Orchids in "water-minder" pot + my 3 new orchids - Orchid Board

sheiman · #1 11-09-2010, 04:23 PM

I bought three gorgeous new orchids at Lowe's in Brooklyn today (BTW, for anyone in NYC, they had an amazing selection!) and of course I wanted to share them here. I got a Tolumnia Sun Bulb hybrid, a Miltassia Kauai's Choice 'Tropical Fragrance' AM/AOS, and a Miltonidium Rosy Sunset 'F'...pics are attached.

But I also have a question, because two of the orchids are potted in these things called ArtStone Water-Minder pots. I'm wary because it sounds gimmicky (and therefore potentially disastrous for orchids), and if you look at the link for the pots, it says that they are a self-watering system. Does anyone have any experience with orchids potted in these? I'm wondering if I should just toss these pots ASAP and and put my plants into pots with regular drainage. I don't want these orchids to be sucking up water constantly and then get root rot.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

CTB · #2 11-09-2010, 04:55 PM

Do you normally repot your new purchases? If so repot and use bark chip see how they do. Are you suppose to set them in a saucer or something? The first pic looks like a regular clay pot. If they are planted in spag and you change to bark chip that ought to keep them dry enough. Are they inside or out? Nice selection!

sheiman · #3 11-09-2010, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CTB

Do you normally repot your new purchases? If so repot and use bark chip see how they do. Are you suppose to set them in a saucer or something? The first pic looks like a regular clay pot. If they are planted in spag and you change to bark chip that ought to keep them dry enough. Are they inside or out? Nice selection!

I do repot my purchases and yes, the first one is in a regular clay pot. I keep my orchids indoors. Repotting in bark chip sounds like a good suggestion, I will probably try that. Thanks!

BobInBonita · #4 11-09-2010, 09:37 PM

You are right in repotting new purchases made from big box stores.

The local Lowes almost always receives orchids over-potted with sphagnum. Really tightly packed. I think the grower does it because many retailers don't water often. They pack the sphag up onto the lower part of the pseudobulb. After buying a few that had serious rot issues I always check before I leave the store. You can always tell when I've been to Lowes - there are little piles of sphag that I've pulled out to check the condition before buying.

kavanaru · #5 11-10-2010, 03:24 AM

further to all the info you have received, I would add that in the case ofthe Tolumnia, you should proceed slightly different:

Tolumnias like to have dry roots (my plants do best mounted and second best on charcoal - have tried mounted potted with coarse and medium bark, and also on large charcoal chunks). They would need watering daily or every two days (not very precise... I use to water them when I remember, but try to keep that frequency). One good option, is to mount on a piede of hard wood and then put the mount in a regularclay pot. This would let it dry out pretty quick, but keep air humidity a bit longer, so that the plant would not suffer much if you forget watering it for few days (anyway, they do not normally suffer much for that)

sheiman · #6 11-10-2010, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobInBonita

You are right in repotting new purchases made from big box stores.

The local Lowes almost always receives orchids over-potted with sphagnum. Really tightly packed. I think the grower does it because many retailers don't water often. They pack the sphag up onto the lower part of the pseudobulb. After buying a few that had serious rot issues I always check before I leave the store. You can always tell when I've been to Lowes - there are little piles of sphag that I've pulled out to check the condition before buying.

It's amazing how much sphag they use. I usually end up repotting with only about half of what the orchid came with.

sheiman · #7 11-10-2010, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kavanaru

further to all the info you have received, I would add that in the case ofthe Tolumnia, you should proceed slightly different:

Tolumnias like to have dry roots (my plants do best mounted and second best on charcoal - have tried mounted potted with coarse and medium bark, and also on large charcoal chunks). They would need watering daily or every two days (not very precise... I use to water them when I remember, but try to keep that frequency). One good option, is to mount on a piede of hard wood and then put the mount in a regularclay pot. This would let it dry out pretty quick, but keep air humidity a bit longer, so that the plant would not suffer much if you forget watering it for few days (anyway, they do not normally suffer much for that)

Yeah, the tolumnia came in a pot with charcoal chunks and it looks in good shape. My other tolumnia is in a pot with just a bit of medium and I water it about every day. It seems to be doing pretty well, but hasn't bloomed for me yet.