Ebb and Flow for Phrags

[gonewild]

Stick with the spag if it works for you. Leca would probably work for you if you kept the plants sitting in water as will the moss.

I would not bother with rock wool. I have some no orchid plants in it and "I under estimated the creepyness of it".

 

[Candace]

What don't you like about the rock wool?

 

[Rick]

There are some plastic net type pots that I've got-I think they'd be pretty easy to cut. Though, if I stick to the same method I use now, I'll just pot them in spagnum and repot every 6-8 months. I did NOT have success with my phrags in leca. They like spag. much better. I could also experiment with rock wool or grow-cubes. Most likely, if the roots start to escape, I'd just repot.

I had a wallisii in one of those net type basket pots in sphag. I grew fantastically, constantly wet, kind of SH. But it maxed out the pot and roots were everywhere. I ended up mutilating it cutting up the pot, and then it came down with slow burning Erwinia until it went from 10+ growths to nothing. Instead of trying to remove the entire pot, I probably should have just cut the rim off and stuck the whole root mass with the old pot intact into a bigger net basket with more sphag.

Anyway that's my strategy for using the wooden slat baskets. Bigger openings, and if the wood isn't rotten, just cut the wire pins holding the corners together and the pieces fall out. Then stick the root mass into a bigger basket.

 

[Ernie]

Maybe an open bottom pot with a large mesh on the bottom to hold in a layer of coarse leca at the bottom.

Take a peak at mesh pots marketed for pond plants. Like for lilies and irises etc. They have a pretty tight mesh and I would imagine phrag roots wouldn't get through?

 

[Lanmark]

I think Ernie's just given a great suggestion here: pond plant mesh pots! The mesh really is very small! You could try one or two plants in them using sphagnum moss and discover how easy or difficult it will be to repot them 6 - 8 months from now. I wonder if there is some way you could treat the interior of these pond plant mesh pots with a non-greasy, non-toxic, permanent, non-stick coating which wouldn't wash away or soak off. Quick! -- should we run off to the patent office?! :rollhappy:

Lance is right. Avoid the rock wool, and it also sounds to me like you'd probably have better results with sphagnum moss than with LECA, but still allowing the tall pots to rest in shallow, frequently-changed RO water which is aerated/moving. Ditching the idea of ebb and flow for your Phrags might be the right choice.

One of the things I really appreciate about this forum is this ongoing awesome exchange of ideas and the wise tips we can all glean from experienced growers like Lance, Ernie, Rick, Candace, Rose, Dot, and so many others. :clap:

 

[Candace]

Very interesting idea about the pond pots. And guess what? I've got a 4,000 gallon koi pond and they never even crossed my mind.

 

[gonewild]

What don't you like about the rock wool?

Visually it looks like a mess that would be swept up from a construction site. One of the main reasons to grow orchids is for the beauty and to bring nature into our lives. Rock wool just looks un-natural.
But if you want your greenhouse to look commercial and industrial then the above does not apply.

The cuttings that I have rooted in it have not produced roots as well as an organic or sand media. New roots start but don't grow out as well from stem cuttings on woody plants. I am using rock wool cubes for rooting an aroid plant and the roots do grow well. But the only reason I'm using the rock wool is because these plants will be used as aquatics in aquariums and the rock wool is inert and complies with soil less ag requirements. Probably once you learn how to grow in rock wool it would be good. One thing I did notice is that if you stick your finger into the rock wool it collapses and is no longer a good media in a pot.

 

[NYEric]

I've got a 4,000 gallon koi pond

If your weather permits it, why dont you just plant the phrags around that?

 

[Ernie]

If your weather permits it, why dont you just plant the phrags around that?

Eric, that's actually sorta my inspiration for recommending the pond net baskets. I have some for the pond plants and was considering putting some Parvis in the net baskets and sinking them into the ground around the yard (and next to the pond which is a fraction of the size of Candace's). Figured it would be a good way to make them fairly naturalized, but mobile on those frosty nights. Was also considering using some with LECA in water trays.

 

[Clark]

Sometimes when I feel like Wile E. Coyote, landscape fabric/weed barrier has come in handy. I have lined a pot or two with it.

 

[NYEric]

For parvis I would think it would be too wet, but for thirsty phrags! :drool:

 

[gonewild]

The concept of growing the Phrags in standing or moving water is so that the roots can grow out into the water. So you don't want a pot that will keep the roots inside the pot. What you want is a pot that has holes large enough so that when you need to repot the plant the roots don't get damaged.

I don't know how fine med pond mesh baskets are but a phrag might put roots right through it.

 

[Candace]

Sometimes when I feel like Wile E. Coyote, landscape fabric/weed barrier has come in handy. I have lined a pot or two with it.

Now that's a lovely idea too:> I have a bunch of it in the garage I've never used. Hmmmm.

 

[Candace]

If your weather permits it, why dont you just plant the phrags around that?

Weather doesn't permit for me.

 

[Shiva]

Sometimes when I feel like Wile E. Coyote, landscape fabric/weed barrier has come in handy. I have lined a pot or two with it.

I love it when people remember their classics.

 

[Ernie]

For parvis I would think it would be too wet, but for thirsty phrags! :drool:

The parvis would not sit in water (plants in big net pond pots in "typical" mix then sunk in ground), just the phrags (in LECA sitting in water).

 

[NYEric]

I guess there are no openings in the bottom of these pots for water to come in thru then?

 

[Ernie]

I guess there are no openings in the bottom of these pots for water to come in thru then?

No, fine mesh all around. They're baskets. Like this... http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/209415/product.web?gdftrk=gdfV2226_a_7c268_a_7c713_a_7c209415

Water doesn't hang around my yard much in most places- I have sand and very little soil.

 

[NYEric]

OK, since you have little sitting water. BTW Ernie, just for fun, do you have a map of the area where you live? If you look at all the little circular lakes around your town, you should just be aware that, at one time that was solid water and the land was drained out. Eventually the aquifer below will collapse and the land areas will fall into sinkholes! Have a nice day. :evil:

 

[Ernie]

OK, since you have little sitting water. BTW Ernie, just for fun, do you have a map of the area where you live? If you look at all the little circular lakes around your town, you should just be aware that, at one time that was solid water and the land was drained out. Eventually the aquifer below will collapse and the land areas will fall into sinkholes! Have a nice day. :evil:

What did I do to deserve that? And when the great flood happens again, NY City and all of Florida will BOTH be part of Atlantis. Don't you watch disaster movies? :rollhappy: