Wolfgang
I have seen scriptum grown in a normal orchid plastic pot that has gone from one bulb to a huge plant in a matter of 5 years and the trash basket formed with no problems on top of the bark potting mix. My own experience with growing it in a basket was that it went backwards and died but I think that was more to do with where it was growing then with the basket .
I have Grammatophyllum stapellaeflorum which I nailed onto an old raintree log which is going great guns and is probably the way I will grow scriptum in the future.
Steven Kami
Message: 3 Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 12:05:24 +1000 From: "Wolfgang H. Bandisch" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [OGD] catch roots / trash basket To: "the OrchidGuide Digest \(OGD\)" <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=response
Ok, trash basket is another good name for that particular feature. The species much larger 'brother', Grammatophyllum speciosum var. papuana forms such large trash baskets that they are referred to here as 'eagle nests'.
Wolfgang H. Bandisch
----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 12:17 AM
Subject: [OGD] catch roots / trash basket
Wolfgang [H. Bandisch] wrote : "Grammatophyllum scriptum may not do so well in a pot over period as in order
to do well it needs to be able to develop its upwards growing 'catch roots'."
Interesting point.
'Trash baskets' were first described by Rumphius Georgius Everhardus Rumphius, (ca 1627-1702), according to Arditti [OrchidGuide Digest V2 #311, October 23 2000]
"Some [orchids] like to create the trash basket effect to collect detritus by sending roots vertically into the air."
[Stephen Kemp, Orchidguide Digest, September 22 1999, Volume 01 : Number 080]
Iris Cohen also mentioned trash baskets in a post to the OGD [13 Apr 2003, Vol 5, Issue 167] : "I read somewhere, possibly Dressler, that the upward circle of roots is called a trash basket. Its function is to catch dead leaves & other debris, which gradually decay and feed the plant."
*************
Dressler, in his book, The orchids: natural history and classification, writes :
"Another way to beat the mineral shortage is for the plant to form a 'trash basket' and directly collect debris, which then forms humus about the plant roots, where the minerals released by decay are readily available to the plant. ...
Grammatophyllum, Ansellia, Graphorkis, Cyrtopodium, some species of Catasetum, and some members of the subtribe Stanhopinae, ... produce thin, stiff roots that grow upward and outward from the substrate and serve ... as debris collectors"
Additionally, a photo caption [in the same book] : "Aerial roots of Grammatophyllum papuanum, which form a sort of trash basket that collects debris. Lae, Papua New Guinea"
[pages 90 and 92]
********* Regards,
Viateur
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Message: 4 Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2005 19:12:18 -0800 From: Marni Turkel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [OGD] Aussie Gold & The Ultimate Medium To: Orchid Guide Digest <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
In 25 years of growing, I haven't seen one potting medium that will work for everything (and I have watched people try). Let me start by saying that I have never used Aussie Gold or Diatomite.
The first time I had heard about either was 6 months ago when I was on a speaking tour in an area where quite a few people were using it and touting its wonders. I spent one day with a distributor of Aussie Gold who gave me the sales pitch and showed me the CD by the producer. As I understand it, Aussie Gold is Diatomite (Australian diatomaceous earth which is "far superior to what is in the US") mixed with coir (powdered coconut).
A significant number of greenhouses I visited had plants growing in straight Diatomite in porous terra cotta pots. What the growers were saying about Aussie Gold and/or Diatomite sounded great (too good to be true?). I am told by a friend (whose opinion I respect) that there is a cattleya grower who is having great success using it. I personally didn't see a single plant that made me want to try either of the products in my collection.
I can't imagine expecting one potting medium to work for everything, and I'm not willing to spot water individual plants as a routine. If I just grew one genus, maybe, but I have a very mixed collection of a few thousand plants, mostly species. I choose whether to pot or mount, the type of container, the type of mounting media, the potting mix, the proximity to fans, the position on the bench relative to the light and microclimate in an effort to give the plant what it likes. Sometimes that involves some thought, sometimes trial and error, sometimes it is by accident. Some areas in the greenhouse are watered more frequently than others and I move some plants to a dry rest area in the winter. If I want a plant to dry out between waterings I mount it, or choose a more open media, a more porous pot, a smaller pot, a breezier place on the bench or some combination.
Here are some of the things I am using (in all kinds of combinations) to adjust plants to my watering cycle:
Potting material: 1/4" bark based mix 1/2" bark 1/8" bark seedling mix terrestrial mix with bark/coir/perlite/lava rock, etc. straight perlite coir & perlite NZ sphagnum moss live sphagnum moss tree fern chunks coconut chunk
Mounting: cork bark Douglas fir bark Leptospermum Lilac grape vine casuarina tree fern
Containers: net pots wooden baskets plastic pots glazed pots porous pots tree fern pots
Marni
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