Jason Fischer
www.orchidweb.com
For those of you who aren't on the other slipper forum, I'm taking a poll on whether people are interested in these pots or not, enjoy!
OK, so I've seen these pots used on Asian cymbidiums because of their long root systems. The Japanese tall plastic pots are very nice, but also very expensive to bring in. I recently discovered 'tree pots' when I was in California and saw Norito Hasegawa using them for Asian cymbidiums.
Tree pots come in many sizes and shapes, and they are just the pot for those of you who have phrag. besseae and besseae hybrids that like to crawl waaay up on a long rhizome. There are a few things you can do when this happens.
A) You could just chop off the newest growth at the rhizome, discarding of the entire root system while hoping the new one develops (which it does, but it takes a while)
B) Keep the existing root system while using a tall pot, hence the tree pot.
The following are the steps I used in order, followed by pics of each step. Let me know what you think, and if you'd like to see these pots available for purchase as I have to make a pretty hefty order and only really want to do it if there is interest (I personally think this is great!).
1)The orchid, in this case Phrag. Hanne Popow flavum. You can see the long rhizome sticking up with the main root mass way below.
2)The tree pot. This is the 4" x 10" long size.
3)The drainage on these things is huge, and most bark will just fall through, so I used some sphagnum moss at the bottom for drainage. The best thing to do would be to cut screen and push it to the bottom.
4)I remove all the old growth and leave only what is on top. This may be painful for you, but these growths are just making a mess and we don't need them anymore. In truth, these areas can still produce more new growths, but this example is how to make the plant look nice and clean!
5)You can now see what I've done. The plant will end up pushing many new roots at the base of the newest growth, but only after they are in potting material (they just sit dormant until they get adequate moisture).
6)It was a perfect fit! The main root mass is at the very bottom of the pot.
7)The finished product. The plant was not stressed at all! I did this about a month ago and it just kept right on flowering without any signs of stress. So what do you think?
OK, so I've seen these pots used on Asian cymbidiums because of their long root systems. The Japanese tall plastic pots are very nice, but also very expensive to bring in. I recently discovered 'tree pots' when I was in California and saw Norito Hasegawa using them for Asian cymbidiums.
Tree pots come in many sizes and shapes, and they are just the pot for those of you who have phrag. besseae and besseae hybrids that like to crawl waaay up on a long rhizome. There are a few things you can do when this happens.
A) You could just chop off the newest growth at the rhizome, discarding of the entire root system while hoping the new one develops (which it does, but it takes a while)
B) Keep the existing root system while using a tall pot, hence the tree pot.
The following are the steps I used in order, followed by pics of each step. Let me know what you think, and if you'd like to see these pots available for purchase as I have to make a pretty hefty order and only really want to do it if there is interest (I personally think this is great!).
1)The orchid, in this case Phrag. Hanne Popow flavum. You can see the long rhizome sticking up with the main root mass way below.
2)The tree pot. This is the 4" x 10" long size.
3)The drainage on these things is huge, and most bark will just fall through, so I used some sphagnum moss at the bottom for drainage. The best thing to do would be to cut screen and push it to the bottom.
4)I remove all the old growth and leave only what is on top. This may be painful for you, but these growths are just making a mess and we don't need them anymore. In truth, these areas can still produce more new growths, but this example is how to make the plant look nice and clean!
5)You can now see what I've done. The plant will end up pushing many new roots at the base of the newest growth, but only after they are in potting material (they just sit dormant until they get adequate moisture).
6)It was a perfect fit! The main root mass is at the very bottom of the pot.
7)The finished product. The plant was not stressed at all! I did this about a month ago and it just kept right on flowering without any signs of stress. So what do you think?
