Growing a Phal. with the pot on it's side?

[Blueszz]

Hi Everyone,
recently I got a huge Phalaenopsis as a present. The flowers are huge but also the leafs are huge (wide and long). It's still a young plant and I'm sure her leafs will get bigger in the future. No way I can fit this under my lights in the future, it would need to much space.

After it finished blooming I'm going to repot her. Currently she is in a 15 cm (6 inch) pot.

The plant grows a bit on her side, sort of natural. I wondered if I can grow her with the pot on it's side. That way she will grow in a natural position (like on a mount). I can't mount her, I don't think I could keep her alive that way.

Does anyone grow Phalaenopsis or another plant with the pot on it's side? Any ideas how to keep the bark in the pot when I lay the pot on it's side?

If you have some idea's or grow the plant different yourself, pictures would be great!

Thanks,
Nicole

[johnblagg]

you could take the netting type bag from say onions at the grocery store and use that to keep the bark in.JUst wrap it around the pot and tie it at the top with fishing line maybe.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I've seen pics of a couple members from the OB whose Phals are grown like how you propose to grow your current Phal.

It's been done. And it seems to work. So go for it.

[orchidman77]

Sounds like you have a pretty large Phal....pictures please???

David

[Blueszz]

Thanks guys, I think I saw pictures from plants growing like this, but now I wanted to see pictures I can't find them heh.
I still have to make a picture from this plant and the blooms and I have to hurry with that as the flowers on one spike are wilting. I'll use my hand as size reference to show how large the leafs are. It must be the first bloom for this plant as I can't find old spikes, that is why I think the plant still is young.

Will make pictures and show them here later :-)

Nicole

[Call_Me_Bob]

hate to be a bother, but wondering how this worked for you. also, did you ever get a chance to take those pics?

[Donald]

I've got one large plant that's in a pot made in Australia (Down under Pots) that is growing totally upside down in sphag moss only. Plant is currently in it's budding stage and is doing as well as the others I have growing straight up. You should be OK as they do grow in nature in trees in all different directions.

[bullsie]

Quite a few folks grow their Phals 'laying down'. Most who do do so because they want to keep the centers from concentrating moisture and rotting. So! Growing a Phal on its side would not be unusual and would certainly have an added benefit.

[Pilot]

I don't know if this helps as I'm not planting the phal in a pot on its side, however, as you can see from the photos, I purposefully plant the phal on its side. I have found my plants to be much more pleasing to the eye this way when out of flower and they seem to grow just as well, if not better. I rarely see roots growing on plants that grow like this because they go immediately for the hydroton instead of wandering around the air looking for something to hold on to.



Here is another view. The plant is spiking right now (one old one and two new ones growing) and planting it this way makes it really easy to find those spikes as they grow right out from the stem and they don't bump into any leaves.



So I don't know if that gives you any ideas... the pot is still upright but until the plant grows spikes, it isn't much above the pot. It will, however, take up a lot of space laterally.

I also have phals growing like the one below. I use sphag moss only-- no bark-- because of my very dry climate. The moss stays hydrated for 2-3 days before needing another soaking. I only recently did this, so no word yet on whether or not it'll be a success.

[susiep]

Nicole, you could always plant it in a tree fern pot. Put a little moss or bark in with the roots until it gets established, then you can pull the moss back out. The roots grow all through the tree fern and you can easily rotate the plant in any direction. I have several like that. I will try to find a picture. Phals love tree fern.