Hi everybody, my name is Marcello, from Italy, and I'm a Nepenthes grower. My question is related to Nepenthes, but I already know that in our Nepenthes forum I wouldn't receive an answer as good as the one I can receive in an orchid forum, as the nature of my problem is closer to something you orchid guys deal with daily
I started growing many plants in one big pot, after having tried for many years to grow many plants in many small pots. My main problem was with the roots not having enough space to grow, and with me not having enough room to host tens of larger pots
The thing is that now I have a different problem, which is the amount of oxygen going through these 2 new huge pots that host my plants. At first I tried with plastic pots, but of course when a compost of peat and perlite goes into a plastic pot that is 50 cm large and 50 cm deep, what happens is that under the first 15 cm of compost, oxygenation is very poor, and plants stop growing. I changed and I bought a clay pot of that same size. The plants improved, but they are still slow and unhappy. At the same time, with another group of plants, I built a square basket (50 x 50 x 50 cm) using an iron net, so that of course the air is going freely all around the surface of the basket, enterind the compost from all sides and - I guess - with a bigger air exchange compared to the clay pot.
In fact, here comes the question: in your experience with orchids, did you ever notice if - in the case of such large pots - plants grow better in large baskets than in large clay pots, even if clay is famous for "breathing"?
I think the plants in the basket are doing better, but I have to deal with the fact that they are a different species and that here it's winter and so both groups naturally slow down, so it's not easy to tell the difference and to understand where the plants are slow for the lack of oxygen and where they are slow for the cold weather.
Thanks!!!!
Marcello
baskets are better than clay pots?
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