Plant your orchids on the medium not in it

11 years ago

Not for all kinds. But a lot are better off on top of the medium. I think this is the singular most frequent mistake.

Above is Brassavola little stars recently potted. The white tag is pointing to the end of the rhizome clip. It is like mounting it on cork. Instead of vertical it is horizontal. There are some that do not like this. I think Paph's and phals, bulbous and others. But Catts. Many dens, brassavolas anything that can be mounted.

My thinking is the goal is to match the natural habitat culture as much as possible. Some people thrive on growing Catts. in colder climates. Too hard for me. But in the north accommodations must be made to grow orchids. And those accommodations are to best mimic nature.

There are places in the rainforest that Catts. grow on the top of the canopy. In a day some get several downpours with enough hot bright sunshine in between to dry them out each time. So they drink water 4 or 5 times more than their captive cousins. So my thinking is water as much as I can and making sure they dry enough in between. I set them up to drain and dry. They can take it if you accommodate them. Or just mount them. I like a combination of pots and mounts.

However some people have schedules that need pots to retain water to match the frequency of watering.

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Comments (2)

jane__ny
11 years ago
How did you sit it on top without it falling over?

I plant in the media but the rhizomes will send out new roots higher up anyway. If the plant like to be above, it will grow that way. At least that's have many of mine do it.

Crawlers and climbers!

Jane
shavedmonkey (Harvey in South Fl.)Z10b
Original Author
11 years ago
I bend the clips. The top one is how i bought it. The bent one allows me to have the clip higher in the pot. The first picture shows where the other end of the clip is. Planting in the medium works eventually as the plant takes time and energy to finally get to where it wants to be. Your plant is so much happier if it starts in a good place.

One of my first orchids was a brassavola nodosa. I mounted it on a post so I could see it grow and flower. I mounted toward the shade. Two years later it finally grew around to the sun and started to florish! The plants will show their love if you plant them high on the medium!
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