# Mark this date for Basket culture.



## Rick (Dec 18, 2010)

I was inspired by John M's parrishii story, so I got a bunch of wooden baskets and re-potted.

I moved a parrishii into a basket with moss/chunky peat/large perlite about a week or two ago and it's holding up fine so far.

Today:
a supardii
a couple of sanderianums (one with and without good roots)
a rothchildianum
a stonei
a faerianum (with bad roots)
a gratrixianum (an originally rootless division that had developed awesome roots in moss)
a gigantifolium
a small lowii
a small phili
a druryii (in poor shape)
a insigne
a wilhelminea
a kolopakingii

The base of the mix for each of these is sphagnum, but there is a variety of other stuff depending on how I felt as I went. Limestone gravel, sand, perlite, clay balls. Lowii, parrishii, and insigne are generally epiphytic anyway, and shouldn't have problems in a high moss mix.

As you can see, most of these are multi's that generally do fine for me as long as I massively under pot. You may remember the 24" multigrowth stonei in a 2" pot (recently re-potted to a 4" pot). I generally over water, which is great for the basket and mounted plants, but gives me fits with lots of the potted stuff.

I'm hopping to get more stable and larger root mass. Also since I'm not good about regular re potting, basket culture in general goes much longer without maintenance, and all I really need to do is just slip the old basket into a larger one and keep going.

Also with the new taller GH I have a lot more room to hang stuff and get more space on the benches.:evil:


----------



## SlipperFan (Dec 18, 2010)

Interesting idea, Rick. Keep us informed how it is working out. I'm thinking about hanging my multi-florals, also -- when my GH is up and running.


----------



## John M (Dec 18, 2010)

'Wish you the best of luck with them all, Rick. Keep us informed on how they do, please. I've been thinking of hanging up all my long petalled Phrags lately. I think that they could use the extra air movement and light.


----------



## NYEric (Dec 18, 2010)

Hope you took 'before' photos of the plants and roots!


----------



## Rick (Dec 18, 2010)

NYEric said:


> Hope you took 'before' photos of the plants and roots!



No before photos, but all roots are presently well contained in the baskets, so hopefully I'll be able to get some shots with roots coming out all over.:wink:

I was pretty amazed when I took the gratrix out of its pot. It was originally just a 2 or 3 growth division that fell off the mother plant when repotting about a year ago. It had just a few nubby roots at the time, and since I was busy, I wadded some moss around the base and stuck it into a pot sitting in a tray of water (almost constantly filled). I meant to come back and pot it up after a week or so and forgot about it. Instead of rotting it looked pretty good, and when I pulled it out of the pot today it had a lot of big active roots growing in that soggy sphag. So I'm encouraged.


----------



## JeanLux (Dec 19, 2010)

Rick said:


> ...
> No before photos, but all roots are presently well contained in the baskets, so hopefully I'll be able to get some shots with roots coming out all over.:wink:
> 
> ...



but maybe 1 or 2 pics to illustrate your repotting  !? Jean

(I had a similar idea when seeing John's thread but could not yet decide for my parishii)


----------



## cliokchi (Dec 19, 2010)

hi rick,

another one that grown on trees in Thailand and as high as 75 ft up
is Paph. villosum.
good luck with your experiment
cliokchi


----------



## SlipperFan (Dec 19, 2010)

John M said:


> 'Wish you the best of luck with them all, Rick. Keep us informed on how they do, please. I've been thinking of hanging up all my long petalled Phrags lately. I think that they could use the extra air movement and light.


Hmmm, I hadn't thought of that. That's a good idea -- might help a lot with the rot factor.


----------



## John M (Dec 19, 2010)

Exactly, Dot. I find that the long petalled Phrags are more prone to Erwinia....and I know that they are a bit crowded on the bench. The big mature plants would be in a 6" or 7" pot (or larger); so, they wouldn't dry out too quickly. Plus, I go up and down the aisles each day and spot water and mist everything. Plus, if they dried out more because of haning up, I figure it'd be okay anyway because they are decended from drier growing species. Also, since I don't exhibit, I don't need to stake the flowers. Hanging will allow the long petals to really show themselves off. Right now, the long petals dangle down into the leaves and amongst the pots on the bench, where it's hard to really appreciate them!


----------



## Rick (Dec 19, 2010)

SlipperFan said:


> Hmmm, I hadn't thought of that. That's a good idea -- might help a lot with the rot factor.



Yet another reason that could help with erwinia is that basket culture could (should) keep the root ball cooler (more evaporative cooling) which at least in my GH the rot tends to go hand in hand with higher temps.


----------



## SlipperFan (Dec 20, 2010)

All good things to keep in mind. Thanks, guys.


----------



## Rick (Dec 25, 2010)

*Here's a pic of a few.*

Jean I didn't think it was going to be worthwhile posting a bunch of "before" pics, but I noticed (mostly from looking at dirt marks on leaves) that some of those I originally potted are already showing some growth (just a little). So's here's a pic. Excluding the bulbo on the far left (which I just found a spike on), from front to back, left to right is:
parrsihii, sanderianum (one of the seedlings I got from Leo a couple years ago),insigne
supardii, randsii (forgot on my list earlier), gratrixianum
in the back is armeniacum (mostly in CHC not moss), but sending stolons all over. 





Most are in 6" baskets. The randsii and gratrixianum are in 4" baskets so far.


----------



## SlipperFan (Dec 25, 2010)

I wonder if clay pots word work similarly, to keep the root ball cooler and allow good drainage.


----------



## Rick (Dec 25, 2010)

SlipperFan said:


> I wonder if clay pots word work similarly, to keep the root ball cooler and allow good drainage.



At least for the way I water, they haven't worked out well form me for slippers, but I've had good luck with Catts and a few other things in clay w/moss. I'm also not thrilled with clay because its hard to get things in and out of them without something breaking. There's not much to beat a basket for drainage. Typically to get the same effect in clay, you would add a bunch of Styrofoam peanuts or chunky rocks to get lots of drainage in a clay pot.


----------



## SlipperFan (Dec 25, 2010)

I like clay pots for vandaceous, most dendrobiums, catt family and cycnoches -- with diatomite or coco-fiber. I've not tried them with slippers. I'm not wild about sphaghnum as a potting medium. But I do like to experiment.


----------



## JeanLux (Dec 26, 2010)

Rick said:


> Jean I didn't think it was going to be worthwhile posting a bunch of "before" pics, but I noticed (mostly from looking at dirt marks on leaves) that some of those I originally potted are already showing some growth (just a little). So's here's a pic. Excluding the bulbo on the far left (which I just found a spike on), from front to back, left to right is:
> parrsihii, sanderianum (one of the seedlings I got from Leo a couple years ago),insigne
> supardii, randsii (forgot on my list earlier), gratrixianum
> in the back is armeniacum (mostly in CHC not moss), but sending stolons all over.
> ..Most are in 6" baskets. The randsii and gratrixianum are in 4" baskets so far.



Thanks Rick, I am going to give it a try too  !!! Jean


----------



## Rick (Jan 4, 2011)

Over the last week or so I've added:

both adductums
2 more kolos
3 more sandies
a mastersianum seedling
a couple of purpuratums
an emersonii
a phrag lindenii
a venustum seedling
a tigrinum

So far nothing has died or started to look bad. Most are showing some small amount of growth (even with the short cloudy days and cool temps).


----------



## John M (Jan 4, 2011)

Very interesting, Rick. Thanks for the update and please let us know down the road how this works out.


----------



## Rick (Mar 12, 2011)

*Updates*

Here's some updates. Some new roots of one of the first sandies to go into the system.





The roots on this venustum seedling are also going to town, but what got me was the width and color of the new leaf (on left) compared to the old leaf.


----------



## SlipperFan (Mar 12, 2011)

Looking good!


----------



## likespaphs (Mar 12, 2011)

sure does look good!
wonder how these would do in a home environment.
i'm supposed to be getting a couple parishii compots so maybe i'll try.


----------



## Rick (Mar 13, 2011)

likespaphs said:


> sure does look good!
> wonder how these would do in a home environment.
> i'm supposed to be getting a couple parishii compots so maybe i'll try.



Ive moved both my parishii and dianthum into this system and they both are doing good too.

Parishii in particular is an epiphytic species, so I think it's particularly well adapted to this method. Do you grow anything in baskets presently?


----------



## W. Beetus (Mar 13, 2011)

It looks like the system is working well! I am interested. Keep us updated!


----------



## paphioboy (Mar 13, 2011)

Very interesting.. I think I might try a couple of my barbata types in baskets with moss. They never seen to look happy in pots. I will keep the multis in pots though, as I am using rather rocky material as substrate and they love it..


----------



## likespaphs (Mar 13, 2011)

nope, not growing anything in baskets
my house doesn't have great humidity so i dunno how they'd do


----------



## Rick (Mar 13, 2011)

likespaphs said:


> nope, not growing anything in baskets
> my house doesn't have great humidity so i dunno how they'd do



Hard to say. The moss is certainly like a big sponge, and with all the sides bottom and top open, it generates a lot more air humidity in the small space around the plant (probably as good as any humidity pebble tray).

But you might want to experiment with a bulbo or phal first.


----------



## chrismende (Mar 14, 2011)

Rick said:


> Yet another reason that could help with erwinia is that basket culture could (should) keep the root ball cooler (more evaporative cooling) which at least in my GH the rot tends to go hand in hand with higher temps.



righto! My erwinia rot babies are anything with looooong thin leaves - some gatrixianum, vejvarutianum, P. Hamana Spice. They get rot at the plant base where the leaves are folded tightly over a narrow space. I'll try repotting these problem babies into baskets!


----------



## chrismende (Mar 14, 2011)

*moss*



Rick said:


> I wadded some moss around the base and stuck it into a pot sitting in a tray of water (almost constantly filled).



Live moss, right?


----------



## Rick (Mar 14, 2011)

chrismende said:


> Live moss, right?



Actually I've been using dead/dried long leaf NZ sphagnum that I got from Roberts Flower supply.

I have been seeding live moss from various pots into the dead moss, and it's growing too.


----------



## Rick (Apr 23, 2011)

*First Paph blooming.*

I didn't notice the growth was in low bract before I transferred it the basket system. But It went ahead and bloomed. Young growths growing well and roots are developing.
The flower is cuppy, but it double blasted last year in the old mix it was in. So I'm pleased.


----------



## Heather (Apr 23, 2011)

I like this idea, Rick. Interesting to watch them progress! Thanks!


----------



## paphioboy (Apr 23, 2011)

Nice niveum.  IMHO, you have to be more careful with brachys in sphag as they d not like it when the moss starts to break down. And remember to add lime.


----------



## Rick (Apr 23, 2011)

paphioboy said:


> Nice niveum.  IMHO, you have to be more careful with brachys in sphag as they d not like it when the moss starts to break down. And remember to add lime.



This one has some limestone gravel, play sand, and "cichlid sand" mixed in the moss. The cichlid sand is a argonite based sand (heavy calcium) that buffers african cichlid aquariums (around 8). The play sand is the white version that also buffers the moss. In practice the sand actually helps slow down the breakdown of the moss. Also since the baskets are so open, I hoping the old moss will tend to fall out of the basket leaving more inert material around the exposed roots.


----------



## JeanLux (Apr 24, 2011)

Looks great and very healthy Rick!!!! Jean


----------



## Jim Toomey (Jun 16, 2011)

Hi Rick,
So how are all of the plants doing?
Update?
Thanks,


----------



## Rick (Jun 16, 2011)

Jim Toomey said:


> Hi Rick,
> So how are all of the plants doing?
> Update?
> Thanks,



I spilled the beans (hopefully not prematurely) with my tigrinum anouncement in Leo's thread.

I also have a bract coming up in a seedling henryanum (a 2005 joint Slippertalk breeding).

I had the first root come through the bottom of the basket (Phrag wallisii). 

My oldest (and beat up) sanderianum is getting major new roots and leaves. Sandies, stonei, gigantifolium,supardii, roths, and other multis are doing very well vegetatively, but haven't seen any sign of blooming for the ones that I thought should bloom this summer. 

I think I lost a couple of very beat up rootless plants, but if it was healthy going in, then everything is continuing to grow. Some of the more mature multis are doing lots of roots and vegetative growth, but may take another year off for flowering.

At this point (up to 6 months for the initial group) I'm still pretty upbeat on the progress.


----------



## Jim Toomey (Jun 16, 2011)

Thanks Rick,
Great news!

What do you think will happen to the root that has come through the bottom?
Are you going to put it into a deeper basket?

Also, do pack the moss in tight?

Jim


----------



## Rick (Jun 16, 2011)

Jim Toomey said:


> Thanks Rick,
> Great news!
> 
> What do you think will happen to the root that has come through the bottom?
> ...



The Phrags get more water, and the bottom of the basket is pretty damp. It made a right turn, and is growing along the surface of the bottom. At this time there is plenty of room for more growths, and I'm not planning on moving it to a deeper/bigger basket. This species is sometimes epiphytic anyway so I don't think it will be a problem.

I pack the moss into the side slats pretty tightly. I've been putting a layer of 1/4 plastic screen on the bottom of the basket to keep the moss from falling through. On top of the moss is either a handful of limestone gravel or hydroton balls (hydroton in the case of phrags). After adding the plant I add moss pretty firmly to center it in the basket and then add a few tablespoons of sand (some cases get aragonite sand). Then I wash it it, and then pack in more moss tightly. I've been adding different species of live moss on top, which is spreading nicely too. 

I did have a couple of odd things happen. A couple of plants new leaves had color breaks (white patches). A new leaf on a purpuratum and a couple of new leaves on one growth of a gratrixianum.

For the purpuratum it is expressed as about a 1/4 inch band of the leaf is white and somewhat misshaped, then goes back to normal as the leaf continued to grow.

For the gratrixianum just about one whole new leaf (and one just starting) was white. But its gaining patches of green now as the leaf is maturing.

This particular plant started as a rootless growth I broke off the mother plant. I didn't expect it to survive, and just stuck it in a handful of moss in a plastic pot. Several months later, when I started the basket trials, It was still alive so I thought it would be a good trial plant (nothing to loose right?). It had developed some young roots while sitting in the moss surprisingly, and has been growing very quickly in the basket. Maybe leaf elongation has proceeded way faster than the roots would have allowed for good nutrient uptake???


----------



## NYEric (Jun 16, 2011)

photos please.


----------



## Rick (Jun 16, 2011)

NYEric said:


> photos please.


 Maybe this weekend.

I was waiting for your photo prompt Eric!!


----------



## Ernie (Jun 16, 2011)

Rick said:


> Maybe leaf elongation has proceeded way faster than the roots would have allowed for good nutrient uptake???



That's my guess. 

Sounding pretty good!


----------



## Rick (Jun 17, 2011)

Here's some pics.








The darker plant to the right is the mother plant, so its pretty wild that the division is bigger (albeit that the large new leaf is so discolored). Up until a month ago that leaf had NO green on it at all, so I have hit it with a cautious amount of Proteckt and xtra Mg, and its been greening up (in patches)




The purpuratum with the funky white patch on a new leaf (growth to left side of basket). But I noticed today that the older growth is going into spike.


----------



## Rick (Jun 17, 2011)

I moved 3 mastersianum seedlings out of the compot into baskets, and you can see how they have grown much faster than their buddies left in the compot. I did find that most of the plants in the compot have developed second growths though.





The biggest mastersianum seedling next to the venustum seedling I moved into the basket in January.


----------



## Rick (Jun 17, 2011)

Here's an update on a rothshchildianum. Back in 2002 I bought this plant as a seedling Noyo X Eureka. It's been up and down since then. It has always stayed small for leaf span, but did get up to 2 or 3 growths. When I went to stick the 2 surviving growths into the basket this winter, they broke in half. The one you see here had a new small growth. The other piece is also growing well, but hasn't produced any new basal growths. Leaf color is a good as ever.

As you can see, the oldest new growth is catching up to the parent growth, and there are 2 more new growths. Roots are really taking off on this plant.


----------



## Rick (Jun 17, 2011)

Henryanum in bract. This is from a breeding in 2005 with pollen from Dusty Attic Stuff.

I still have 1/2 dozen seedlings from this cross, this one has the biggest leaf span, and added new growths since going into the basket.

These were the seedlings that refused to grow for a couple of years before hitting them with the mychorhizea inoculant a few years ago.


----------



## Rick (Jun 17, 2011)

More new roots. The wallisii root that came out the bottom looks like its turning around to go back in. New roots and growths on a wardii, and roots going to town on a tonsum.


----------



## paphioboy (Jun 17, 2011)

All are looking good... The mastersianum seedlings are particularly impressive...


----------



## NYEric (Jun 17, 2011)

Thanx vm for the photos. I would like to try that w/ some paphs here.


----------



## Rick (Jun 17, 2011)

NYEric said:


> Thanx vm for the photos. I would like to try that w/ some paphs here.



So far the only group not well represented is brachys. I have a niveum (that flowered recently), but that's it for my brachy's. Getting another bellatulum next week that will go straight into a basket.

As far as whole groups, I think you couldn't go wrong with any barbata type.


----------



## Rick (Jun 17, 2011)

paphioboy said:


> All are looking good... The mastersianum seedlings are particularly impressive...



Well all that I showed youoke:oke:

I think I've moved over 50 plants into this system. There's probably a few things that are just sitting there at this point, but the bulk have grown substantially.


----------



## Jim Toomey (Jun 18, 2011)

Rick,
I see they are in wood baskets... fairly shallow in depth in comparison to net pots, are their any advantages of wood baskets over the deeper plastic net/pots/baskets? 
More air, faster drying?
Thanks again, my plants thank you too!
Jim


----------



## Rick (Jun 18, 2011)

One of the reasons I went to the system is to leave a lot of room for additional growths without having to repot so frequently. With standard closed pots I had to keep the amount of extra space to a minimum. You may have remembered posts of blooming stonei and supardii in 2" pots! Most attempts at moving them up into proportionally larger pots ended up with root loss.

I've had a few plants (mostly bulbos, but a phrag or two) in the plastic net pots. They did great, but when it finally came time to repot it was a total mess to cut up the pot and extract all the plastic pieces. I had a big Phrag wallisii that got really traumatized by one of these repoting messes.

I'm not so concerned about the depth to area of the wooden baskets, but they deteriorate better than plastic, and are easy to break apart (just cut the wire pin in the corners). When it comes time to go to a bigger basket, I plan on taking out the slats that come out easily and drop the whole mess into a bigger basket.

I know Big leaf had just about the opposite preference of plastic net vs wooden slat for almost the same reasons (he doesn't like the wooden deterioration), but he is working phals instead of paphs, so I can see where he is coming from since the phals tend to envelop the whole pot and its easier to get the plant off the plastic than rotting wood. We'll have to see when it comes to armeniacum and species that send stolons out the sides and bottom (which I'm not the only person doing that species in a basket too).


----------



## chrismende (Jun 19, 2011)

I've taken to potting up any plant that seems rot-prone in a basket of some kind. All are plastic, though. Some are actually hydro pots with lots of slits. Just experimenting. My longest-in-basket is a complex hybrid from Orchid Zone via Dean Hung. White flowered. It's bloomed twice in the basket and has done really well over a couple years time. I'm excited to see how my micranthum and armeniacum and fanaticum do, as well as a 'Vanda Pearman' that is probably a mislabelled plant. My three Phrags are also in plastic baskets and are acclimating well after about three months in them. New growth and lots of roots "exploring."


----------



## Rick (Jun 19, 2011)

I had to edit this pic to make it easier to see what's going in.

These are some of the sanderianum seedlings I got from Leo's sandie fire sale in Dec 2008. The biggest got put into a 6 inch basket in Jan 2011. Its in the group shot on page 2 of this thread. Front right plant. In this pic it's the plant on the far right. The red line is pointing to the leaf that was new (and only 9cm at the start in January). It is now 18 cm and there is a new leaf. The plant span is about 38 cm now. The other two got put into the baskets a month or so later, but have put down enough roots were I could pick up the plants by the leaves and not pull them out of the baskets.


----------



## Jim Toomey (Jun 19, 2011)

Hi Rick,
That seems real fast for a sanderianum!

Usually when I unpot a plant that was in bark, the majority of the roots are around the edges of the pot, do you find the same thing with the sphagnum or do they grow down through the center as well?

On my plants in semi-hydroponics the roots grow throughout the media and when I repot, the roots comes out as one big single chunk of roots and primeagra. I just stick the whole chunk into a larger pot and fill it in with more primeagra.


----------



## Heather (Jun 19, 2011)

So when is the Mexipedium going in a basket, Rick?


----------



## Rick (Jun 19, 2011)

Heather said:


> So when is the Mexipedium going in a basket, Rick?







I don't think basket culture would give this weed much more advantage.

This is a 10" pot. The bottom 1/2 is filled with styro peanuts and limestone gravel.

I hope it gets around to blooming soon.


----------



## Rick (Jun 19, 2011)

Jim Toomey said:


> Hi Rick,
> That seems real fast for a sanderianum!
> 
> Usually when I unpot a plant that was in bark, the majority of the roots are around the edges of the pot, do you find the same thing with the sphagnum or do they grow down through the center as well?
> ...



I haven't torn any baskets apart to see if there is any trend in root growth direction. From poking around the top (as you can see in a couple of photos, it looks like most of the new roots are going down the middle, or run along near the surface for a little ways before ducking down into the moss. Probably not that different from what you are seeing in SH.


----------



## paphioboy (Jun 20, 2011)

Hey, that's not a costus!  I never expected mexis to be so 'weedy'... How long have you had that one?


----------



## goods (Jun 20, 2011)

I have also moved all my paphs to baskets. They're potted in coco husk, orchid bark and minimal sphagnum. All are showing signs of growth. My delenatii has produced three new growths since being in a basket and one of the older unbloomed growths has started to grow leaves again after stopping for a while.


----------



## NYEric (Jun 20, 2011)

I don't want to hurt your feelings but this is starting to look like my kitchen! oke: 



Rick said:


>


:rollhappy:


----------



## Shiva (Jun 20, 2011)

Has anybody tried basket culture with live sphagnum moss?


----------



## Heather (Jun 21, 2011)

NYEric said:


> I don't want to hurt your feelings but this is starting to look like my kitchen! oke:



Except, it's a greenhouse! Lol.

Rick, your Mex looks great! I have some long lost memory of Al, from Al's Orchids growing one in a large, like a foot in diameter, basket. When I saw yours in the picture I guess I was surprised it wasn't in one too! 

Then again, if something is clearly working, why mess with it? (that's been our sentiment regarding the forum the last five years! And frankly, I suppose it's true for Eric's kitchen as well!)


----------



## Rick (Jun 29, 2011)

paphioboy said:


> Hey, that's not a costus!  I never expected mexis to be so 'weedy'... How long have you had that one?



I got it from Ed M in 2004 I think (the record book ink is starting to fadeoke

If you look in the center of the growths you can see the original 4" pot that it came in.


----------



## Rick (Jun 29, 2011)

Shiva said:


> Has anybody tried basket culture with live sphagnum moss?



I've been adding live moss of various kinds to most of the baskets. The phrags all had some going to start with in their old pots, so I transferred over whatever was growing. I also picked up a lot of local mosses, most of which are not sphagnum, but all are kicking in pretty good.


----------



## Rick (Jun 29, 2011)

goods said:


> I have also moved all my paphs to baskets. They're potted in coco husk, orchid bark and minimal sphagnum. All are showing signs of growth. My delenatii has produced three new growths since being in a basket and one of the older unbloomed growths has started to grow leaves again after stopping for a while.



The second part of this program is restricting potassium so be judicial with your fertilizer since you are still using the CHC and bark.


----------



## Rick (Jun 29, 2011)

Heather said:


> Except, it's a greenhouse! Lol.
> 
> Rick, your Mex looks great! I have some long lost memory of Al, from Al's Orchids growing one in a large, like a foot in diameter, basket. When I saw yours in the picture I guess I was surprised it wasn't in one too!
> 
> Then again, if something is clearly working, why mess with it? (that's been our sentiment regarding the forum the last five years! And frankly, I suppose it's true for Eric's kitchen as well!)



Marylin got a CCE with hers that we both gawked at several years ago. It was in a 12" or so bonsai pot with a couple dozen blooming growths. You offered me a bonsai pot at the time, but I was trying to see how many aerial keikies I could get to bloom.


----------



## Rick (Jun 29, 2011)

NYEric said:


> I don't want to hurt your feelings but this is starting to look like my kitchen! oke:
> 
> 
> :rollhappy:



I don't see any sangii cooking on the stove Ericoke:oke:oke:

It's pretty scary how you can put up a new GH and within just a few months it's almost as crowded as it was in the old GH:sob:


----------



## SlipperFan (Jun 29, 2011)

Rick said:


> It's pretty scary how you can put up a new GH and within just a few months it's almost as crowded as it was in the old GH:sob:


I hear that!!!


----------



## NYEric (Jun 30, 2011)

Rick said:


> I don't see any sangii cooking on the stove Ericoke:oke:oke:


Wait until the end of the year when I go to the Orlando area!! oke:


----------



## Rick (Jul 2, 2011)

*more roots*

I root on one of those hanging sandies just came out the side of the basket, and a couple of roths too.


----------



## Jim Toomey (Jul 2, 2011)

I'm curious if the roots will dive back, stay airborne or wrap around the outside of the basket.
Do you think you may need a deeper/bigger pot next time?


----------



## Jim Toomey (Jul 2, 2011)

PS
Congrats on the great root growth!
I love to see the roots in my air cone pots.
I've moved several paphs into net baskets.
One plant I got recently from a friend was completely rootless, I put it in a sphagnum, perlite, and primeagra mix.
The leaves are now turgid , so it looks like it may survive!


----------



## Rick (Jul 2, 2011)

Jim Toomey said:


> I'm curious if the roots will dive back, stay airborne or wrap around the outside of the basket.
> Do you think you may need a deeper/bigger pot next time?



There's a couple of others that I didn't photograph. That little roth is the only thing that has a root sticking out that hasn't curled back in (it could be because it's basket sits close to another one with maybe a 1/2 inch between).

Don't know if I would be able to find a proportionately deeper basket (unless you stack a couple up). As far as generally bigger goes, I selected baskets that were already 2 or more times bigger than I would pot them in if they were standard closed pots (or even aircone pots). In the past I couldn't keep roots healthy on a 24" multi unless I had it in a 2-4" pot. So bumping them up to 6-10" baskets is quit a jump for these plants, and its pretty exciting to see them using the entire scope of the basket to send roots out.

Since the Bulbos, Catts, Phales, Dendros, Gongoras and just about anything else that I've been routinely sticking into baskets or mounting haven't had any problems with exposed roots, I'm confident that the paphs will be able to adapt to this too. I guess a few actually live with exposed roots on cliffs or trees anyway.


----------



## W. Beetus (Jul 4, 2011)

Looking good! The plants look like they are enjoying it.


----------



## Clark (Jul 5, 2011)

Ignore post.


----------



## Shiva (Jul 5, 2011)

I had a sudden wind storm hit my plants outside and one of my phrag besseae was blown off it's shelf. So I re-potted it in sphagnum in a Kool Krate basket. These are (were) sold to store CDs but I never bought one for this purpose. The plant is a climber, hence the tree fern pole.


----------



## Rick (Jul 5, 2011)

Shiva said:


> I had a sudden wind storm hit my plants outside and one of my phrag besseae was blown off it's shelf. So I re-potted it in sphagnum in a Kool Krate basket. These are (were) sold to store CDs but I never bought one for this purpose. The plant is a climber, hence the tree fern pole.


 

I like it Shiva! I just picked up a besseae from Sam and it went right into a basket. Only one week in and a new root popping out of the side of the plant.

I'll be interested if this new besseae will do the climbing thing with moss and the different feeding regime.


----------



## Heather (Jul 5, 2011)

Rick, Daryl from Kelly's Korner supplies (and my old society) was posting on facebook about how baskets aren't just for Vandas so I hope you don't mind I shared a link on our forum fb page.


----------



## Rick (Jul 5, 2011)

Heather said:


> Rick, Daryl from Kelly's Korner supplies (and my old society) was posting on facebook about how baskets aren't just for Vandas so I hope you don't mind I shared a link on our forum fb page.



Cool

What was Daryl putting in his baskets?


----------



## Heather (Jul 6, 2011)

Not Paphs! Dends, cats, and bulbos. But now he's thinking aboutpaphs, and shared my link to this thread on their FB page. Awesome! 

I know people don't always like Facebook but it is a good marketing tool.


----------



## Rick (Jul 13, 2011)

*The Kovachii Plunge*

Ok got one of Glen Decker's kovachii seedlings in today. It's going in the basket.




Good roots. The leaf span is a bit over 9 inches,and overall looks pretty healthy. This basket is using limestone gravel, sand, and cichlid sand.




The color is kind of lime green and I think it should be darker. I put a pair of green handled channel locks behind the plant for color comparison.


----------



## NYEric (Jul 14, 2011)

Add mg.


----------



## Rick (Jul 14, 2011)

NYEric said:


> Add mg.



Got a shot this morning:wink::wink:


----------



## NYEric (Jul 14, 2011)

Not you, the plants! oke:


----------



## Rick (Jul 14, 2011)

NYEric said:


> Not you, the plants! oke:



I also got his last sangii seedling for sale, and its not on my kitchen stoveoke:oke:


----------



## NYEric (Jul 14, 2011)

Rick said:


> I also got his last sangii seedling for sale, and its not on my kitchen stoveoke:oke:


!! Wow! Ruthless!


----------



## Mathias (Jul 14, 2011)

Rick said:


> Ok got one of Glen Decker's kovachii seedlings in today. It's going in the basket.
> 
> The leaf span is a bit over 9 inches,and overall looks pretty healthy. This basket is using limestone gravel, sand, and cichlid sand.



Maybe sphagnum is a bit to acidic for kovachii. Do you think the limestone gravel will compensate for that?


----------



## Rick (Jul 14, 2011)

Mathias said:


> Maybe sphagnum is a bit to acidic for kovachii. Do you think the limestone gravel will compensate for that?



The actual pH of drainage water from the baskets has been coming in at a bit over 6. It might be the general high aeration of being in a basket or the other components that have gone into the mix, but I'm not seeing the ultra low pH values that sphagnum is famous for. 

There are many other plants like bulbos that are not famous for acid tolerance that I've had in sphagnum for years that thrive. Several other Paph species like sanderianum, henryanum, and rothchildianum that come from either limestone cliffs or over ultramorphic serpentine are absolutely thriving in the first six months of this project.

Bark mixes can also become very acidic in relative short periods of time. CHC usually slower but still capable of low pH. I haven't seen much for kovachii requiring totally inert alkaline substrates, but I intend to be vigilant.


----------



## Rick (Jul 15, 2011)

I took a water sample from 2 of the sanderianum baskets that I started in January 2011.

pH = 7.06
conductivity = 250 useimens/cm
hardness = 48 mg/L as CaCO3

Did my best to go slow and get first flush.


----------



## Jim Toomey (Jul 15, 2011)

As to the Kovachii mix:
check out Alfredo Manrique's website and what he says about PK culture: http://www.phragmipediumkovachii.com/PKculture/PK-culture.htm 

Quoted from his site:
"PK culture: As with most Phrags, water quality is critical when growing PKs. We recommend keeping the media evenly moist all through the year, using RO or rainwater. The media must be open and very porous. 

We use 1/4" crushed granite stones up to 50% of the mixture, plus chopped tree fern, charcoal, perlite and a small amount of fir bark. 5% of the mix is based on
crushed seashells and eggshells.
PK culture (continues): This mix will last up to 2 years. 
It is highly recommended to add the sea and eggshells 
as a very fine powder to be scattered over the media 
every 2 months.

The fertilization program is weekly using a 15-5-15 
formula and calcium nitrate or magnesium sulfate 
dissolved in water in a concentration of up to 300 ppm. 
We have been testing other fertilizers the last 4 years. 
In the future we will release our findings here.


Good ventilation has proven to be a key factor. Light mustbe n the medium range, less than what Cattleyas require. Midday sunlight must never reach the leaves." 

Check out the photo gallery, the eighth photo down shows a PK in a basket, with a pretty chunky mix. There are more interesting photos all of the way down, so look at them all!


----------



## paphioboy (Jul 15, 2011)

Thanks for the link, Jim.. I didn't realize how huge PK flowers are until I looked at the last pic (human hand vs flower in situ)...


----------



## Rick (Jul 16, 2011)

I remember that first article by Manuel on the feeding and substrate for kovachii. It's written a little funny so not sure exactly what he is doing, but on the presumption he is feeding his 15-5-15 fert at a rate allowing 120 ppm N and spiking in either calcium nitrate or magnesium sulfate to 300 ppm each:

His final feeding rate on the calcium nitrate days would be: 
171 ppm N
40 ppm PO4
120 ppm K
73 ppm Ca
No additional Mg into a mostly inorganic potting mix with calcium/magnesium continuously available only after slow dissolution

His final feeding rate on the mag sulfate days would be: 
120 ppm N
40 ppm PO4
120 ppm K
60 ppm Mg
240 ppm SO4
No additional Ca into a mostly inorganic potting mix with calcium/magnesium continuously available only after slow dissolution.


If that's what he's doing?? On that presumption he's getting pretty close to the general plant leaf foliar conditions I've been harping about lately.


----------



## Rick (Nov 5, 2011)

I found some big roots crawling out of a basket.

Its a P. barbata. This is the mother plant that went into the basket after breaking off the stolon with its roots and new growths. It had a nub or two of roots left when it went into the basket.



A different angle shows a total of 3 roots poking through the slats.



The stolon with the roots and new growths went back into a pot with live moss and hydroton balls.
I did all this about the time I started the reduced K feeding with extra Ca. The new growths have grown at a fantastic rate and are very dark and stiff leaved compared to the plant they originally came off of.



Now that the mother plant has some good roots, each new leaf has been getting darker and darker.


----------



## paphioboy (Nov 5, 2011)

Very healthy barbatum...


----------



## Stone (Nov 6, 2011)

Nice job Rick! I think baskets are the wave of the future for paphs!


----------



## likespaphs (Nov 6, 2011)

any thought if net pots would afford similar benefits?


----------



## Rick (Nov 6, 2011)

likespaphs said:


> any thought if net pots would afford similar benefits?



I don't see why not. I think the reduced feeding is just as critical as the aeration benefits of the basket.


----------



## Rick (Dec 24, 2011)

Some more updates on multis. Clumping, rooting, spiking.

Roth update June vs December.







The two smallest growths popped up shortly after going into the basket back in January. The biggest start is now bigger than the parent growth, and the parent growth has a new growth coming out of it where it looked like it had crown rotted.

The supardii's seemed a bit slow at first but now:


roots poking out all over.


Three new growths (new button showing on oldest growth)


Flower sheath


----------



## Justin (Dec 24, 2011)

The roth looks a lot happier. I've noticed the smaller roth plants can often be harder to get to blooming size. What's the parentage?

Have any of your supardii bloomed yet? I grew a flask out and the biggest ones are now BS but still single growths...am wondering if they might bloom this spring.

Have you noticed supardii tends to have more fungal infection than other species? I think it's generally an easy species (easier than say, stonei) but mine always had a lot of black spots...but from just a few months i think that may be changing with the new low-k feeding program.


----------



## Rick (Dec 24, 2011)

Justin said:


> The roth looks a lot happier. What's the parentage?
> 
> Have any of your supardii bloomed yet? I grew a flask out and the biggest ones are now BS but still single growths...am wondering if they might bloom this spring.
> 
> Have you noticed supardii tends to have more fungal infection than other species? I think it's generally an easy species (easier than say, stonei) but mine always had a lot of black spots...but from just a few months i think that may be changing with the new low-k feeding program.



The roth is Noyo X Eureka. I picked this plant up as seedling in 2002, and its always been small even when it got up to 4 growths. It got down to 2 small growths before I split them into 2 separate baskets. The other piece is doing great with roots and new leaves, but no new growths yet.

This supardii has bloomed before. It's a Fox Valley plant, and posted pics of the blooms a year or so ago. In the middle photo you can see the stump of the old flowering growth. Right off the top I can't recall if this is the one I selfed or the other one I have from OL, but the seedlings are more sensitive to rots than the adults for me. Once BS I think they are pretty tough. I don't have much problems with stonei either, and have a couple of sheaths spotted on them too. But the stonei like much brighter light compared to supardii. The supardii seem to favor being in the back of the GH with the sanderianums, while roth and stonei are out front in the brighter end of the house.


----------



## NYEric (Dec 24, 2011)

I have my Pk hybrids in too much light.


----------



## Rick (Dec 24, 2011)

NYEric said:


> I have my Pk hybrids in too much light.



Why do you say that?


----------



## Jim Toomey (Dec 25, 2011)

NY Eric:
Close the curtains !!!


----------



## NYEric (Dec 26, 2011)

Rick said:


> Why do you say that?



Mine get almost Catt light like all the living room plants.


----------



## Rick (Dec 26, 2011)

NYEric said:


> Mine get almost Catt light like all the living room plants.



My kovachii seedling is hanging in the middle of the GH over some blooming Catts, so I don't think that is too much light. The plant is growing and seems happy. Do you have some symptoms that look like leaf burn?


----------



## NYEric (Dec 27, 2011)

No, but I probably need to repot them.


----------



## BlazingAugust (Dec 27, 2011)

Wow, very interesting! I find it neat to see the roots poke out of the sphag, then quickly bury themselves again.


----------



## Ruth (Dec 29, 2011)

I noticed that you don't have hangers on all of the baskets. Do you set them on the shelf? 

Ruth


----------



## Rick (Dec 30, 2011)

Ruth said:


> I noticed that you don't have hangers on all of the baskets. Do you set them on the shelf?
> 
> Ruth



Correct, but I've also started to run out of hanging space.


----------



## Ruth (Dec 31, 2011)

Does it seem to make any difference in the growth whether they are hanging or sitting on the shelf? I was thinking that the ones on the shelf might stay wet longer?


----------



## Rick (Dec 31, 2011)

Ruth said:


> Does it seem to make any difference in the growth whether they are hanging or sitting on the shelf? I was thinking that the ones on the shelf might stay wet longer?



The shelves are open wire, so they don't seem to make much difference in how wet they stay as long as there is a little space between adjacent baskets. I also have some in shallow plastic tubs, and those do stay wetter. I don't think the multi's appreciate being that wet, so I raised up the baskets a few inches with upside down plastic pots for the multis to stay a bit dryer.

Some of the barbata types seem to like the wetter conditions. So they aren't propped up.


----------



## Ruth (Jan 1, 2012)

I have other orchids in baskets, but no paphs. I am going to try this.


----------



## Rick (Jan 1, 2012)

Ruth said:


> I have other orchids in baskets, but no paphs. I am going to try this.



I think it works great.

Please read the earlier parts of this thread since there is some substrate additions besides the moss that I think are important to making this work.


----------



## NYEric (Jan 2, 2012)

such as..


----------



## Rick (Jan 2, 2012)

NYEric said:


> such as..



The limestone gravel or hydroton balls, regular sand, and aragonite sand.


----------



## Ruth (Jan 2, 2012)

I will go back and look.


----------



## NYEric (Jan 3, 2012)

This limestone gravel thing is *REALLY* hard to find in NYC area. I did put aliflor (expanded clay balls) and large perlite, along with bark, diatomite, sand and live moss in my baskets. I will have to post photos later.


----------



## cnycharles (Jan 3, 2012)

well, you can put in hydroton or aliflor, and sprinkle the aragonite cichlid sand or crushed coral/aragonite (both made by same company for aquariums), and it will do the same thing I think


----------



## Rick (Jan 3, 2012)

cnycharles said:


> well, you can put in hydroton or aliflor, and sprinkle the aragonite cichlid sand or crushed coral/aragonite (both made by same company for aquariums), and it will do the same thing I think



Yes (on the Carib Sea cichlid sand, aragonite). Pet Smarts, good aquarium stores, online.

Actually that coarse limestone gravel may do little if anything for pH control or calcium availability.

The aragonite sand is fairly fine and friable so it will help with both pH control and calcium availabiltiy. You don't need much, I just use a 1/4-1/2 tsp as a top dressing to a 4-6" basket. Then wash it in.


----------



## Ruth (Jan 6, 2012)

Well, I have 3 paphs in baskets now. How do you water? Do you keep them pretty wet? I am doing the low k fertiilzer(my way).


----------



## Rick (Jan 7, 2012)

Ruth said:


> Well, I have 3 paphs in baskets now. How do you water? Do you keep them pretty wet? I am doing the low k fertiilzer(my way).



It very's a bit but since I'm generally a bit heavy handed when watering I would generally say I keep them damp.

The baskets generally dry evenly and more quickly than pots, so I dribble a little water on them every day. Your air humidity conditions will dictate how fast they dry. So with my GH always greater than 70% I'm not worried about skipping a few days too.


----------



## Ruth (Jan 7, 2012)

Thanks, I will keep an eye on them. I have a few more I would like to put in baskets, but I make my own, and I have run out. As soon as I get some more baskets made, I have a couple more that will go in.


----------



## NYEric (Jan 9, 2012)

Ruth said:


> I have a few more I would like to put in baskets, *but I make my own,* and I have run out.


That's crazy-talk!


----------



## Ruth (Jan 9, 2012)

I knew posting here would get me in trouble.


----------



## NYEric (Jan 10, 2012)

It's OK, ity: Let's see some of your work!


----------



## Rick (Mar 23, 2012)

*Kovachii update*

New leaves, fast growth and big fat roots poking out the slats. This little guy went from 9 to 12" in LS. Newest leaf is 7" and still growing.


----------



## Jim Toomey (Mar 24, 2012)

Looks great!
Any more pics of your paphs?


----------



## Rick (Mar 24, 2012)

Jim Toomey said:


> Looks great!
> Any more pics of your paphs?



Waiting for more spikes and buds to mature, but getting lots of leaf and root growth in paphs too. I highlighted the kovachii since its considered a high $ risky plant.


----------



## Rick (Jun 9, 2013)

*Basket update*

There's a couple of plants that I originally put in small baskets that are starting to out grow them. One is this Paph tonsum. I dropped the 4 inch basket into a new moss lined 6". Roots still doing great.


----------



## SlipperFan (Jun 9, 2013)

What are you going to do when you have to un-pot it???


----------



## Rick (Jun 9, 2013)

SlipperFan said:


> What are you going to do when you have to un-pot it???



I'm not going to un-pot. If it really seems constrained by the old basket, then I clip the wires and pull out a few of the slats in the direction the plant wants to go. I've also seen some rot on some of the slats, so they may just disintegrate on their own anyway.


----------



## naoki (Jun 10, 2013)

The plant is looking great. So Rick, you don't repot them (meaning remove old media) for a long long time? I know you are watching the EC and pH, but don't you have problems with decline of pH in sphag? I saw a horticultural paper with puzzling results: pH of sphag goes up if it's in the pot without plant and irrigated, but the existence of plant roots (I think it was Phal) causes the pH to go down. Oh here it is:

http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/46/7/1022.full.pdf

Maybe low-K doesn't cause the similar decline in pH?


----------



## Rick (Jun 10, 2013)

Part of that pH drop may be a time frame issue. Since I couldn't access the paper in supplied, I can conjecture that the test duration is relatively short. Maybe less than a year.

And then need to consider the amount of moss relative to the amount of water passing through, and the amount of buffer in irrigation water.

The amount of organic acid in a set amount of sphagnum moss is finite. Subsequently, the acid buffering capacity of the "acids" in moss is also finite. So the more you water with some minimal amount of alkalalinty will neutralize the organic acid of the moss. Eventually you will also wash out the organic acids and end up with a fairly neutral matrix. The old celluose skeleton of the moss I doubt is that acidic.

Add to the acidification by nitrifying bacteria. This could be a bigger driver to substrate pH with high ammonia feeds than what the sphagnum is doing. Feeding low concentrations of a low ammonia feed (nitrate based) isn't going to produce a high density of nitrifrying bacteria for sustained utilization of alkalinity by bacterial action.

Now the wild card is actual effects by the orchid roots in the moss matrix. Until it turns into solid roots I'm not sure how influential the gas and ion transfer from roots to substrate is. But CO2 is exhaled at night , and picked up during the day. Alkalinity is released during uptake of NO3, and H released by uptake of NH3. My guess is that net balance of effects due to the orchid in the pot is pretty negligable compared to what bacteria and moss organic chemistry controls.

My "moss baskets" are maybe only 50% moss by volume. The rest is coarse limestone gravel from my driveway and some sand. I offer very tiny amounts of ammonia, and water alot (more than I used to). So I for the handful of times I checked pH, I just wasn't seeing a big pH drop over time.


----------



## Rick (Jun 10, 2013)

I posted the results of a quick experiment with sphag in bottles of DI water with varying amounts of buffering aragonite sand.

The pH of the unamended spagh bottle dropped to less than 5 over some days. But the ammended sphag stayed within normal pH values for orchids.


I think the most surpising part was how little aragonite sand it took to keep the pH up. (way less than I was adding in anticipation of the moss acidification effects). This indicated that moss on its own has acidification potential, but the acid is very weak, and easily offset by small amounts of buffer.

If you are using a surface water for irrigation (rather than pure RO) that should supply enough alkalinity to offset the moss aciditiy without the use of bicarbonate based potting ammendments.


----------



## naoki (Jun 11, 2013)

I remember your post about aragonite. It is mainly CaCO3, right?

Sorry I didn't notice the link was limited to my institution (I emailed PDF to you just in case it is something interesting). And you are right, it is relatively short term study (30 weeks). From my half-ass understanding, the authors are suggesting that the pH drop is mainly due to the excretion from root. According to the other papers, concentration/composition of fertilizer could influence the acidification, but this paper was trying to show the existence of root is more relevant. The rhizosphere chemistry seems to be pretty complex (and the cited studies are not from epiphytes), but the discussion section talks about other studies which showed that pH decline also happens with deficiency in K, P, or Fe. So, if you are not seeing pH decline in your low-K, this may be a good thing (i.e., not deficient in K?).


----------



## Markedg (Jun 12, 2013)

*Aquatic pots*

Hi, I am thinking about trying basket culture to see how I get on. I am in europe and baskets are not that easy to find, and are expensive, would the baskets you would put aquatic plants in, suffice


----------



## SlipperKing (Jun 12, 2013)

Markedg said:


> Hi, I am thinking about trying basket culture to see how I get on. I am in europe and baskets are not that easy to find, and are expensive, would the baskets you would put aquatic plants in, suffice



I would think so, you may not need to line the interior with much moss if the holes are small enough to keep your potting mix in.


----------



## Trithor (Jun 12, 2013)

They don't look as authentic, but they work just fine. I have used plastic crates as baskets for my bigger bulbos. Wooden baskets can become a bit bulky when they get too large. Plastic works just fine.


----------



## Stone (Jun 12, 2013)

Markedg said:


> Hi, I am thinking about trying basket culture to see how I get on. I am in europe and baskets are not that easy to find, and are expensive, would the baskets you would put aquatic plants in, suffice



The Orchid pot Co. sells plasctic baskets which last forever. I don't know if they export. http://www.orchidpotco.com/products.htm


----------



## goldenrose (Jun 12, 2013)

Markedg said:


> Hi, I am thinking about trying basket culture to see how I get on. I am in europe and baskets are not that easy to find, and are expensive, would the baskets you would put aquatic plants in, suffice





SlipperKing said:


> I would think so, you may not need to line the interior with much moss if the holes are small enough to keep your potting mix in.



but would we want the roots to come out if they wish? Some of the aquatic/net pots come heavy duty, these hold up much better. Why not just make some out of plastic coated wire mesh?


----------



## Rick (Jun 13, 2013)

Stone said:


> The Orchid pot Co. sells plasctic baskets which last forever. I don't know if they export. http://www.orchidpotco.com/products.htm



Actually you don't want them to last forever. You want them to decompose after time to grow them into the next size basket.

The plastic ones hold up too well, and when you try to move the plant out of a plastic net basket the roots can get torn up.

I have a handful of bulbos (and I guess my Xerophyticum) that started out in net and solid plastic pots. Instead of repoting I just stuck them (pot and all into a basket, and then let them grow over the top into the next container.

I don't think this will work well fro most slippers since they don't run long stolons and rambel over the top of the media.


----------



## Stone (Jun 13, 2013)

Rick said:


> > Actually you don't want them to last forever. You want them to decompose after time to grow them into the next size basket.
> 
> 
> You will find that sooner or later you will need to remove the old material and repot with fresh. Moving an old basket into a new one without changing the mix will work for a while but as the original old roots in the center of the rootball age and start to die off, this area will become the seat of future trouble in my experience. The free root run of the basket will/does greatly improve the vigour of the plant but to keep it going long term (10 years +?), I find that it helps if you can get to that middle of the rootball area somehow and blast the old dead roots and rubbish with water.If you can manage this with the wooden basket without removing the plant then no problem. I also find it helpful to stuff this old center area with bits of polystyrene and surrounding that with your normal mix.
> ...


----------



## gotsomerice (Jun 13, 2013)

FYI
The late Ray Rands (Paph. randsii) grew most of his specimen plants in the wooden baskets too. The rest of his plants were in the Rands' Air Cone pots that he invented. I think the weirdest thing I've seen in bloom was a paph. that he crossed (tigrinum x leucochilum). I am still regretting the fact that I didn't buy that plant.


----------



## SlipperKing (Jun 13, 2013)

gotsomerice said:


> FYI
> The late Ray Rands (Paph. randsii) grew most of his specimen plants in the wooden baskets too. The rest of his plants were in the Rands' Air Cone pots that he invented. I think the weirdest thing I've seen in bloom was a paph. that he crossed (tigrinum x leucochilum). I am still regretting the fact that I didn't buy that plant.



That's the next plant I want to put into a basket


----------



## Trithor (Jun 14, 2013)

I make baskets out of off cuts of various African hardwoods that we accumulate at the workshop. They do not rot very quickly, and even years later after placing one inside the next and then into another, the first has not rotted away. I find that my dendrobes and catts do not need any potting material at this stage as there is enough root mass and wooden slats to form enough substrate. Obviously paphs would be different not being strictly epiphytic.


----------



## Rick (Jun 14, 2013)

Trithor said:


> Obviously paphs would be different not being strictly epiphytic.



Not neccessarily. There's a handful that are strict epiphytes, some switch hitters, and some of the cliff dwellers have roots totally exposed and are for all purposes "epiphytic" 

Villosum is an obvious full out epiphyte, and I'm expeciting henryanum to fall into that last category.

My multis in general are doing well in this system, especially the stonei's.


----------

