Water-filled Clay Mounts

[My Green Pets]

I've just seen these on a German orchid site (Roellke Orchideen).



They are like clay pots but you mount your orchid on the outside. You pour water into it and the clay wicks the moisture from the inside to the outside. They even suggest you paint the surface with moss spores so that the whole thing becomes green and lush.

Here are a couple of photos from their site.





Has anyone ever seen anything like this? It just strikes me as an amazing solution to having mounted plants but not having to worry about watering them every day!

[blackvine]

I've seen those - they seem like they would be a good idea, but I think you'd have to empty them once in a while or there would be constant moisture on the roots that are touching the mount. Hmmm. Maybe not, though.

[TOMMYMIAMI]

Hi, and yes, I am actually using these for some 5 months now, for my cold loving plants, not only they wick water, but they do keep roots some 10-15 degrees cooler when they are filled inside with the water, and it really does work, just by touch you can feel it cold in our hot summer days. I am buying this one:
Unique Cool Pot Designed for Pleurothallid Orchids Mount on The Outside | eBay

[My Green Pets]

Hmm in that case do you think it would be a bad idea to use these for warm-growing plants? I'd say that here in northern France it's cool enough! Brrrr

[silken]

I am using something similar on warm growing plants. I bought two clay logs that use the same idea. I have 3 Tolumnias mounted on 1 (I have my first spike on one of them since I mounted them about 9 mos ago). The other is a cattleya hybrid mounted on the log and it is doing well and has bloomed since mounting it. I haven't been thru a whole winter with them yet but the greenhouse is cool and I will try and put them in a fairly warm spot. All the plants are attaching roots to the clay and seem happy. according to instructions you never put fertilizer water into the container. I use clear water in there and spray or just water the surface with fertilizer added to water.

[Orchid Whisperer]

I have seen something similar on a different forum - orchids growing on the outside of a water-filled, unglazed jug.

I think these would work well for certain species. Given the right plant, I would definitely give it a try. The only possible concern might be using them if your water quality was marginal (high dissolved solids).

If you try them, let us know how they work for you!

[tucker85]

I tried this with some phals for about a year. It's interesting that growers are saying that the roots attached well because the roots on my phals would never attach to the wet clay. Maybe the surface of my clay was too smooth. My orchids did seem to like the wet environment and they grew and bloomed but never attached. I finally gave up on the idea. I like hearing success stories though. I would be willing to give it another try. Here's one of my phals on a clay Olla.



---------- Post added at 01:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:27 PM ----------

Here's a picture of phals growing on a wet concrete wall. It's not my picture. I borrowed it from someone on one of these forums a few years ago. I thought it was interesting.

[Ray]

You can make something analagous by silicone-gluing an inverted clay flower pot onto its tray.

The problem with those is having the porosity of the clay be exactly right - too open and it drips out rapidly, too closed and evaporation overwhelms the seepage.

And, let's not forget that they will function to concentrate the dissolved minerals, leading to significant buildup over time.

[quiltergal]

A friend of mine had one with assorted species on it. She said after a year or so it began to stink.

[kindrag23]

Originally Posted by quiltergal

A friend of mine had one with assorted species on it. She said after a year or so it began to stink.

Ewww....that is not a um good thing...