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Thread: Hanging basket?

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Wilmington, NC
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    167

    Default Hanging basket?

    How do I attach my brassia to a hanging basket...I can't seem to find a step-by-step thing on the internet? Thanks in advance.

  2. #2
    Real Name
    Louis J. Aszod
    My Grow Area
    Greenhouse
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    Cattleya
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    Feb 2003
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    Clarksville, Arkansas
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    Default

    The hanging baskets traditionally used for orchids are made out of teak or redwood slats, even thick metal wire, but any kind will work. You just want to avoid the kind that have a ton of sphagnum or that stringy stuff (forgot the name of it) inside because it'll hold too much moisture and end up rotting the roots.

    Water the plant first to make the roots more pliable, then squeeze the sides of the pot to loosen the plant. You may want to wait to repot it until after it's done blooming: Brassia roots are pretty thin and easily damaged.

    When you get the plant out, very carefully pull the loose sphagnum it's potted in away from the base and roots. If the roots have grown into the stuff to the degree that you can't remove the sphagnum easily, don't damage the root system: better to leave it alone and remember not to overwater.

    Here, we anchor our hanging plants (usually Vandas) in baskets using lava rock and tuck the longer roots between the slats so that they hang out. In your case, the roots will be nowhere near the size of a Vanda's, so it's just a matter of filling the basket with lava rock or coarse redwood bark to the level that you need to raise the plant up to. Place the plant in the basket, then anchor it down with more coarse bark or lava rock, just enough so that it stays put.

    And that's it! Not very complicated. As the plant grows, its roots will extend and "grab on" to whatever you used to anchor it with and it will steady itself naturally.

    You can buy lava rock at any home and garden center: the kind used for walkways works great. Just rinse it to get the dust off first, and you're good to go. The size or grade you use will determine how much water is retained: the finer the grade, the more water will be held. If the basket you're using has very wide openings, you may have to line the inside of it with chicken wire mesh first, and then go ahead and fill it with the bark or lava rock.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Wilmington, NC
    Posts
    167

    Default

    Thanks...sounds easy enough, but I think I want to attach it to a bark. With the huge flower I think it will look pretty cool. Other than some fishing line and some maneuvering I think I can manage. And the roots were fine when I pulled the plant out. I just had to soak the spaghnum pretty well, it was a little attached to the sides, but I just wanted to get it out of the spaghnum before I killed it, the last bud hasn't bloomed yet, lets hope its ok. And when I was pulling it apart, it looked like it HAD been in a bark medium, but I guess they put the spaghnum in it so the plant wouldn't die at the store. All in all no harm done. I'm actually thinking about putting spanish moss with it...I know you have to bleach the stuff once you get it off the tree, and it obviously has to wait a few days before touching the plant, but I don't want to kill it. Should I even try with the spanish moss?

  4. #4
    Real Name
    Louis J. Aszod
    My Grow Area
    Greenhouse
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    Cattleya
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    Feb 2003
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    Male
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    Clarksville, Arkansas
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    3,780
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    The live spanish moss that we have here is all purchased, but if you have some growing wild where you are, I don't see what harm it could do to try. (I've never actually bleached any, so don't know what the effect of that would be on the moss. I'm assuming you're trying to kill fungus and things on it--a 5% bleach and water solution should be ok.)

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Western New York
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    Default

    I noticed you are from Wilmington, how is the weather there? My boyfriend is doing lectures there this week, he was hoping to see the sun, it has been horrible and overcast in NY.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Wilmington, NC
    Posts
    167

    Default

    It was great out today. Its nice, except for all the rain we have. It's around the 70s so, from your perspective it's really REALLY warm. Windy here like always. Hope your boyfriend has a good time. By the way, what does he do?

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