Zeer pot and growing Cyps

[Linus_Cello]

(Apologies for the cross-posting, not sure if this was a better sub-forum for my question in case anyone who grows outdoors uses a Zeer pot. Originally posted in the Cyp Alliance sub-forum)

Greetings and Salutations-
I'm new to the forum, and as best as I could, I couldn't find a thread on this subject, so I thought I would start this one.
I'm interested in growing cypripedium hybrids. With the hot weather we had in DC, my cyps could have used a "zeer pot" (especially before they were knocked over by my neighbor's cat while I was on vacation, and the person watering the garden failed to notice, so it dried up) (see gardensatposthill.com/website/Cypripedium%20overview.htm). Does anyone on the forum use zeer pots for growing cyps? If so, what would be the best sand to use? Is play sand ok, or should I use something that has less salt, like pool sand?
Also would it be better if each cyp that I'm growing in a pot have its own zeer pot, or could I get a big clay pot and put 3 cyps in it?
The varieties I'll be growing are Gisela, Ulla Silkens, and Lothar Pinkepank.
Thanks!

[Tindomul]

Interesting question. Old though it may be, I think this post deserves a bump.

I never heard of zeer pots, this is what google shows;

https://www.google.com/search?q=zeer...z5DZIQ_AUIBygC

[Dandrobium]

I'm interested in this as well. I am going to try it with some highland/ultrahighland nepenthes in the summer to see how effective it is. I think if you plan to use the inner clay pot as the plant pot, you should use a low salt content sand. You want to use fine sand (play sand would do) according to articles I've read. I would also use low PPM water as it relies on water evaporation for cooling and any salts in the water will be deposited on the clay pots.
Ideally, it requires dry air movement around the pot for biggest effect. This would have minimal effect in a humid greenhouse. I would think putting this near a typical A/C unit (or at least a fan) would be the ideal spot as the A/C removes humidity as it condenses internally and then blows out cool dry air. The dry air would cause additional evaporation around a zeer pot, cooling its contents. The main effect would be on the root zone, unless you had a larger zeer pot acting more as an open top container for an already potted plant. Thats the version I'd like to try when things heat up again

[Tindomul]

I can see this as a solution in only some situations. Thanks for posting.

[Orchid Whisperer]

I have used a zeer in Georgia, USA to successfully reduce the temperature of the root zone of a Coelogyne cristata during the months I grow it outdoors in the heat. I kept temperature measurements when I completed it, I think the inside temperature stayed in the low 80s F when ambient temperature was 90s F.

Mine is two nested terracotta pots, sand in between.

You sometimes see people try to make a zeer with plastic buckets (this will never work because the plastic is not porous, and therefore there is no evaporative cooling).

It does work more efficiently when air relative humidity is low.

[u bada]

yes, this is something I just learned about on here recently... sounds promising and could work really well for me here with the hot mostly dry summers we get that are coincidently fairly breezy...

wow a cristata in a zeer pot and it does well? how hot did it get over there last summer? and did it show any signs of stress? If it works for that species that's saying something...

Linus, from what I read in one article... when used to keep vegetables cool, many smaller zeer pots worked better in keeping all the vegetables cooler than one big one...so answer for you would be that probably keeping each cyp in it's own zeer pot makes the most sense...

[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by u bada

wow a cristata in a zeer pot and it does well? how hot did it get over there last summer? and did it show any signs of stress? If it works for that species that's saying something...

OK . . . first to admit the attached photo is a bit staged, as this plant is not outdoors in our current weather. I wanted to put it in the zeer today so that you could see it:



The plant is potted in an 8-inch plastic net pot which sits in the zeer in the warm months.

The plant has some brown leaves, most likely due to too much sun from time to time. I will admit that the plant has not bloomed for me yet. The plant is at least 4 times as big as when I first got it. Maybe this spring? Trying to keep it outdoors during warm spells this winter, and generally I am treating it like a cymbidium during the winter.

[u bada]

wow looks amazingly healthy to me! every time i see them at growers they appear to be fairly shaded... curious as to why it hadn't bloomed at that size... nonethless i love the pbs and leaves on that one, beautiful plant you have!

Just read on shadier, dry heat a zeer pot can take something down to 40 degrees, that's impressive, although probably not stable to keep it at that temp... i imagine it could work really well for cool growers that didn't need necessarily high humidity for the leaves to do well... cooler growing coelogynes like this one, cooler/dryer growing dendrobiums perhaps, cooler growing epi's even... hmmmm... probably not masdevallia or pleuros unfortunately that need really high all around humidity...

[estación seca]

Even in a high-humidity environment, there will always be more evaporation from a porous clay pot than a plastic pot, so the first will be cooler.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Oh u bada, I forgot to mention that our summer ambient high temperatures were routinely in the 90s F this year. We probably topped out at 99 to 100 F this summer. In other years, this plant has survived in the zeer when we had highs reach 108 F.