Phalaenopsis gigantea - long term growing project

[Mr.Fakename]

Originally Posted by camille1585

I'm surprised by how round your leaves are, while mine are long and narrow. Could be due to the amount of light it gets, I might be pushing it in terms of hours of direct sunlight. Though the leaf color (a light yellow green) is about where they say it's supposed to be at...

I don't remember the exact location/leaf shape relation, so don't consider this 100% accurate; but I believe the rounder trait comes from Sabah and Sarawak, and narrow leaves from East Kalimantan.

I'll ask the local nursery's Phal aficionado next time, he's very much into gigantea

[camille1585]

Time for an update on my plant.

My gigantea has been in a 9cm pot since buying it, and has never been properly repotted since they don't like it much. I had simply picked out as much of the old media as possible and replaced it with leca. As it's approaching blooming size, I thought it would be good to get it into a larger pot sooner rather than later. And the old pot was starting to get deformed from the pressure of all the roots inside.

My idea was to use a double pot technique that an Italian vendor uses on many plants, which consists in potting in a net pot and setting it in a slightly larger standard transparent pot. The roots can then grow out of the net pot and benefit from the more humid environment created by the second outer pot. The challenge however was that net pots large enough for a gigantea (12cm+ diameter) have a mesh which is too large for most leca balls. The solution was to 3D print a custom made pot. I explained to my boyfriend what I wanted and he designed and printed the perfect net pot for me.





I discovered when repotting that it was perhaps slightly on the small side since I had trouble getting fresh leca in on all sides, but this already took 14 hours to print, and reprinting a larger one would cost even more time...

Here is my Phal in its new home, and I hope that if it ever outgrows it I can simply set the entire thing in an even larger net pot. The advantage of the leca is that it dries out fast and I can give it the huge amounts of water (and food) that it needs.

[katsucats]

I picked up a gigantea recently from Big Leaf / Peter Lin. Maybe I'm being stubborn and it's a bad idea, but I had decided that I would grow all my Phals the same way, in a two-pot semi-hydro, with a net pot on the inside and a deeper plastic clear pot on the outside. It's deeper so that even when the water dries below the net pot, it still forms a humidity zone between the reservoir and medium, since the net pot hangs perfectly over the outer pot.

The general advice seems to be that gigantea doesn't like too much water, but... we'll see.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by katsucats

I picked up a gigantea recently from Big Leaf / Peter Lin. Maybe I'm being stubborn and it's a bad idea, but I had decided that I would grow all my Phals the same way, in a two-pot semi-hydro, with a net pot on the inside and a deeper plastic clear pot on the outside. It's deeper so that even when the water dries below the net pot, it still forms a humidity zone between the reservoir and medium, since the net pot hangs perfectly over the outer pot.

The general advice seems to be that gigantea doesn't like too much water, but... we'll see.

What I understand is that while they don't like too much water in the sense that they stay wet, they do like having lots of water in terms of frequency of wet/dry cycles. (so more watering because they dry out faster). This would make sense as it does come closer to what they experience on a mount, which is generally their preferred cultivation method.

So far, this has matched my experience. Once I switched to leca (standard culture and not s/h) I was watering much more frequently than when it was in bark, and I saw a lot of root growth, along with 2 new leaves in one growing season, which I had never seen until now.

Is that really s/h you are doing if the reservoir level is under the net pot? Do you have some photos of the potting set up? I'm not sure I'm visualizing it correctly from your description.

[Shadeflower]

Originally Posted by camille1585

Is that really s/h you are doing if the reservoir level is under the net pot? Do you have some photos of the potting set up? I'm not sure I'm visualizing it correctly from your description.

a small gap at the bottom, the pot gets filled to submerge the net pot slightly, then as the water level drops it drops below the net pot, letting the net pot dry out but creating a humid environment.

I think Camille's idea is fine as phals really don't like to dry out so having that gap to let the net pot dry out more than what Camille has shown is not beneficial imo but it would work.

Great pot Camille, thx for sharing that it took 14 hours to print it lol. I bet it cost a couple of euros in plastic too, I've been wondering if a 3D printer will help me with anything but considering how expensive the material for printing is I worked out it's still cheaper to just find everything yourself (if you can find the right size that is)

[WaterWitchin]

I don't understand how 3D printing works. But it is one of the coolest things invented in my lifetime so far!

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Shadeflower

Great pot Camille, thx for sharing that it took 14 hours to print it lol. I bet it cost a couple of euros in plastic too, I've been wondering if a 3D printer will help me with anything but considering how expensive the material for printing is I worked out it's still cheaper to just find everything yourself (if you can find the right size that is)

I think my boyfriend said he paid about 18eur for a 1 kg spool of PLA. I can check in the 'blueprint' to find the the quantity used, but I think the pot works out costing around 2 to 2,5eur. The largest standard net pot I've found is only 11cm wide, the holes are too large to use leca, and the pot way too flimsy (cost: 0,50eur). The other option I found are these slightly too large pots made of thicker plastic. (Epiphyte pot), Not only are they more expensive, I also have to factor in shipping costs from Germany and I didn't need/want anything else from that vendor right now. Maybe on ebay/amazon/hydroponic sites I could have found something in the Netherlands, but I'd still have shipping costs. Overall, I think 2,5eur is a pretty good deal and for that price I also get exactly what I wanted.

[DirtyCoconuts]

soooo....when will you be taking orders for net pots???

so well done and the aesthetically much prettier than a normal net pot


WW you and me both!!! its like the power of creation in your garage!!!!

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

I don't understand how 3D printing works. But it is one of the coolest things invented in my lifetime so far!

I know, it's so awesome!! This is my boyfriend's printer. Basically you make a blueprint with special software, which tell the machine all the x, y and z coordinates of each line of plastic it puts down. The flat panel on the machine can move left and right and the black cube from which cables come out can move side to side on the rail, and the rail moves up and down. The plastic is heated to melting point and comes out of a nozzle in that cube.

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

soooo....when will you be taking orders for net pots???

so well done and the aesthetically much prettier than a normal net pot


WW you and me both!!! its like the power of creation in your garage!!!!

You buy the printer, and I supply the file!

It's actually pretty to look at because diagonal grids are easier to print than standard vertical grids. In order to print the hortizontal bars the software has to add in supports (removeable after). Basically you have to print out a nearly solid pot and then knock out all the supports from the holes. However as long as the angle isn't too steep, the grids can be printed without extra supports.

I've got so many other ideas in my head for stuff to print! Check out Thingiverse - Digital Designs for Physical Objects to see the amazing diversity of ready to go print files if you don't know how to make your own!

[jcec1]

That custom made net pot looks great, for those who don't have a 3D printer the option could be pond plant baskets that come in a variety of sizes.