How to choose a pot for orchids? A guide to picking the right orchid pot

In China, traditional pots for growing orchids can generally be divided into two main categories: unglazed clay pots and glazed pots. Unglazed clay pots have good breathability and are inexpensive, but their appearance is rather rough and not very elegant; glazed pots have a beautiful color and luster and come in various patterns, but their breathability and water permeability are both poor. Nowadays, plastic orchid pots are also produced; these plastic orchid pots are attractive in appearance and will not break, and many holes are drilled around the rim of the pot to facilitate ventilation and drainage.

Orchid pots come in various shapes; generally the pot opening is round, but there are also square and polygonal ones. Orchid pots are generally rather deep to facilitate root growth. Each region has its own traditional orchid pots. Guangdong traditionally uses the kuilan pot, which has a green glaze on the outside. This kind of orchid pot is produced in Shiwan, Guangdong, and comes in five sizes: large kuilan, second kuilan, third kuilan, fourth kuilan and fifth kuilan. For planting Cymbidium sinense, large kuilan and second kuilan are mostly used. The Jiangsu-Zhejiang region mostly uses orchid pots produced in Yixing; although these orchid pots are unglazed, their appearance is smooth and beautiful, and they are often carved or painted with orchid patterns. These orchid pots are mostly square or polygonal tall, straight cylindrical styles, available in sizes from small to large, and are often paired with a water saucer. Yunnan traditionally uses a flower jar with a wide belly and narrow mouth as an orchid pot; these orchid pots come in both clay and glazed versions, and although the pot opening is small, the pot cavity is relatively large, which suits the extension of orchid roots. In the Hong Kong and Taiwan, China areas, orchid growing today mostly imitates Japan, and pot choice is no exception, mostly tall cylindrical orchid pots similar to the Japanese tall, narrow-waisted style. These orchid pots are generally colored-glaze pots, often with fine relief carvings or patterns on the surface and three pot feet; they look very beautiful but are relatively expensive, and are mostly used as pots for cultivating prized varieties.

No matter which kind of orchid pot is chosen, in principle one should follow the rule of choosing reasonably according to the size of the orchid: small plants use small pots, large plants use large pots. The orchid pot must be well ventilated and well drained, and it is best if the appearance has some attractive patterns; the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot should be large to facilitate drainage and ventilation.

Newly purchased orchid pots must be soaked in water for several days before being used to grow orchids, so that their fiery dryness does not draw all the moisture out of the damp soil in the pot and affect orchid growth. In addition, newly planted orchids are best given new pots, while orchids being repotted are best given old pots.

There is no need to overthink orchid pot selection - the key lies in the structure of the potting medium and water control.

Whenever new orchid enthusiasts are just starting out, they think about what kind of flowerpot to use for growing orchids. When I first started growing orchids, the orchid pots at home were truly like a grocery store, with every kind of orchid pot imaginable. At first, I used the very traditional and popular green ceramic pots of Chaoshan, and later I fell in love with zisha pots. As the number of orchids increased, the jumble of pots made management inconvenient. In order to harmonize the many orchid pots in the orchid room so that drainage speed could be uniform, one must use pots that are similar in size, thickness, coarseness and form, so that when many orchid pots in the same room are watered at the same time, after the same amount of time, the drying state of each orchid pot is uniformly the same, or at least not too different. At present, this is relatively easy to achieve with plastic flowerpots. Of course, some orchid enthusiasts, for ventilation and beauty, specially order or buy whole batches of zisha pots or lightweight porcelain pots, but the cost is really relatively high. Regarding plastic pots, many orchid enthusiasts have different views and feel they are not ventilated, but this is actually a misunderstanding.

Whether orchids are difficult to grow depends first on solving the problems of ventilation and water control in the pot structure. What kind of orchid pot is used and what kind of potting medium is matched with it are both crucial. As for what kind of flowerpot to use, one should focus more on considering its economy and usability. If the choice of potting medium and water control are not mastered well, then no matter how good the orchid pot used, the result will not necessarily be good.

There are many kinds of flowerpots for cultivating orchids; commonly used ones include earthen pots, porcelain pots, zisha pots and plastic pots. Earthen pots are unglazed clay pots; they have good breathability, can filter water, and are cheap, suitable for use in large orchid nurseries, but earthen pots are rather rough and not very attractive, so they are not suitable for direct display and viewing. In addition, from an economic point of view, earthen pots are much more expensive than soft plastic cultivation cups. The sandware orchid pots fired in Yingjing, Sichuan, have good water absorption and breathability, but combined with locally commonly used potting media such as peat soil, it is still not easy to achieve the effect of fast drying and fast wetting in the pot.

Porcelain pots are glazed pots; ordinary porcelain pots are usually used as cachepots. Their appearance is attractive, but both breathability and water filtration are relatively poor, and in this respect they are no different from plastic flowerpots. Of course, in terms of cost, they are also more expensive than plastic flowerpots. Recently a kind of lightweight porcelain flowerpot has appeared on the market, fired at low temperature, which has the characteristics of water absorption and breathability, but the price is even more expensive.

Zisha pots fall between earthen pots and porcelain pots, combining the advantages and disadvantages of both, but they are relatively expensive. They are probably more likely to be used by households growing orchids in small numbers, such as the Chuhan mud orchid pots produced in Yixing, Zhejiang.

In the Dali, Jianchuan and Lijiang areas of western Yunnan, a kind of black clay jar (also called a waist-drum pot) is traditionally used. This kind of pot has a loose texture, thin walls, and multiple drainage holes left in the bottom. The ratio of pot height to pot width is about 3:2, with a smaller pot opening and pot bottom and a thickened middle section. In this way, the capacity of the area where roots concentrate is increased, which is very suitable for the growth and development of orchids with thick, strong roots, such as Lianbanlan, Xiaoxuesu and Daxuesu. Its disadvantages are that the pot opening is relatively small, making division and repotting difficult to carry out, and the pots are generally large and heavy after being filled with soil, making water control even harder.

Plastic pots are a commonly used orchid-growing container in recent years. They are light, cheap and convenient to use, and are currently used more in various parts of the south. Plastic pots do not absorb water, and their breathability and heat dissipation are poor, but this can generally be made up for by raising the orchid pots on stands, adding more drainage material, and other methods. Plastic pots are often paired with breathable materials such as volcanic rock and sphagnum moss as growing media for orchid cultivation. As long as the structure of the potting medium in the pot is reasonable, plastic flowerpots can likewise achieve the effect of ventilation and breathability. As far as the orchid's living environment in nature is concerned, orchid roots grow underground, and the ventilation effect is not necessarily better than in plastic pots. The issue is that the growing soil is relatively loose and drains freely, so they can also flourish. A single orchid seedling introduced for tens of thousands of yuan is likewise grown in a plastic pot, and it develops quite well.

There is no fixed method for growing orchids; any kind of pot can be used to grow orchids well. At one company, two large pots of orchids are placed by a window; the pots have a mouth diameter of 40 cm. These porcelain pots originally had no holes in the bottom or sides, and later only one small hole was drilled in each bottom for drainage. The two pots of wild-collected Sijilan have bloomed every year for four years and are growing well. The reasons are, first, that the pots were filled entirely with Kanuma soil, and second, that workers were required to water only once every 10 to 15 days.

In short, apart from a certain requirement for uniformity to make management easier, it does not matter much what kind of flowerpot orchid enthusiasts choose; the key is what potting medium is used and how water is controlled. Of course, there is another issue: the size of the orchid pot must be matched to the strength of the seedlings. If a very weak single seedling must be put in a medium-sized orchid pot, then the recommendation is to plant two to three seedlings in one pot.

Selection of pots for growing orchids

Judging by the habits of orchids, orchid pots are required to have strong drainage and breathability, so it is better to choose orchid pots that are rough in texture, unglazed, with many holes at the sides and bottom, and with pot feet; judging by the nature of orchid growing, for amateur ornamental orchid growing with relatively simple facilities and little management time, it is better to choose medium to large pots; judging by the use of the orchids, varieties intended for exhibitions and living room display should use small pots, so that they can be slipped into elegant pots when the time comes.

In choosing orchid pots, besides buying ready-made ones, you can also plan and design them yourself in advance. When designing orchid pots, in addition to paying attention to the above points, you must also pay attention to the following points:

1. Starting from the practical needs of packaging for variety exchange, the roots are required to be straight and bundled, so tall cylindrical small pots are needed.

2. From the perspective of saving potting medium, overcoming bulkiness and reducing the load on the orchid nursery, small orchid pots with small volume are needed.

3. Based on the height of the orchid plants and the length of the roots, the height of orchid pots should be divided into five grades: 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 cm, with corresponding pot diameters of five grades: 12, 17, 21, 26 and 30 cm.

4. For the color scheme of ornamental pots, avoid a single green that is the same color as orchid leaves. Orchid-praising verses can be carved on them.