Using stoneware with orchids

[plantluvver]

I will be taking a ceramics class later this summer. We will be working with Cone 10, I beleive, which means we will be making stoneware. Does anyone had positive experience with stoneware planting containers? Mostly I have Oncidiums and Phalenopsis, though I do have one Stanhopea. I am also wondering if broken scraps might be useful as a planting medium? Though I recall that the bisque firing is a lower temperature, so I think it may be more porous.

[AnonYMouse]

I just had this discussion with some ceramicists. Will be doing some experimenting with different clays with their consult.

Bisque is low fire and is rather porous. The consensus was that my irrigation olla is just bisque fired (I think cone 6).

Cone 10 is high fire and the clay will completely vitrify. It isn't just for stoneware. There are cone 10 porcelains. If you put a cone 6 clay in a high fire kiln (cone 10), it will turn into a puddle.

If glazed, the clay is completely sealed.

What properties do you want? Do you want seepage for surface evaporation? Do you want a decorative pot?

Any ceramic pot will function as a planter but what characteristics do you want?

[plantluvver]

Thanks, I have done ceramics before, but it has been decades. I hadn't heard of an olla before.

I want no less than the impossible, I want a self-watering container that won't drip and will somehow prevent me from killing orchids. I want to be able to just "top up" their water every now and then.

I was thinking of some sort of water reservoir that would be glazed. While the rest of the surface porous enough to act as a mount. But it sounds like unglazed Cone 10 may not be porous enough.

[estación seca]

Look up African violet self-watering pots. The problem is the medium needs to be fairly small grain for the wicking to work.

You could also have your staff do it.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by AnonYMouse

I just had this discussion with some ceramicists. Will be doing some experimenting with different clays with their consult.

OK. I object. (Insert grin here)

The term is "ceramist" - ceramic scientist. You wouldn't say "chemicalist", would you?

(I happen to be a ceramist and ceramic engineer...)

[plantluvver]

Way cool!

---------- Post added at 08:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:08 AM ----------

My bad, I replied in the wrong place. Sorry for any confusion.

---------- Post added at 08:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:10 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Ray

OK. I object. (Insert grin here)

The term is "ceramist" - ceramic scientist. You wouldn't say "chemicalist", would you?

(I happen to be a ceramist and ceramic engineer...)

Way cool!

Will you be assisting in developing the perfect ceramic orchid pot? Perhaps together we can save countless Phals from suffering ice cube torture!

---------- Post added at 08:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:18 AM ----------

Staff? In the past, I had pet cats, now I can't even pretend there is someone who will follow my instructions. Lol!

Actually, I was thinking perhaps a vessel could be partially glazed. There would be a glazed area to act as the water resevoir, and the unglazed portion serve as the media.

A separate idea would be to use broken chunks of pottery as a medium in a pot. But it seems this would require bottom watering.

Next time I am at campus, I will get more information, especially the firing temperature used for bisque.

[AnonYMouse]

Originally Posted by Ray

OK. I object. (Insert grin here)

The term is "ceramist" - ceramic scientist. You wouldn't say "chemicalist", would you?

(I happen to be a ceramist and ceramic engineer...)

I didn't know what to call them as a group. A couple throw pots, one carves Sgraffito, one is a sculptor. Ceramicists=ceramic artists.

[Ray]

All I remember is that, in the introduction to my very first Cer.E. class, the professor guaranteeed a failing grade to anyone using "ceramicist".

[AnonYMouse]

Ray, Merriam-Webster agrees with you.

Or rather, they don't recognize ceramicist.