Choosing orchid pots requires care; here's how to pick the right orchid pot

To grow Chinese orchids well, the texture and size of the orchid pot you choose are very important. In Guangdong, traditional orchid growing mostly uses "flower tray" pots, which are tall-footed and help the orchid roots extend. Those used forflower viewingare mostly large pots, while those used for foliage viewing are mostly small pots. As for texture,cultivationuses unglazed pots, that is, clay pots; exhibition uses glazed pots, that is, porcelain-faced pots. Unglazed pots are made from highly sticky clay containing iron. When making the pot, no glaze is applied to the outside, and it is fired at about 1,000 degrees Celsius. If the clay used contains a lot of iron, the fired orchid pot will be reddish red; otherwise it will be yellow-red. Because unglazed pots have good air permeability and moisture disperses quickly, they are very suitable for orchidcultivation. In addition, they are cheap and therefore very commonly used. It is worth introducing Japan'sorchid growingspecial-purpose pot, namely the "black raku pot." This kind of pot is made from special clay that contains no iron and other ingredients, with glaze applied on the outside, and after firing it undergoes a special cooling treatment. It is first fired at 1,300 degrees Celsius, taken out several hours later, cooled in the air to seven or eight hundred degrees, and then plunged into cold water for rapid cooling, causing many small bubbles to form evenly in the pot body and creating many fine pores, which facilitate air circulation and water evaporation, making it the finest ofcultivationorchid pots to date. On the basis of making black raku pots, Japan has also produced a kind of expensive "gold raku pot." This kind of orchid pot is made by using pure gold coating to paint dragons, phoenixes, birds, waves, lions, orchids and other patterns on ordinary black raku pots and then firing them once more, producing a noble orchid pot used for cultivating especially noble orchid varieties and for use when participating in exhibitions. At formal Japanese orchid exhibitions or appreciation gatherings, it is stipulated that all orchids must be planted in gold raku pots;orchidsand orchid pots should be regarded as an artistic combination. Good flowers must be matched with good pots to appear even more noble. In recent years, Taiwan, China has promoted the use of plastic pots, with ventilation holes on both the bottom and the walls of the Sichuan-style pot; they are very light and cheap, and production has already begun in Guangdong, with specifications divided into 3.5 inch, 4.5 inch, 5.5 inch, 6.5 inch and many other sizes. (He Qingzheng)