How to choose suitable pots when cultivating orchids

In commercial orchid cultivation, apart from cut-flower orchids grown outdoors in the ground in tropical regions, ornamental orchids are generally grown in pots. Potted orchids can be moved freely and brought indoors or into a greenhouse to overwinter in winter, thus being free from environmental and regional constraints and limitations. According to the different materials they are made from, the pots used for growing orchids fall into the following 4 categories: (l) Clay pots (unglazed pots) - these are the most commonly used pots for cultivating orchids. Clay pots have the advantages of good air permeability, good drainage and low price. However, being fragile and too heavy are their shortcomings. When using them for potted orchids, new pots should first be soaked thoroughly in water; old pots must be cleaned and washed before use. The walls of clay pots for growing orchids are drilled with many large holes to facilitate air permeability for aerial roots, and this feature distinguishes them from ordinary clay pots used for growing flowers. (2) Plastic pots - nowadays, replacing clay pots with plastic orchid pots has become a reality, which is not unrelated to plastic pots being light, attractive and not easily broken. Ordinary plastic flower pots for growing orchids come in various specifications and shapes, and their walls are mostly punched with multiple rows of holes, thereby facilitating air and water permeability and overcoming the shortcoming of plastic pots having poor air permeability. For larger orchids, such as Cymbidium hookerianum, plastic hanging baskets can be used for planting. (3) Wooden frames - made from wooden strips, mostly square in shape, specially used for growing large monopodial epiphytic orchids such as Vanda and Aerides. Orchids grown in wooden frames are mostly hung up; hanging wooden frames with orchids planted in them in the greenhouse can save space and achieve three-dimensional orchid cultivation. Because the gaps between the wooden strips are relatively wide, they are especially suitable for orchid types such as Stanhopea, whose flowers penetrate downward and open after blooming. (4) Tree fern boards (tree fern pots) - because epiphytic orchids have aerial habits, they can grow without soil and pots by using porous tree fern boards as climbing support. Suitable tree fern boards should be cut and processed from the sapwood of tree fern trunks, with many black root strips on the surface; when planting, sphagnum moss can first be laid on, and then the orchid plant can be nailed firmly to the board. In addition, a section of tree fern trunk can be hollowed out in the center to make a tree fern pot, which is especially suitable for planting orchids. Besides the above 4 categories of pots, there are also rare cases of using coconut husks and wooden pots to cultivate orchids. Coconut husks, in particular, can be said to be readily available in Thailand; Thai people use them to grow cut-flower orchids, such as Dendrobium and Oncidium. Li Shaoqiu