Repotting into baskets and similar

[JeanLux]

I had prepared elements to build some baskets months ago, but not yet assembled them! So, this morning, full of energy I started drilling the holes for the fixing wire, used a hammer with the intention to fix the basis elements with nails, the hammer unfortunately hit my thumb instead of the nail ( I never thought I had a green thumb but now I have a blue/black one ), yes, and finished after a lot of time to build 2 baskets:

As bottom media I used fern roots and living moss, for the rest a mix of bark, Kanuma and Akadama, topdressed with moss:

First my kolo, that had suffered a very hard sunburn last year:

some good roots:

in basket:

then a phili to be put in sort of wire basket:

Then my precious roth from KS:

in basket:

now just hope this works better

Jean

 

[JeanLux]

For Kanuma, Akadama see: => http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25006
Jean

 

[Rick]

Good luck Jean. I think its worth a try, and your baskets look good.

A low potassium/high Ca Mg food (if you are feeding) is also essential.

 

[The Mutant]

Well, I don't know anything about this basket culture thingy, I just wanted to go "aww", over your roth - those new growths are darn cute! :smitten:

 

[eggshells]

Great job on the baskets. You are so crafty.

 

[Stone]

I think they will do well Jean!! Just watch the zinc from the galvanised mesh.
Some things hate it!

 

[SlipperFan]

They look great! Did you get the green moss from your yard?

 

[JeanLux]

They look great! Did you get the green moss from your yard?

yes Dot!!!! What used to be a lawn at the backside of my house has turned over the years into square meters of fine moss !!!! Jean

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Updates in the future Jean, please. Kanuma must be a bit expensive in Europe. Here I get a 14 liter bag for around 4 euro (~$5US).

 

[Yoyo_Jo]

Your baskets look great, Jean! :clap:

 

[SlipperFan]

yes Dot!!!! What used to be a lawn at the backside of my house has turned over the years into square meters of fine moss !!!! Jean

Thanks, Jean. I've been scraping moss off various places in my yard this summer to use with mounting. I like the idea of adding it to the potting media.

 

[SlipperKing]

I hope your thumb is healing and feeling better! Your baskets look very professional! I think you will need to water daily(?) Rick, can you help out here?

 

[Rick]

I hope your thumb is healing and feeling better! Your baskets look very professional! I think you will need to water daily(?) Rick, can you help out here?

It hasn't been that bad, but the GH humidity stays up >70%. You can also place the baskets in shallow plastic totes and shoe boxes, that seem to keep them holding moisture even longer.

But since I have most of my non paph collection mounted or in hanging baskets, I'm throwing water around the collection just about daily anyway. So it never occurs to me that I'm using too much water or time. Maybe it helps that my GH is only 144 sqft (and collection is about 300 or so adult plants)

I go through between 1-2 gallons of water a day for basic watering (I use a pump sprayer so I keep count of refills) except on Saturday or Sunday when I fertilize and truly deep water. Then I go through 5-6 gallons.

The fogger and wetpad systems use a lot more water for cooling/humidity maintenance, but they are automated and hooked to the house water. Before I put the wetpad on an auto fill system I would put about a 5 gallon bucket of water into it every morning. The fogger is rated at 3 gallons per hour, and sometimes during the really hot summer days, it probably runs 5 or more total hours in a day.

 

[SlipperKing]

Whoo! that's not much water at all Rick. I use 50+ gal every two days! My GH is 448 sq ft.

 

[Rick]

Whoo! that's not much water at all Rick. I use 50+ gal every two days! My GH is 448 sq ft.

25 gal/day for just plant watering or does that include cooling/humidification systems?


25 gal per day is 3+ times more per square ft of plant space than me.

 

[JeanLux]

That's being an interesting subject again: watering -frequency - amount of water used - quality !!

I believe that my main problem is, that I have a mixed collection meaning plants in plastic pots, plants in clay pots, plants in baskets (until now mostly catts) and of course mounted catts and family!!!!

Conc. watering, what is enough for clay pots is too much for plastic and maybe not enough for the mounted ones !!!

Anyway I need for a complete watering of my 8x3m gh about 100l (=+/- 25 gall!?), but usually once a week!!!

Jean

 

[Stone]

yes Dot!!!! What used to be a lawn at the backside of my house has turned over the years into square meters of fine moss !!!! Jean

On Sunday I found a huge patch of premium thick spongy green moss in a little reserve down the road. It's almost like sphag. So I filled a big sack with it. Got some funny looks from the locals too!

 

[NYEric]

I get live moss from ebay. I think it helps the mix.

 

[biothanasis]

Great handcraft Jean :clap: Good luck with the basketed plants

 

[chrismende]

I think they will do well Jean!! Just watch the zinc from the galvanised mesh.
Some things hate it!

How does one watch or wash the zinc? I'm glad to know this - what "things" hate it?