Half and half for half.

10 years ago

Half of my Dracula collection is being repotted. Many are doing well but just not as well as I wold like them too. I have seen the incredible plants grown by John Leathers of Hawk Hills and finally decided toi adopt his growing technique.

In the 'Orchids' magazine, Vol 80 No 10 October 2011 he writes about Drac 'Raven an almost black orchid he developed. In the first collum, near the bottom, he describes his potting method. Line a basket with sphagnum moss and fill the center with bark/perlite. I have seen the mixture, it is about 30% medium perlite, the rerst orchidea bark.. Basically it is similar to a coconut liner as sold by HD only SM instead. Half moss, half bark.

The idea is that in pure moss, the roots might get too wet and not get enough air. I'm almost finished adopting that method for half of my plants. Since part of any grower's success is the environment where he grows, what works for him might not work for me. My collection is easily split in two by the aisle, The Democrats on the left of the aisle will all try the new method, the Republicans on the right will stick to the old and tried methods, live or die. I'm an independent, I walk in the center of the aisle.

New ideas are great but one should never commit the entire collection, try it out on a select group and see how it goes. If in a couple of month the new group is doing better then I'll switch the entire collection.

Nick

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Comments (3)

jane__ny
10 years ago
Hi Nick. I have potted a few plants similar to how you describe. Having moved recently to Florida, I might as well be on the moon. My growing sense is lost and I try to read the plants rather depend on how others are growing.

I recently repotted a large Angraeceum in a wooden basket with wide slats. Lined the sides and bottom with a layer of sphag and filled the inside with large bark and some large perlite.

I also put a Aerathes in a wire basket lined with sphag and filled the interior with smaller bark, perlite and a some additional sphag mixed in.

What I'm finding is the outside layer of sphagnum dries out quickly forming a crusty semi-wall to the baskets. When I water, it runs through channels in the sphag but never wets it. Not sure I like this.

I thought the sphag would get moist maintaining some moisture to the bark interior which isn't happening. Bark is dry an hour after watering.

I'm not so concerned about my huge Angraecum as it sends thick roots down into the mix. Its the Aeranthes which doesn't seem to like the conditions. It is sending thin roots upward away from the pot and winding around itself.

Today I dunked the wire basket into a bucket of water and let the whole thing soak up the water. Of course, the sphag wall began to float out releasing some of the bark.

Well, long enough story. Post back and let me know how you like this set up. Of course, I'm sure I did something wrong, but I find the wall of sphag stays too dry.

Florida is hot and has been extremely dry. Fire warnings every day. Wind blows and the plants dry out very fast. Being a lazy waterer, I've made trouble for myself. I do know that shortly the rains will start as well as the humidity. Hopefully, this potting experiment will pay off.

Jane
orchidnick
Original Author
10 years ago
Good point, that's why I did only half of the plants. John Leathers also mentions in the article that Pacifica has the perfect Dracula weather. Night temp never below the mid 40s, day temp rarely above 75, cool moist ocean air the norm as his GH is 1 mile from the coast. I have been there, green moss everywhere, Dendrobium cuthbersonii growing like weeds in the cracks of the walls.

It could well be that no matter how he grows them, they will do well. It is a fact however that his plants do extremely well so I'll just give it a try. It will take a couple of month before one can make some kind of determination if one side of the isle is doing better than the other, I will report.

By the way I did a large Coelogyne cristata somewhat similar. This is a large plant which rambles in all directions spilling over the pot in a circular fashion. I used a 16" wire basket lined with coconut matting from HD as the base. I split the coconut in half as it is too thick for my taste. I planted the Coelogyne in there using a orchiata/perlite mixture. The rambling rhizome takes the plant to the edge of the basket and spills over by about 1/2 foot. Future growth will result in a beard hanging down and surrounding the entire structure. I water it every 2 days and by the time I get there, both the coconut and the bark appear to be dry. So far, the pbulbs remain round and plump, most other plants I have seen have shriveled old pbulbs, if one keeps this one wet all the time, even the old bulbs remain plumb.

I suppose, the trick is to keep water loving plants wet without having them soaking in a pot or a mass of compacted moss giving them air and a chance to dry out quickly.

Nick
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jane__ny
10 years ago
Beautiful photo.

I suppose cool misty air is the secret. I agree that the air filled baskets seem so healthy ... as long as one remembers to water.

Jane