Making my own pots, input needed
 

Hi. I was wondering recently just what the ideal shape for an orchid pot is, and whether I should just make some on a pottery wheel.

I know that it depends on what you grow and your growing conditions, but this is what I came up with as my fundamental requirements.

1. They must be heavy for their size and with a wide, thick base. Falling over is a big problem in my shadehouse so I don’t want the whole pot tipping over. Therefore I want them wide and flat. However I don’t want them so flat that the plant can tip over within the pot by simply rotating the root ball.
2. I want them to have straight sides so I can get the root mass out easily when repotting.
3. Lots of holes to get air to the roots. Also, lots of holes in the bottom partly to drain quickly but also to dry the thick base out to prevent cracking during firing.
4. Rough texture for roots to grip on to. I wipe them with slip (clay/water mix) when finished to rough them up. Unglazed too.
5. It’s fairly humid here, and I grow outdoors or in a shadehouse, so I water automatically and can do so as often as I want - so really there is no requirement for the pot to retain water.

So I made these ones in the image for a bunch of little Sarcochilus that need repotting. A bit of experimentation here, but the one with the height to diameter ratio that i like the most is the one in the front.

I’m interested in other people’s opinions. How would you design terracotta pots if you could have any shape that could be created by a very mediocre potter.

Cheers

Carrying on …

We all know that most orchids grow better mounted. Pots are a convenience nonetheless and I actually don’t mount much because it doesn’t fit with my growing space. But I was thinking could we somehow hybridise the two approaches. Perhaps a hollow terracotta cone, with a wide base, that sits on orchid shelving with the stability of a pot, with the plant mounted on the exterior midway up the cone. If it grows too high, just turn and fire a terracotta extension and drop it on top for the plant to keep on growing. Rubbish idea really, but there must be some good ideas out there. So any ideas anyone? I really want to hear other people’s suggestions.

I guess what I’m getting at here is the stability and space-saving convenience of a pot but getting the plants roots out of the whole medium/bark/sphagnum/whatever thing which is basically just poison for plants.

If you have the right conditions and watering ability, mounting on the outside of an inverted clay pot is very “doable”.

I wouldn’t both with the slip to increase surface roughness. On the scale of the root cells that “grabs the pot wall, it’s plenty rough. Here are micrographs of (Clockwise from top, left) bark, cedar slab, cork, and a terra cotta flower pot.

https://firstrays.com/wp-content/upl...3/surfaces.jpg

i like the design a lot- i would add intentional holes around the top for a wire hanger too but these are great

Those look great! I use low-form pots a lot to give the bigger footprint for stability. (I can't find that configuration in terracotta, I use plastic but the same concept) That also means that you have the surface area for the plants to spread out without adding too much volume. One note.. the requirement for ease of removing the plant vs holes for air and roughness of the surface, are opposed to each other... roots will grab those holes.

Another advantage of a high area-to-volume ratio, repotting doesn't need to be done as often (as long as the medium is good) because there is more room for the plant to grow.

I like the design too. I’d buy some if I found them at a store.

if i had the ability to make these i would KEEP the holes, use only inorganic media and expect to simply drop the whole thing it in the next size pot backfill and keep walking lol

First there is nothing mediocre about your pot throwing abilities. One of my A levels back in the UK (far too many moons ago!) was in art and my chosen area was pottery. I admit to having done nothing in the field since but I still recall the steps to get a required result, and the disappointment when things don't go right.

I agree with Ray and Roberta about the texture of the pot, I would experiment with making it as smooth as possible, smooth to us will still leave plenty of texture for roots.
Good idea from DC too about holes for hanging the pots. Just in case a spot is found for you to hang a plant, but another reason for someone to purchase from you if you intend to make these available to others.

I think these are stunning, congratulations.

Yes, they seem to be as suitable as any pot I've seen. I would certainly love to try some if I could find them *lol*.
Good job.

how i personally design my own pots is that i elevate the drainage holes so that there's around an inch deep reservoir of water. this seems to work well in my relatively dry conditions and with my relatively chunky medium.

it's actually the subject of my latest blog entry... pot optimization.

i got the idea around a decade ago from the huntington when i bought a dendrobium aphyllum in mostly pumice in a hanging pot with elevated drainage holes. the orchid seemed to do exceptionally well...

https://blogger.googleusercontent.co...407_153737.jpg

I've thought about this for a bit, although I mostly think in plastic. But I think my ideal pot could be adaptable to clay. If I could have any shaped pot, it would have a wide saucer, but deeper than saucers usually are, probably 4-5" tall. The bottom half of the saucer, perhaps up to 3" would be glazed so it retains water. The saucer would be designed to fit perfectly under the rim of another pot. It might have an "overflow" hole on the side, say 4" up.

In my imagination this inner pot would be similar to a net pot, but it could be a clay pot that's unglazed at the bottom (probably glazed on the top half). How I would plant is put a layer of something inert, say LECA at the bottom, and then the rest with bark above the overflow height. When I water, it retains a reservoir underneath the media, creating a moisture zone without making the medium soggy.

For mounting, I'd imagine a half pipe, sort of like a roof tile except with deeper curvature and a half-glazed pocket at the bottom to hold a reservoir and the unglazed part could wick excess water upwards. The plant would be nestled in the inside of the half pipe.

I have no idea whether these ideas would actually work. One day I'm going to buy a 3D printer or commission a foreign manufacturer and give them a try. :D

Thanks for the responses.

And Katsucats thanks for your ideas.

Roberta’s comment about being able to reduce the number of repottings by using more suitably sized and shaped pots appeals to me too.

Thinking about it, I can see a situation where if a plant is important enough to me I just sit down and throw a pot of the perfect shape and size for it. It takes only a few minutes to throw a pot, and when leatherhard give them basic trimming and drill the holes. The stumbling block is getting them fired. There are firing services locally but they are expensive. I could do primitive firing in our backyard but its a lot of work. I’ll probably just continue making pots for the most special plants.

At the moment I’m still working on the best pots of the Sarcochilids. I see them growing around here ocassionally and they are always scrambling across moss-covered sandstone boulders in deep, damp ravines beside bushland streams. Roots growing across the thin surface moss cover. Nothing about their growth habit resembles living in a pot. I think maybe some broad pots (pans) with crushed sandstone medium might suit them. I would like to get the moss growing on top too.

Or maybe slice the top off a small sandstone boulder and place it in a shallow pan sized to suit, get the moss growing, and then plant a sarco on top. Slow watering from a dripper if needed.

Cheers

Lovely pots and pottery skills!

In your conditions, probably anything will work. However, if you intend to easily unpot plants without damaging the roots, roughening up the surface and creating holes will work against that. Orchids love to grab onto Terracotta, and their roots will grow through the holes. So you've pretty much created terracotta baskets.

To maintain the integrity of the roots, your best bet is plastic. To increase airflow, you just need to use the appropriate media. Anything would work as long as the particles are somewhat uniform. You could use Lava Rock as your only medium; the weight would keep the pot from tipping over. I have potted Cattleyas with lithophytic ancestry in a mix of lava rock and rock wool in terracotta pots, and they seem to love it. My most successful setups, however, are teak baskets with assorted media and S/H with LECA.

Regarding rockery at the bottom, it doesn't necessarily improve drainage. That myth has been busted.

I don't grow Sarcochillus, so I don't know how thick their roots are, but my understanding is that their care is similar to Phalaenopsis. So in your conditions, I would put a Phalaenopsis in a Starbucks Trenta cup with Orchiata grade "Super" and drill some holes at the bottom, then use an external ceramic pot for stability. But that's me.

Regarding shape, I believe reading articles suggesting that vertical length improves airflow vs. shorter pots. At the same time, many people swear by bulb pots.

Seeing how people have succeeded in such diverse settings suggests that these plants will grow anywhere, especially given your extraordinary conditions and ability to automate watering. What pots allow for, however, is preventing plants from growing into each other. I've seen people using construction bricks to mount plants, and the roots get into the next-door brick, becoming a mess. Alan Koch has a video of two Cattleyas growing in neighboring terracotta pots growing into each other. This would make for a wild, jungle-like display, if you're into that.