basket covering ?

[swiatoniowski]

I should start growing some of the Stanchopea alliance quite soon, however, I have some problems to decide the medium. I prefer growing orchids in Leca-like substrat to organic matter. Of course I have to cover sides and bottom of the basket with sphagnum or coconut fiber. The question is if I can use some artificial material similar to sphagnum but not organic ? Do you know any ? I looked for mineral wool, but I think it is too dense for flower spikes...

[Manfred Busche]

In temperate countries the building materials market should offer 2 mm thick 'Styropor Sheet Material',
usually distributed in rolls of a width of 1 (one) meter.
This material is intended to be glued to brick walls for insulation purposes.

You may cut this material into strips of 2 mm thick x 3 mm broad x 1 meter long. Then coil these strips
in your hands to form a dense irregular intertwined 'ball' resembling the nest of a crow.
Then place 'crow's nest' into basket and plant into crow's nest ...
Important ::
(a) Shredding this material : no use.
(b) Tie the plant to the basket because the plant must not wobble.
(c) That sheet material must be pure Styropor, no additional coating on either face.
(d) This compost cannot 'store' any nourishment for the plant hence the plant must be sprayed
every day with 150 ppm of fertiliser.

I am not joking here . I would love to use this, but I cannot find that Styropor Sheet material in my vicinity.

[Lars Kurth]

I started to use stanhopea baskets made from epiweb this year with incredible results. In the basket I use a mixture of equal parts of styrofoam chips, epiweb cubes and CHC chips (to retain moisture). The latter could probably be replaced with something non-organic such as rockwool or large pieces of hydroleca.

The first plant I potted up like this first in spring developed roots all over the place, including all around the basket and got 2 new shoots in spring, 3 more coming and a few spikes developing. About 2 months ago, I moved all Stanhopeas to this method.

At the end of the day, substrate is not that important for Stanhopea's as long as it retains enough moisture and is free draining.

For me the new method works, because my greenhouse is quite humid and spaghnum tends to stay wet for too long and I often dont have rainwater in winter which is also a problem for spaghnum. I tried wooden baskets with wood chips before, which was also not ideal. With the new method I hope I will not need to repot for 3-4 years as CHC chips break down quite slowly. Of course I am seeing much more growth now, so I may need to repot to divide more frequently than before. But I will be happy to do so

[tibbwoo]

please tell me what is CHC?

[Lars Kurth]

CHC is an abbreviation for Coconut Husk Chips
See Use of Coconut Husk Chips for more info

[swiatoniowski]

Hello,

thanks for so many tips, I looked for Styropor, but it looks like a foamed polystyrene... Did you mean mineral wool ? It is sold indeed in rolls and is quite soft like a cotton...

piotr

[kavanaru]

Mineral wool retains a lot too much water! I have a friend who uses it succesfully, but comparing his experience with it and my experience with S/H, the adaptation process of the plants is similar, and then you need to be more carefull with watering than in S/H! I would not use it for baskets!

[tibbwoo]

i have experienced that coconut husk pieces grow mold if used in a damp basket such as needed for stanhopeas. i'm having good results with a new processed stone material called norlite (from new york) or carlite (from carolina). it has a porosity of 20%. it's inexpensive though hard to find. it's principle use is as a base for "green" roofs on flat roofed buildings. it's very popular with serious orchid growers in south florida. i'm using it 100% for cattleyas, and the new roots are borrowing into it

[Manfred Busche]

Piotr, Ramón : 'Styroportapete' - that's the material I am talking about ...

I am intrigued with Lars' report - however, I would not use organic bits in a non-organic concept.
I would construct a slat-wood-basket (! aeration !) from "epiweb slabs" material, into which
I would place the "crow's nest" that I have described above ...
This combination would last for several years.

Piotr might just do it ...

Thank you all for bringing this new idea to my mind ...

[swiatoniowski]

I cannot find this Styroportapete on the net, there are only german language pages and it seems it has different name in Poland. Do you know the english name of this material or the name of it main primary substance ? I have also some new ideas, which I will check in near future and I will send pictures if it works...

Piotr