About containers

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by LittleBigOwl

Thanks Ray! I was trying to grow Phal in glass vase and while making research about it i found some ....hmmm...suggestions (?) that glass can be as a lens that will condense sunlight in one spot and it will almost make a water boil. Never saw it by myself but maybe i just didn`t have enough experience lol

An uban legend which very clearly demonstrates that a little knowledge can indeed be a dangerous thing!

---------- Post added at 04:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:16 AM ----------

Originally Posted by estación seca

I use 1 quart plastic soup containers from Smart & Final. They sell them in packages of 25 for very little money. I have seen S&F in Miami so you probably have them, too. The S&F stores here also sell heavy cream for my coffee for about 1/3 what it costs in supermarkets.

You can drill two small holes with a Dreml tool or a drill, and a conical sanding burr. Ray recommends they be an inch / 2.5cm from the bottom. Don't make the holes too big. The medium falls out, and it's hard to fill the pot while water runs out. Make the holes small enough and close enough together you can occlude both with the heel of your thumb when holding the pot to fill it.

Completely filling every S/H container at every watering is important to flush salts and to replace all the air.

You can mimic S/H drilled pots by standing regular pots in dishes of water, and always keeping water in the dish. You still need to water by completely filling the pot to the rim each time. This can be hard with a standard pot due to the large holes. In this case I would put the pot into another container without holes for watering.

I would NOT use the standing dish technique where mosquitos are a threat. If you use the standing dish with a clay pot, the evaporation will keep the roots cooler than they would be with a non-permeable pot.

Non-drilled glass can be used. Fill the container to the brim, then empty most of it.

Extra holes would lead to the reservoir evaporating even faster. LECA provides plenty of air to the roots. I suggest not making extra holes.

Regarding wster-filled glass vases heating roots... almost everything on the Internet, news or educational, is mostly wrong, written/video'd by idiots or crooks.

So you use the good stuff in coffee too, eh? If you use whole milk at all, try pouring off 10%-15% of it and replacing it with heavy cream. Shake well before using! I made an interesting discovery with my winter set up. It's a converted shelf unit that I built a tray into for regular terracotta pots. I used rubber roofing material to line it, and I find that, particularly with larger pots, the weight of the incoming water forces the pot down into the rubber and creates a seal which makes completely filling very easy. I just have to remember to tip the pot slightly after a minute or so to let it drain.