Anyone grow orchids in clay pots?
 

Hi everyone!:)
I am new to forum. Does anyone use clay pots for cattleyas, cymbidiums, phals or any other orchids?
Also, what temperature is minimal for cattleyas when they are outside? (planning to place them in the garden for a while, so they can get temperature fluctuations)

Welcome to OrchidBoard :)

I use clay pots for some of my orchids. I have all my vanda types, some dendrobiums, an oncidium and some milts in clay. I also have a large clay pot with 3 yellow noid phals. All my catts are in plastic with many holes. I will leave the temp question to someone else as I am a inside grower.

I like to use clay pots for rescue phals, they seem to thrive in my environment with them. As far as temps I grow my catts indoors so no help there.

Oh I also have some epidendrums in clay pots.

Hi there and welcome to orchid board!

I grow my orchids in both plastic and clay pots. However I'm going more and more to mounted plants since they seem to do better in my growing conditions. The big thing to remember when growing these plants is to find what works for you--everyone has different growing and watering conditions, so how I do things may not work well for you.

One thing I find useful with my more top heavy plants (a couple of dens and epidendrums) is to place the plastic pots inside a larger clay pot so they're less likely to tip over.

As far as minimal temps for cattleyas, that depends on the plants--while many species and hybrids do well in intermediate temps, there are some that prefer warmer or cooler ends of the temperature spectrum. I tend to go for the part of the catt alliance that's on the brassavola/encyclia/epidendrum/catt species end of things, and my plants have been outside this summer with high temps in the 90's and lows in the 40's. Growth has been very, very good even with these temperature extremes, even when we have six weeks of non-stop rain in June and July.

I'm sorry I can't be more definitive in my answers for you--orchid growing doesn't seem to have a lot of hard and fast rules! Bottom line is to learn to read your plants--they will tell you when they are happy with your growing system and when they're not.

Good luck!

Catherine

I use clay pots for essentially all of my Cattleya alliance orchids and most of my Phals. Because they are porous, they wick moisture away from the medium and therefore provide excellent drainage. I use clay pots for other orchids too, but I also use plastic pots or net pots for some things.

Cattleyas will usually do OK outdoors if night temperatures stay above 45 degrees F

Thanks everyone for quick replies! I will be repotting some of them to clay pots and observe how they react to new conditions.
If you had to replant from clay pot, as far as I understand the roots will get attached to the porous clay ..... how do you deal with it? :)

Moisten the pot first then run a knife around the inside of the pot keeping as good a contact with the pot as possible. If roots have adhered to the outside carefully run the knife under them on an individual basis.

Or another option, try mounting an orchid on a clay pot! I have an "olla pot" (pronounced oh-ya), which is a large clay vessel fired at a low temperature so that water seeps out slowly and keeps the surface moist.

I mounted a couple of my root rotted phals to the surface, and most of them grew a ton of new roots quickly. (One sprouted 5 new roots in a week during optimal growing temperatures!)

It's pretty much effortless care, too. You just fill the basin with water every few days. The surface stays quite cool because of the evaporating water, and the surrounding area has increased humidity for the same reason. So far, I'm really liking the experiment.

Of course, there are downsides. The pots are pretty heavy and unwieldy when they're full of water. Also, they're very attractive slug and snail hideouts, so you'll need to place it somewhere they can't find it.

Here's a couple pix. One is the olla pot with a veteran and a two new plants I'm trying to save.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...e5d59aa8f5.jpg

The other is a close up of a root system that sprang up quickly. This plant had 3 roots when i first mounted it in June. Unfortunately, a slug did some massive damage literally overnight before I found it. Hence my previous warning!
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...e950e1eae5.jpg


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I use clay pots for cattleyas because the mix dries faster and clay pots are heavy enough to keep a tall orchid from falling over. In fact any orchid that has a pseudo-bulb grows well in clay pots for me. I use plastic for phals and paphs because they prefer more moisture in their mix.

Hi,
I use plastic and clay, and my reasons for both have been already mentioned in replies by other Members, but you can adapt many more vessels/mounting media to your needs- the sky is the limit. Few factors to think about when choosing are moisture retention, air flow and how long will it last before repotting, and you can come up with pretty innovative and creative solutions of your own.
As to how cold is too cold for your orchids, I think it's better to refer to species specific culture sheets, as the cold tolerance can be very variable. Happy growing!

That's an interesting idea! For mini phals it will work really nice, for a large cymbidiums or cattleyas I guess it would be heavy.
Thanks for sharing! :)

Clay pots: Only for Cattleya (4" & up), and for Dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrids, as they are too top heavy for small plastic pots.

Plastic pots for everything else.

You can keep your Catts outside till night temps drop below 10C (50F) or so.

Thanks! Will measure pots and repot into plastic :)
I was a bit afraid to put them outside, but if they are ok above 10 degrees, I will move them outside asap 😏

[QUOTE=turock;771184]Or another option, try mounting an orchid on a clay pot! I have an "olla pot" (pronounced oh-ya), which is a large clay vessel fired at a low temperature so that water seeps out slowly and keeps the surface moist.


Are these pots for inside growing? I grow my orchids inside under lights. Thanks.

Sounds similar to Kool-logs, they do the same thing.

I think the type of media you use and what kind of pot you use all comes down to where you live. Or your plants environment. What works for someone in FL would not work as well for me in Northern Cali.

I live where the air is dry. My plants have no problem drying out in plastic even if they are in Pure Sphagnum moss. I have one big Sherry baby in a clay pot with moss and bark mostly moss. The plant is doing well but I think it would be better in plastic. This plant drys out in 2 days and I mean DRY!

Olla pots (or cool logs, or other similar pots) can be used indoors, but because they constantly seep water, you'll have to put a water-catcher underneath. My pot is pretty big so I have to empty the water catcher several times a week when the pot is indoors.


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