Repotting Masda's in porus clay - did I do the right thing?

[RosieC]

So, after a discussion on this thread about growing in porous clay to help keep them cool (because the evaporation causes a cooling affect), I decided to repot both my Masda at the weekend.

I found it difficult to find porous clay pots... kept finding terracotter clay pots but even the unglazed ones were 'frost resistant', which basically means they've done something to stop them being porus .

Finally found some and repotted. The pots feel really cool to the touch so I just hope the Masda really do like it and don't object to the change.

Both were repotted in moss directly in the clay pots. I thought about doing an inner plastic pot with an outer clay pot as discussed in the previous thread but a) did not have small enough plastic pots and b) could not find large enough porous clay pots.

I was impressed by the amount of roots on my veitchianna, lots of them are actively growing and it has 10 new growth points on it!


I've not had amabilis very long and I already knew it's roots were quite bad but more have them have died since I last looked at them. The good news is that I saw at least 6 new roots growing and there were 2 new growths until I knocked one of them off. The second pic is of the growth I didn't knock off.



So this is what they ended up like. This one is veitchianna sitting in it's new clay pot.



So... did I do the right thing. One worry is that all the masses of growth I've been seeing is due to the warm temps they have been getting... but at the same time everything I read is that Masda's need to be kept cool and that this is a way of doing it. What do you guys thing?

[jeffg]

Rosie,

At one of our OS meetings Geraldine Powell presented and espoused the product she developed for masd's based on her experience both as a ceramics chemist and a grower who wanted to grow Masd's in Fl.
I have found these work very well, and have a few Phrags doing just fine in them as well as the Masd's.
Link: The Orchid Gallery

[RosieC]

Thanks Jeffg, I saw those from a link in the thread where we were discussing clay pots for Masda's, shame I can't get them here in the UK.

My cheep (50p) pots are certainly keeping cold I can tell just by touching the outside. I just hope they don't go in to shock from the sudden colder temps arround their roots... but everything I've read (including from your link above) says they should like it.

[jeffg]

Rosie,
Might I ask why you cant have them shipped to UK?

[RosieC]

To be honest I've not asked them if they can ship here... but in most cases the postage cost is prohibative.

Seeing as the pots I've used really ARE doing the cooling AND they cost me 50p each... well I'm not sure that these are going to be sooo buch better that it's worth it

[ronaldhanko]

I grow some of my more difficult Masdevallias in clay with sphagnum and find that they do well. I use ordinary clay flower pots from the local garden center.

[RosieC]

Thanks Ron. Glad to hear you've had success.

The standard clay pots my garden center sells are non-porous and after reading I felt porous was what I needed. Even yesterday (the hottest day this year) the pots felt cold to the touch. I got them at B&Q which is a large DIY store.

I guess that despite the reading I'm now worried I'm going to be getting them too cold.

[ronaldhanko]

I doubt very much that you can ever get Masdevallias too cold, except of course for freezing them.

[RosieC]

Thanks Ron. The weather is REALLY hot just now, so I was glad to find some way of at least cooling their roots.

I found it really interesting in the thread I linked to at the top that made me realise that the rootzone being cool can be an important thing when growing them in hot weather.

Of course the evaporation effect of the clay pot is even stronger when the weather is hotter.