What kind of pots do you use and why?

[dounoharm]

i use a little bit of everything.....but i really like the net pots lately, i love seeing the roots coming out of the sides....i also use a lot of the old style clay pots when i can find em with the large slots up the side....the newer ones with big holes and the fine slits dont attract me...i use a lot of plastic as well as it is easily available and practical....i really dont like the clear pots as the tend to algae up inside faster than what i like.....tops is the old clay pots!!

[Vanda lover]

Originally Posted by tucker85

I like the red clay orchid pots for my cattleyas, laelias, and encyclias. They're heavy and keep tall orchids from falling over. They are porous so the media dries quickly (important with catts). They're relatively cheap.
I use slotted, clear plastic pots for phals.. The slots allow air to the roots. The media dries more slowly in plastic, which is good for moisture loving phals. And the clear sides allow me to see the condition of the roots and the moisture content in the pot.
I like wooden baskets for vandas and some cattleyas.
Wood baskets are a more natural way to grow orchids. They never get root rot. Some plants grow more vigorously in baskets. They do require more watering and it's almost impossible to get them out of the basket once they're established.
I love ceramic orchid pots but they're basically just for show. I never plant directly in them. When my phals, in plastic pots, are in bloom I put the ugly plastic pot inside the ceramic pot to display them.

I do everything Tucker does except that I have my catts in shallow pots. One is in a shallow cork planter. One is in a small orchid pot and the other in a green plastic pot.
I also have some orchids in s/h in lava rocks. Plastic vases are great for this.

[Gage]

I have used just about everything, and still use many different things. Since I have Vandas that get watered every day, I prefer to mount or pot everything else that is outside in something that I can water frequently or daily (plus unpredictable rain) without fear of overwatering. So my first choice is mounting to tree fern or cork, and then wood baskets with a media that dries quickly, and then clay pots which are great for all of the reasons mentioned previously. I like the baskets because they break down and lose media as time passes, reducing risk of root rot, and to repot you can just drop the whole thing in the next size up. Most of my Phals are indoors, so they get clear plastic pots with sphagnum moss and a lot of styrofoam in the center.

[Cym Ladye]

For Cymbidiums, I use nothing but black plastic from 3" to 3 gallon. If I want a decorative look on the patio, I set the black plastic pot into a large, red clay pot, elevating it off the bottom.

Unglazed clay dries out far more quickly than plastic, is much more difficult to sterilize, is more expensive and breaks. Hence, for me, the cache pot usage.

Cym Ladye

[Vanda lover]

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

For Cymbidiums, I use nothing but black plastic from 3" to 3 gallon. If I want a decorative look on the patio, I set the black plastic pot into a large, red clay pot, elevating it off the bottom.

Unglazed clay dries out far more quickly than plastic, is much more difficult to sterilize, is more expensive and breaks. Hence, for me, the cache pot usage.

Cym Ladye

I agree. Cyms like to stay moist and clay dries too quickly.
i also use deep plastic pots for cyms.

[pipsxlch]

I use exclusively for my potted plants red unglazed clay- I do have many (and ever increasing) plants in baskets and on mounts, mostly cedar but some plastic mesh. I grow outside only, I live in an area that is often quite hot and humid, and find that over-retention of moisture is a bigger issue than not enough even though I'm not a generous waterer- Nature is around here. I found that plants which struggled in their original plastic pots throve when moved to clay.I prefer the azalea shallow kind where possible, and of course slotted. I grow mostly hardcane dendrobiums and cattleya alliance.

I've always grown my vandas in baskets, and have started moving my myrmecophilas and encyclias over- they really seem to like it, so the catts will be tried out also. I think the dens will stay in the clay since they're so top heavy, unless they get naturalized.

[RosieC]

I use plastic pots for most things, with outer decorative cache pots when they are in the house.

Like others I find clay dries too fast, I do use it on Masdies and Restrepia with moss, because I want the moss to dry faster and the cooling affect of evaporation helps the Masdies. I have also put a Catt in lecca and clay this year, not sure if it was the right move yet, but I had trouble with it and wanted to get the roots drying quickly. It needs watering every day as a result, I might get fed up with that.

My cyms and cyps are in plastic each of which is set in a large wooden tub with gravel filling the gap between the two. I do this for both stability outside when it's windy, and to give some side protection from cold to the cyps which stay out all year.

Everything else in the greenhouse is in plastic, and everything in the house is in plastic with cache pots. It seems to give me the right watering rate for most things.

[tarev]

I use different kinds of pots, clay, glazed clay, white plastic, wood, black fabric geo pots. One thing for sure, the pots have to drain very well.

Advantage of the white pots, you can easily see the roots, but I do like the clay/glazed ones, since they are heavy enough not to topple down with the bigger orchids. The fabric ones, allows good air circulation, but I just cannot see the roots at all, but it seems the orchids are enjoying it, as long as they are happy good enough for me. The wooden type I have I got from a pet store, not the square slotted wood type used often for vandas, but a more rounded wood container with hollow core, so you can put the orchid inside, my dendrobiums and a phal loves it.

[lepetitmartien]

Clear pots, not clear pots, glass vases for phals, watever plastic pot I can circumvent for S/H, mesh pots for stans…

[Vanda lover]

Originally Posted by lepetitmartien

Clear pots, not clear pots, glass vases for phals, watever plastic pot I can circumvent for S/H, mesh pots for stans…

Glass vases for phals? Do you have them in vase culture?