Clay Pot Poll

[Wade's Orchids]

I have noticed that occasionally a plant may be in sphagnum moss but either there is a lot of space open in the bottom of the pot or it is filled mostly with drainage material. This method can actually work as a replacement for something that you would otherwise pot in a basket. I use it sometimes for my species cattleyas and other things that like to have a lot of drainage. The roots will go where they like it best. In a 6" pot I use about 1 1/2" of moss and the rest is usually stones and styrofoam peanuts. I have had it work well in both plastic and clay pots.

[kharma]

i dont have any in clay yet but i am going to experiment with the clay balls with 1 of my phal and see how it goes maybe i will try a catt in one

[citywildcat]

You know the old saying, "if it's not broken, don't fix it". My philosophy is, if you have something in a clay pot that's doing well, why mess with it?

[Kauaiguy]

I use nothing BUT clay pots for a three reasons:
a) They DRAIN easier, doesn't hold much moisture which is what kills most orchids.
b) They have some air circulation vs a plastic pot. Most of my pots are the 8" Azelea (which is now being dubbed as orchid pots) pots, and I use both ones with holes on the side and the cheaper one without holes.
c) They're heavier than plastic pots which helps keep the wind from blowing the pot down.

[Carolla]

Many of my orchids like clay pots. My phals seem to do very well in them generally - the ones with the extra drainage are great. They are heavy and keep the bigger plants from falling over, they are cheap, they drain well, but hold some moisture in the pot itself. I also use ceramic pots with the holes in the sides - I like them but a lot of them don't have good bottom drainage, so that bothers me. I don't mind a good draining plastic pot, like the ones I can see the roots in and I've got a lot of my orchids, Phals included, in Semi-hydro, which seems to work well for me. I have some plants that don't seem to do well no matter what and some that seem to thrive no matter what...

[Kauaiguy]

Regarding PHALS : I have had mixed results using clay pots for Phals. Seems like Phals like a wee bit moisture than Cattleyas (perhaps because Cattleyas have pseudobulbs) and prefer to have their roots exposed above the rooting medium. I have 2 phals now that I'm trying to revive since they weren't doing too well in the clay pots.

I have purchased a dozen 6" and 8" meshed pots which are IMO very expensive. BUT ... and this is a good but! After transferring them into these meshed pots using nothing but a bit of sphagnum moss, they ALL seem to be recovering! In fact one little Phal that had shriveled leaves looks well now and is putting out a new root! Yay!

Is this the answer? I don't know, but ... here I go again with the but ... I have three more in clay pots that are looking a little peaked that I'll probably re-pot using the meshed pots and see what happens.

What prompted me to do this is because, when I see an orchid in serious trouble, I usually take it out of the pot and tie it against a trunk of my Areka Palms using nothing but a bit of sphagnum moss ... and I have had great success! Problem is: I'm running out of trunks ... LOL!