I got it as a seedling and placed into a basket some 4 to 5 years ago. There is no moss or anything else in that basket. As far as the plant is concerned it's growing on a branch which just happens to have the shape of a basket.

Nick

The advantage is that you never need to repot them, it can stay like this virtually forever. No need for a bigger basket, the plant mass will just expand laterally. It's impossible to over water this plant and 2 weeks of on and off rain does not bother it a bit. It just wants water, food and otherwise to be left alone.

If I want to display the plant where it needs to sit on a flat surf`ace, I'll put it into an empty pot, somehow stabilize it and afterwards hang it up again. A few roots may get broken but the plant has many and will make more, they get broken by animals in nature also.

I see very few orchids grown like that which I think is a shame as this is how they grow in nature and this is what they like best.

Nick

One danger is to loose the tag. Not paying attention to details has resulted in a tag like this to be buried by roots growing over it and now you have a nameless plant where the tag can only be retrieved by doing major surgery to the plant. This has to be guarded against. The best way is to place a second tag on the top of the hanger.

Nick

Nick,

Great if you can hang plants. A lot of us indoor growers (spare bedrooms) struggle to be able to give them that advantage. I'm pretty much pigeon-holed into potting most of my 70+ plant collection so they can sit on benches and/or carts all of the time. I have 10-15 mounted, and it is a 'struggle' to deal with them in the winter in the dry indoors (dunk in 5 gal bucket, stick in shower, mist multiple times a day, etc...) . Now if I had a greenhouse and didn't have to worry about drips and such, mounting would be much easier...

I envy you growers with year-round greenhouses...

Bob

Perhaps little is said about how they grow in nature because, for many amateur enthusiasts, it's a moot point. I'd love to be able to stick an orchid in a basket and let it grow willy-nilly ... but I don't live in a rain forest, and can't really recreate that environment. As Bob also explained: the dry winters would destroy my plants if they weren't sitting in pots. Their roots are healthy and happy in the damp, humid mini-environment created by a container full of bark. No, it's certainly not natural by any means, but for many, it's the only way.

This post was edited by Danielle317 on Tue, Oct 15, 13 at 18:06

Thanx for showing us all the pics, I was confused by the first pic it didn't show that basket, but the subsequent pics were very descriptive and showed what you meant......good idea and I'll prob. copy it, and put them outside in the trees....sally

My apologies to all of you who are constrained by logistics from growing like this. I was mainly thinking of most of my friends, who, living in exactly the same environment as myself, mostly grow in pots. Done right, the results are perfect, just a little more work.

Nick

One day ... ONE DAY! I will have a little greenhouse or plant room of my own, and lo, there will be lighting and humidity for all. Maybe I'll even have an orchid in a shoe. :)

Hey Nick,

Minnesota indoor grower here. I'm thrilled if *anything* blooms in our arid 2nd bedroom - most often in plastic pots and straight sphag for moisture, and have no plans for a greenhouse in the back yard.

For you and others who grow outside or in greenhouses and have environments close to plants' native conditions, yes, it sounds ideal to replicate those as faithfully as possible.

Maybe a topic for your orchid societies?

Best, Whitecat8

Nick, Now I know why you left Calgary to be where you are! As Bob said it, I am here in Lethbridge. Dry and cold in winter and dry and hot in summer. Since April, my first Phal and until now I already have over 10 orchids of some kinds, some are in my bedroom because it's East facing, some are in my bathroom and some are in my living room. I was looking into changing my deck into a 4 seasons conservatory but after few contractors came over. Some said it will be very difficult because the existing roof of the deck is not high enough for door and all kind of problem and it will cost me somewhat $40.000. So, I am kind of giving up that dream to have a conservatory. But the problem is I can't stop getting them more. My house is running out of space for them. My orchid friends said I also need to save room for next spring orchid show in Calgary... so, what am I going to do? for last 2 years I focused on roses in my backyard and I am doing okay with that because I have a pretty good size yard but now this orchid things. Growing orchids outdoor in Lethbridge? Would that be a possibility? and if it is, where do I store them in winter? Well, it's my problem..Your orchids are beautiful!!

Tanie

My mother grew orchids for the last 5 odd years of her life. I converted a downstairs room into a greenhouse.for her. All Home Depot stuff. Lined the walls with plastic, installed powerful lights, a dedicated electric heater to supplement the house heat, fans galore to ventilate everything and to top it off, an RO system with dial up fertilizer. Chicken wire was covering the walls so she could hang stuff all over the place and the floor was stripped down to cement which had a drain hole. She could water to her heart's content and all the water drained off.

One of her problems was that some of the plants did not get cool enough in the winter so we fixed a bathroom as the cool room. Heating outlet closed, window cracked just enough to get the morning temp down to near freezing. Then her Australian Dendrobiums and the Cymbidiums bloomed for her.

During the summer she moved them out into the backyard where she grew them under 63% shade cloth. Must have had about 300 plants at the time of her sudden, unexpected demise at 78 due to Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.

Total HD cost was less than $1,0000 but my Rube Goldberg electrical connections freaked her out so she had an electrician do it properly, another $1,000 plus $300 for some powerful lights, $200 for an RO unit, $200 for a fertilizer and $100 for a pump to deliver the RO water. Made her very happy and she grew some nice plants which bloomed for her. Her total cost for the set-up was less than $4,000 but she gave up a downstairs room and the downstairs bathroom.

Nick

Tanie, I had over 200+ orchids growing in NY. They spent the winter against large windows with octopus lights pointed at them. This is a modest photo. Its my living room at x-mas time. It only shows a small amount of plants. The rest were in a small office with the same light set up. Notice the vaporizers in front of the fireplace and the snow outside the windows.

It can be done and you'll find a way. Orchid growing is a terrible addiction. If you don't get help (12-step program), they will take over your house, family and life!!

Jane

Nick, I just wanted to say how beautiful that Catt is and what a root system. I love your set up, I bet you built those benches? I wish I could do some of what you do but I find Florida weather a bit hostile. The heat and sun is quite intense without much wind.

Great photos,

Jane

Beautiful room, Jane. Is Christmas with all it's fury really upon us? The years seem to go faster and faster. Like a roll of toilet paper, the closer to the end you get, the faster it spins.

Everything In my GH is homemade with HD materials. SOCAL can be intense too with summer temps approaching 100F numerous times. No humidity which is a major advantage. Once is a blue moon we get the after effects of a Pacific Hurricane or storm lapping up from Mexico. Then we get 95F to 100F and 90% and up humidity. Then I think back of a week I spent in Florida on a scuba diving sailboat adventure. The locals said it does not bother them, you get used to it! I could never get used to that.

Between termites and the wood rot caused by the constant moisture, wooden structures do tend to deteriorate but usually are good for at least 10 to 15 years.

Nick

Nick, I always enjoy your posts and find them very informative. You are my inspiration and I will try the basket thing.

You humble me. The basket is not essential, the principle will work with anything, even an old shoe. Place a plant on anything of your choice, add a little moss to get it going, or not, depending how often you are willing to water and then let the plant do the rest.

My second most favorite thing is the 'Pot in a Pot in a Pot' concept where after the initial seedling, which grows in a small pot full of bark or whatever, gets rolling, the plant is placed in successively larger EMPTY pots. End result is the same but even though the plant is mounted (in this case on a honeycomb web of pots) it always remains a potted plant for logistical advantage if hanging mounts are not an option. A consideration for windowsill growers.

Nick

Hi Jane,
You have a very beautiful room posted there. And the orchids. It is so pleasing to the eyes... I have a room almost like that downstairs. Not as nice but it does have a wood burning fireplace, a mantel and big window. May be I can try to do something like that. Nick, I wish you were living close by here! Then I will beg you to come to my house and see what I can do or better yet, what you can do for me to grow orchids!! You sounded a very handy man and I wished I can be like that!! Carpeting if soo expensive. Mind you I am doing quite well with roses though. This orchid things... Before I go to bed I see them and talk to them and when I get up in the morning, the first thing I see is my orchids..And then during the day, I come and feel them and try to see if there's any thing new in any of them....My friend who has more experience with orchids. (she didn't kill them like myself before this new batch of orchids since April) said that growing orchids is like raising kids. Just give them basic needs and then leave them alone. The more you fuss about them the more they go rotten..... So, but I can't help it. At least I didn't kill any of these one YET!!.

You suggessted the pot in a pot method one other time and I didn't take your advice and lost the cat. I now just put the small pot into a larger one and have had much sucess. A lot easier too.

Hi nick, can mini catts be done that way, I mean pot in a pot in a pot and could you please show me picture of one grown like that I am not very good with catts or dens so that should work for me seeing I don't have to disturbe the plant at all. Also can dens be grown that way too that would make my life so. Much easier. I repotted my dens to my dismay it looks as if I use the wrong mix, I lost about five and the few that servived looks sad. So I repotted again using just river stones in four " pots so I am thinking if they servive I would inplement the pot in pot method and since stones never rot, they would just attach themselves to thes other pots. Please give your openion as I don't want to kill the last nine dens I have left. They are all hard cane types. Thanks again VELLETA.

A pot within a pot works fine, i've used that method plenty of times especially when the plant needed repotting and it was in bud and i didn't want to disturb it.
The only downside is that eventually the plant has to be divided and repotted and then you a confronted with a major task.
As far as hard canes go they are difficult here and i suspect so too in Parts of California.
Should be a doddle where you live. Overpotted? Unsuitable mix? Not enough air movement? I'm unpacking a few from Tropical Queensland at the moment. They are in pots with about 50% polystryrene and 50% Big chunks of treated barks. Must dry between waterings. Problem here is just a bit too cool in winter and sometimes very low humidity.

If you follow this concept, your plant should never need to be repotted. There is no deteriorating bark or moss that needs to be upgraded. As far as divisions go, no problem, wait till it grows over the edge and give it a haircut. Easy division, just not from what's inside the pot, that will stay there for the duration.

Nick

Perfect, see to every problem theirs a solution. Thanks again nick now I know how not to kill my catts. :). Velleta

Arthur, I don't do this with adult plants in big pots full of bark or anything else that needs repotting. If they are in rock, OK, but once you start down this road there is no turning back and you don't get to repot.

Nick

I think this is better advice than the root inspection stuff and similar fiddling about that you see so much on forums.
I do not do it very often but it works like a charm though when i tried to unravel a plant in basket pot within a basket pot after many years, it was a major task.
Starting working through my collection in late August (spring) and might finish repotting etc by end of December.

Blc Amy Wakasugi 'Madonna' illustrates 2 points. First: You don't have to mount them on a branch to get a mounted plant. this one is growing in an empty pot which the next picture will show. Can sit on a coffee table in the living room yet still has nothing but air-roots and is a mounted plant. this one just happens to be mounted on a pot.

By the way, large flowers , very fragrant.

Nick

Here is looking into the pot. You can see daylight at the bottom, there is nothing in the pot except the plants, roots and rhizome.

Nick

In relation to the 'Pot in a Pot' concept, the new growth is at the edge of the pot. Next year one could move this one up into a larger, empty pot. Since there is no bark to deteriorate, repotting will never become an issue.

By the way, I grow them for the flowers not beautiful pbulbs and leaves. Most of them are in the backyard with temps from 28F to 100F, birds, squirrles, catterpillars, locust and every other wonderful thing Mother Nature produces. If you want nice fat pbulbs and beautiful leaves a greenhouse with perfect conditions will do that.

Nick