Hears a new thread.

What kind of pots are people using. I like clear, air cone style when I can find them in the size I need. But I also use slat baskets for a few things, and whatever plastic I can scounge in a pinch.

I also think potting in a deep narrow pot lets the roots find their own moisture level that they are fine with. But thats my speculation.

I prefer the plastic transparent ones. Mine are all free. When I order Chinese food, I recycle their plastic soup containers. :lol: All, I have to do is clean them nice and good and then drill holes in them and they are all ready for the plants.

My *absolute* favorite, are the Rand's aircone square pots. I really wish they had a 5". You can fit more pots into your area with square pots, you know! :joy:

Love 'em!

I always drill holes in mine too, and the plastic is thick/tough enough to drill through. I had a difficult time with thinner plastic.

I use almost exclusively Rand's Aircone pots for paphs and phrags, and short wide "bulb pans" for cyps. I like the idea about the chinese food containers, I save my clear plastic containers from store bought cookies and use them as propagators for rootless paphs or rootless fan divisions.
Some caudatums I'll grow in slat baskets with pure nz sphagnum...but they get repotted twice a year.
Jon

For seedlings I really like the Brantford 3 inch rounds. They are fairly tall which allows me to make about half the volume a drainage area and the other half mix. Plants need more frequent watering, but much easier to regulate moisture properly.

As they get older, I find more and more I like the Rands Aircones as well. They are expensive, but worth the investment.

As moist as Paphs like to be, I find it difficult to not overwater them- especially in larger pots. The Aircone pots make it a lot easier to give them regular moisture without worry of too much accumulation.

Who's got a good source for the Rand's pots?

Rick,

I get all my pots from OFE and Tea's Nursery. But I have not done a lot of price comparing, so not sure how well my cost stacks up against what others are paying.

I have the OFE spring list here and stacks of 10 Rands Aircone pots range from $5.50 for the 2 inch wide and 2.5 inch tall to $25.90 for the 6 inch wide and 7 inch tall. Been a while since I got them from Tea's, but they were a bit more expensive.

That is not too bad in my experience. I have seen that large 6x7" size as much as $5-6 per pot in some retail orchid shops.

I've tended to get my Rand's pots from Kelley's Korner, in ME, just because they are fairly local and I can pick them up at shows. Tea's prices sound better though, so I may have to look into that. I really use them pretty exclusively now. I'm addicted to clear pots and my anal tendancies force me to repot pretty immediately whenever possible. I like the look, as well as being able to see what is going on.

I get mine from OFE too, but most of mine originally came from Rands...those were the days. Three plants for $10, most awarded primaries around here originated from him as well.
He also listed a do-it-yourself potting mix and fertilizer that worked well. I used to love the mix, but crushed walnut shells got hard to find and my plants have really responded well to the MetroMix with Coir. Might have to try a few in it again one of these days.
Jon

i use solo cups so I can see proper root development.

Vey often I get enquiries about my bulk purchase and of course, got second looks when I replied that I'm using them to grow orchids....

Can spend one whole day punching and snipping out holes but the results are so far so good.

I keep my small plants in the plastic "tall" square 2" pots as long as I can. My selection of pots larger than that leaves a lot to be desired. I haven't found any that have that same height/width ratio so I end up just using square or round standard or azalea pots. I like the idea of the Solo cups--I should look into that. But Chinese food containers? Ew. Too much of a personal sacrifice. 8) I did have a couple air cone pots around here but I think they went out with gifts/sales/trades. I do like clear pots, especially for my Phrags since there is so much root growth to see. Since the little 2" pots are so easy to tip over, I keep them in flats in my growing area and when they're blooming I display them in pots from Purple Clay Imports as cachepots.

Mark

I like using clear pots whenever possible. It's easier to pick out seedlings for sale or trade. I pick ones where I can see healthy roots.

I am cheap, I use clear plastic containers that I make from juice bottles, 2 liter pop bottles, etc.

My favorite pot is the 4" clear round with a shallow cone in the bottom. It has tons of drainage. My next fave is the classic 5" green azalea.

I have not done well with the 4" square deeper pots. I'm doing much better with the shallow stuff as it dries out faster. I don't like to go more than 4 days before having to water. I do have most of the seedlings in the 2.5 sq/deep pots. I have compots in both the 2.5 sq deep and in 2.5 green shallow and the shallows are doing much better.

Most of what I have is clear, but I may move many back to green/black as I have MAJOR algae under the fluor. lights. Physan does nothing to prevent it and I don't want to mess with bleach.

terp, a good way to get rid of algae that we use in the fish breeding hobby, is to steep barley grass/straw in your water. It has natural properties for preventing algae will protecting all other plants. I forget why it works, I've been doing for a long time now and it doesn't really matter why anymore. I also use it in my pond. You can get it from feed stores.

I have all of my slippers in semi-hydroponics, and those pots are made from deli containers, too.

I find Physan or one ounce of bleach per gallon of water is just fine for preventing algae growth. Once it's present, nothing will adequately remove it, so prevention is the key.