Avoiding Overwatering

[silken]

Rand Air Cone pots are actually clear square pots with a cone up the centre. I love them.

[hcastil3]

Semi Hydro works great for me i have a couple like this, you cannot over water if you have it in semi hydro, well that's been my experience anyway... so I highly recommend it.. For some reason it makes the blooms stick around much longer than any other media as well.

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by JanetL

Do you mean that you put something in the center of the pot to prevent the root from getting to the center? I thought about this too. If the center roots easily rot because of constant moist, blocking the roots from growing in the center area should be a solution. It's like mounting the plant to the overturned net pot or to the styrofoam, or to whatever you use to force the roots circling around the side. If this method works for you, I'd love to try it.

Ps: why don't they make an orchid pot that has hollow post in center? That will require watering more often i suppose.

Like silken, above, posted, there are the air-cone pots made for this purpose.

The styro or inverted net pot doesn't block the roots - the roots grow thru them! They like the nice air pocket!
It does very much prevent the soggy media in the center of the pot. It's been working quite well for me!

Just make sure, if you use styro, that it is in fact styrofoam, and not the biodegradable packing pnuts made from cornstarch, and avoid the pink styro packing pnuts (treated with some anti-static agent)

[Discus]

Originally Posted by Cstanm700

the water I use to water was recently rated the best water in the world (Emporia Ks) so they arent being poisoned

Good for humans and good for plants aren't quite the same (some plants hate chlorine and chloramine for example, yet it's more or less essential for safe drinking water).
That said, phals can take quite a lot of dissolved minerals, and I've not heard of them being that sensitive to municipal water additives.

As someone else said, it's probably something else being the problem, but you could post a water quality report here if you want an opinion of "plantworthiness" of your town's water!

[tucker85]

To answer your original question, yes you can and should use the smallest pot the roots will comfortably fit in. Use pots with lots of holes and a chunky mix that lets in lots of air. If you use plastic pots, you can cut extra holes for more air. I always do that.