loose and wiggley rothschild

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by mrphilips

also by airy... do you mean "loose"? like large chunks of bark and stone?

Yes.

[mrphilips]

Ok, so I have attached a bunch of pictures.

the first is my rothschild as is - flopped over with dead lower leaves (see pic). it doesn't look too bad but as i said, it's really loose.

i was planning on attaching it to a stable post with a twist-tie and had a basic plan, then went to the nursery to get some limestone as suggested.
when i got there i found these metal plant labels (see pic) and suddenly had an idea... i think it's a good one, you let me know either way.

i bent one like so... (see pic) it appears tight, but i loosened it (widened the gap) so it wouldn't pinch the plant too hard. it has a firm support and a nice stable base when inserted into the pot (see pic).

when i took the plant out of the old medium i was pleased to see it's roots had been growing - at least double what was there before (see pic)!

the support holds the plant and then i poured in the new mix - the coarsest bark i could find with husks and perlite and a good handful of limestone screenings mixed in (see pic).

i hope i didn't add too much of the limestone - don't really know what i'm doing in that department.
personally i'm impressed but what do i know...

what does everyone think? (see pic)

[mrphilips]

...and those are all right-side-up on my PC.
any idea how/why they're sideways and upside down here?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Pot's far too big. The Paph will rot very quickly, I'm 98% certain of it. I recommend downsizing to maybe a 2.5 inch tall. Then put the functional pot inside a larger clay pot to keep it from toppling over.

Try putting the photos through a photo editing software, then post them again to see if they will post right-side-up.

[mrphilips]

ok, re-saving the pics in photoshop did the trick - thanks!

it's only a 3.5" pot... you think losing one inch would make the difference?
i knew they liked to be a bit cramped but i haven;t heard of rot being an issue related to pot size, but i'm an amateur.

this is the same sized pot i've always had it in, but i did get rot with two of the lower leaves and the companion sprouts... i just chalked that up to over watering.

i can try a smaller pot but will have to reinvent my genius support system.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Every inch makes a difference. Even every 0.5 inches.

[james mickelso]

Here is a simple wire plant clip. Pliers and wire. This is kinda how I use it.

[mrphilips]

there are no pots less than 3.5" tall in the toronto area.
i went to four garden centres.
i could order on-line, but would have to wait another week and pay a fair amount for a $0.39 pot.

so this is what i came up with:
same contraption as the previous model, but smaller.
tied with fishing line into a pot made out of a water bottle cut 2.25" high and perforated with a soldering iron.
weighed down with clean rocks.

the cut-edge is not so sharp, but i will sand it down with an emery board.

before i move it over, do you foresee a glaring error here?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

No.

[mrphilips]

...while i'm re-potting do you recommend down-sizing this phrag pearcei too?
pot is the same as the paph rothschild, 4" wide, 3.5" tall