think its funny that escaping roots are an issue. With all the mounted stuff or overgrown stuff with roots growing down the outside of the pots I have, at least I know I have some healthy roots somewhere.


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## Stone (Sep 3, 2012)

Rick said:


> I think its funny that escaping roots are an issue. With all the mounted stuff or overgrown stuff with roots growing down the outside of the pots I have, at least I know I have some healthy roots somewhere.



I don't mind roots coming out of the pots but I do mind them stopping growth.
With all the different types of plants I've grown over the years I've never had this issue with roots as I do with paphiopedilum.
And after thinking about it, the main thing I can see which is different about them is the inability (generally) to branch. So continuety of extention is paramount. The easy growers like insigne or villosum or even philippinense etc., do in fact form branches or adventitious buds on their roots.


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## Rick (Sep 4, 2012)

Stone said:


> I don't mind roots coming out of the pots but I do mind them stopping growth.
> With all the different types of plants I've grown over the years I've never had this issue with roots as I do with paphiopedilum.
> And after thinking about it, the main thing I can see which is different about them is the inability (generally) to branch. So continuety of extention is paramount. The easy growers like insigne or villosum or even philippinense etc., do in fact form branches or adventitious buds on their roots.



I just noticed some branching on a sanderianum mounted in a basket. Seems like I can recall during repotting that branching isn't a rare phenomena for any particular paph species. But they do seem to have a lot more root problems than my other orchids. (which is one of the main reasons I started growing in baskets like most of my other orchids that don't experience root problems).


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## The Mutant (Sep 5, 2012)

Stone said:


> I don't mind roots coming out of the pots but I do mind them stopping growth.
> With all the different types of plants I've grown over the years I've never had this issue with roots as I do with paphiopedilum.
> And after thinking about it, the main thing I can see which is different about them is the inability (generally) to branch. So continuety of extention is paramount. The easy growers like insigne or villosum or even philippinense etc., do in fact form branches or adventitious buds on their roots.


Aha, so that's why my MK did that, form branches on its roots that is. What a great trait to inherit I must say.


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