Selecting the right size basket

13 years ago

Greetings!

I am about to place a Coelogyne occultata into a cedar basket. I have a 6 inch basket which is slightly too small to accommodate the length of the plant. I also have a 8 inch basket that is large enough to accommodate the length of the plant but leaves lot of empty space on the sides. My occultata is a string of 6 pseudobulbs in a straight line. There are no growths/pseudobulbs branching out to the sides of the main growth. There are not a lot of roots either. So I am concerned that using the larger basket will result in rot.

Any suggestions on deciding the proper basket size for this plant? I would really like to have this orchid in a basket over mounting.

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Comments (6)

arthurm
13 years ago
These orchids with a big gap between pseudobulbs are a pain. You could try the smaller basket and make up some tie wire pins to bend the "straight line" into say a half circle.
orchidnick
13 years ago
Either basket will work, the plant just thinks it's on a basket shaped branch. Rot should not be an issue. I would mount it on a long branch if it wants to grow in a straight line but your preference counts.

You could also squeeze (bend) it into the smaller basket and when it tries to escape just drop the whole mess into the 8" basket. Basket in a basket in a basket works real well for me.

Nick
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Darlene (GreenCurls)
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks Arthur and Nick! I was just concerned about rot. I tried to bend it a bit but it was not interested in being flexible. So I will either use the larger basket or rethink my basket preference.

I am not sure this was my smartest online purchase. I was hoping for more fullness. Urg!
orchidnick
13 years ago
If you can force it into the small basket, you can fill it out in time. Place an obstruction in front of the growing tip, a small sheet of rigid plastic will do and as the growing tip abuts against it, it will turn around. Once you have a few more pbulbs, you can make an 'in-house' division by cutting off the rear 3. It will start a new growth at that point and eventually you will fill the basket. Off course you can do the same thing in the larger basket but it will take much longer.

Since this is a small plant with short infloresences, it would probably look better in a smaller, fuller basket than rambling around in the larger one.

Nick
Darlene (GreenCurls)
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you, Nick! I was thinking that it would just end up as an unattractive wander plant. I did not know that I could encourage it to move in the opposite direction by obstructing its way. I appreciate the great tips.
orchidnick
13 years ago
I have also let them grow out of the basket and when there are 3 pbulbs dangling off, cut them and put them back in the basket facing the opposite direction. The other thing to keep an eye on is the light source as many plants will head towards the light source and can be trained that way also.

More fun than mere humans should be allowed to have.

Nick