Self Watering Planters - Orchid Board

cutebeka · #1 05-23-2011, 06:27 PM

The newest Phal Orchid I bought came in a self watering planter. I didn't realize it was self watering until after I bought it. What are your thoughts on these? It seems to be very healthy and doing fine,i've had it about a week. But they did plant it withtoo much moss so I did take a bunch of moss out.

Here's a link to the planters,
Novelty Mfg. Co. > Products > Square Planters > Ella Squares

I guess it's not a bad thing to experiment.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #2 05-23-2011, 06:41 PM

Like you said, you can experiment if the possibility of losing the plant isn't a big deal to you, considering that the Phal is most likely one of those mass produced NOID hybrids.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #3 05-23-2011, 06:45 PM

Note:

If the Phal grows new roots, the new roots could end up going through the drainage holes for the reservoir.

That's a problem if the reservoir is filled with standing water for an extended period of time. The roots will rot if they do go through those holes and grow into the standing water.

You can cover those holes with screen door mesh.

cutebeka · #4 05-23-2011, 06:53 PM

That was my thought King,I wasn't too sure. I guess i'll cover the holes with the mesh at some point but for right now the Orchid is doing very good and it's starting to dry out a bit which is good it was soaked when I bought it.

cutebeka · #5 05-23-2011, 07:00 PM

Here's some pictures of it if you guys were wondering

luckygrower · #6 05-23-2011, 10:52 PM

I don't know to much about the self watering pots, but I would not worry about the roots growing into the water reservoir unless you are worried about re potting time.
I have phal's in semi-hydro planters and many have their roots growing down into the water reservoir at the bottom.The only problem that I can see is that in semi-hydro you are changing the water the roots are in and it does not go stagnate. In a self watering pot the water might get stagnate and that can cause root rot.

littlefrog · #7 05-23-2011, 10:58 PM

I would enjoy it the way it is... Just as long as you know it is self watering - not knowing could be bad. And getting that extra moss out will help a lot.

Even if the roots grow to a point where they will break when you repot, no big deal. Many growers routinely trim roots back to three or four inches when repotting phals. Supposedly it encourages branching. If that just made you cringe, don't do it... I do it sometimes, sometimes not, depends on my mood and how big of a pot I want to use. Regardless, if you break a few roots when repotting, the plant will be able to handle it.

cutebeka · #8 05-24-2011, 07:26 AM

I did remove some of the moss,they overpacked it alot couldn't even see the roots. now I can see them and i know whats going on

I'm not going to water it how it says to i'm afraid it's gonna over water it so i'm just gonna water when the moss completely dries out

thanks for the tips everyone