Which orchids would YOU say are too big for potting?

[Stevie_White]

My question comes from the time/research it took me before deciding on my first Dendrobium orchid (Den. tobaense var. gigantium), which arrived this afternoon with one bloom open, 2 on the way, and a spike starting on another cane! (pictures below because why not?)

Anyone who watches some of the orchid channels on YouTube knows that Dens come in all sorts of sizes, from canes just a few centimeters tall to being over a meter long. Some are thick, and able to support themselves, but others are relatively thin.

I've noticed that many orchid growers with the big guys tend to mount them rather than pot them due to gravity or space hazards; letting those massive canes splay out would take up a ton of space, but staking them up could make for a precarious battle with gravitational forces.

As a newbie who doesn't have the grow space to keep mounts I wanted to ask the veterans here a question similar to the Winter Rest thread that is a great resource for me (and many others, I'm sure).

Which orchids in your collections (past OR present) would you say are a bit 'risky' to try potting (due to their size at maturity), and might be better off mounted or in some other setup?

[Fishkeeper]

I don't keep anything in that shape of orchid, but I've seen potted plants of other species that are bigger than me. Palms, mostly, some bamboos, elephant ears, other big foliage plants like that.

Can you not just pot it without staking it? If the plant would do fine splaying on a mount, why wouldn't it do fine splaying in a pot?

[Stevie_White]

Originally Posted by Fishkeeper

Can you not just pot it without staking it? If the plant would do fine splaying on a mount, why wouldn't it do fine splaying in a pot?

If you don't stake the canes they often end up splaying around the pot in all directions, and when that pot is sitting on a shelf that ends up taking up a lot of space. In addition the weight of those canes can pull the pot over if you manage to get most/all of them leaning the same way. If you stake canes that are 2.5ft long straight up you have a very top heavy pot that could fall over with a slight fan breeze/bump.

When hung on a mount the canes will tend to hang in the same direction; down (see the picture I found/attached). Since mounts are typically hung on a wall/rack you don't have the same issue of gravity pulling it down. That might be fine if you can hang the pot from the ceiling but that's not always an option.

I'd just like different opinions on which plants people might have in their collections that might be more practical to have mounted/hung. At some point I would imagine that most people come to the conclusion that orchids with canes over "x" cm/in long aren't practical to keep in a pot.

[estación seca]

Mounts are harder to keep watered. People tie tall plants together. Some use tomato cages or garden perennial rings.

[Dollythehun]

I have a huge Epidendrum radicans in a 10 or 12" ceramic pot. Every couple years I prune it and refresh the " soil. " Then I stuff it into a cut off tomato cage. It sits between two shelves of lights right in front of a south window. In the summer it vacations in full sun outside. No problems.

[SouthPark]

For outdoors, I just pop Den. discolor into relatively large diameter and relatively deep pots of scoria. So - unless a huge cyclone or tornado comes along, there's no way that the pot is going to topple over.

Actually - the discolor in their big pots have actually been through big cyclones, and didn't topple over at all.

As for size of orchids ------ and about the question. There's probably no orchid that is too large to be potted - as we can always get a large enough pot. Although - for super large orchids - it most likely can take a fair bit of work and effort - may need some extra hands on deck.

[DirtyCoconuts]

If the plant over grows the space you can divide it and have many or share/trade them

[Mountaineer370]

It seems to me that we had a thread here not too long ago -- or maybe it was longer than I'm thinking -- about very large orchids, and folks had posted pictures. Maybe someone whose search skills are better than mine could find it and link it here for the OP. Maybe there would be some ideas there.

[Roberta]

I don't mount the big guys. Catts go into hanging baskets, but nearly all of my large Dens are in pots - the bigger, top-heavy ones get clay pots for the weight. (Smaller ones, with pendant canes, may go into hanging baskets) Stakes can manage the canes that want to go pendant. Fortunately, the "footprint" on many of these stays pretty small.

Working in your favor - Dens tend to grow pretty slowly. But also, when you choose plants to purchase, it is important to match them to your growing conditions... not just temperature, light, etc., but also your growing space. There are LOTS of smaller types to choose from.

[Jeff214]

Based on my environment and watering conditions, I haven't had much luck growing larger dens mounted. If it gets unruly in a pot... you can embrace the chaos (and hang it) or tie it to a stake. They do get top heavy and a ceramic pot (or two...) can prevent it from toppling down.

Here are some of my larger dens growing in various ways.

hanging and letting it do its thing.


staked up every growth.


tied it together with fishing line.