scoria big pot and C. maxima

[SouthPark]

I often mentioned that I repot any orchid that I purchase right away ------ regardless of when it arrives, or when I purchase it.

I live in the tropics ------ and have no problems with repotting my orchids at any time.

This does not mean to say that this should be done by everybody or anybody. It is just to say that it can be done - under suitable conditions - environment and how we look after our orchids. Not only 'can be done'. But also ----- nothing bad happens.

The pics only show a maxima (that arrived just 4 weeks ago) in its new pot and media (4 weeks after the repot).

When it arrived -- I unpotted it right away - removed all the old media, then potted into a big pot of scoria. A deep pot.

I have lots of wide and shallow orchid pots. But I put it in this regular garden plant pot (with big drainage holes down at the bottom) ----- and relatively large size scoria. I have an abundance of scoria at home, and it's quite inexpensive here, and readily available too. No shortage of it.

My watering method is to direct most of the water into the media lying toward the outskirts of the pot (video link with CC subtitles). The water goes all the way down the sides. Keeps the whole pot nice and humid during the day. And the gentle air-movement in the growing area allows the water in the scoria to move - and evaporate.

The roots develop easily. And that's about it.

I don't place much importance on developing huge masses of roots. I find that an orchid grows just fine when it simply has enough roots. It doesn't need to be like jungle density at all.

My fertilising schedule is once-a-month, weak fertiliser ------ around first day of each month. Then in the middle of the month comes the weak mag-cal. The elements probably hangs around in the media during the month, and so the orchid most likely still gets fertiliser etc into it whenever I do regular watering of the media (water only).

The orchid pot sits on a drainage grate. And the drainage grate sits in a pot dish. I use a watering wand to water the orchids. The grate keeps the bottom of the pot above any drained water.

Google drive links (higher res):

Pic 1 link
Pic 2 link
Pic 3 link
Pic 4 link
Pic 5 link

[Leafmite]

They do seem to really like the medium, don't they?
I know it was a real game-changer for me when I started to use it.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

They do seem to really like the medium, don't they? I know it was a real game-changer for me when I started to use it.

L.M. Thanks for posting !!! In the tropics here ...... it really has been a very nice experience with the scoria/lava-rock.

I find it very nice that this medium works very well in your growing area too!

I'm currently growing one Spathoglottis plicata in roughly 5 to 8 mm diameter scoria ...... and interestingly, it seems to be doing well in it. It was coming out of dormancy when I first got it, and now has a 4 cm shoot (leaf) and a 10 cm shoot (leaf) - both getting longer. I attached a pic taken around 20 mins ago of the plicata in the middle of the pic - round pot. (Google drive link (higher res): plicata).

I think I had seen in the past online sources mentioning that Spathoglottis can be grown in scoria too. It definitely appears that this sort of ground orchid is able to do well in scoria.

Thanks also for mentioning 'game changer'! Scoria can be used to great advantage. Thanks L.M.!

Growing orchids at home can be done in lots of different ways as we have seen. It's excellent to have this potting/repotting section of OrchidBoard to share information about our potting setups.