Jim Pyrzynski asked about growing long-rhizome plants in plastic guttering:
"Convert some relatively long, narrow (and probably shallow) device to a growing container and grow the plant at an angle to accomodate its habit. One container that comes to mind are gutters for houses - if you use the plastic ones, melt some holes in the bottom, cap both ends - more drainage holes in the bottom cap. the main concern would be on how to get the potting mix to stay in place at an angle." Jim, you should cut some moderately rigid plastic mesh (medium size hole) into semi-circular shapes with a diameter about 2-3 cm larger than the width of the guttering. You then glue the mesh semicircles across the inside of the gutter at around 10-15 cm intervals, thus dividing the gutter up into independant sections without compromising drainage & ventilation. Unfortunately, most plants will ignore the extra space you've provided and try to grow sideways out of the container, just to be awkward. The other problems associated with this system are the same as you get when growing an orchid in any over-sized container with too much media present .... excessive water-retention, excessive salt build-up, rapid souring and breakdown of media, plus lots of space for the bugs to hide in. Good luck. Peter O'Byrne Still egotistical in Singapore _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
