For orchid pots, there is no need to overthink it: the growing medium structure and moisture control are what really matter

Whenever new orchid enthusiasts are just starting out, they are all thinking about what kind of pot to use for growingorchids. Thinking back to when I first startedgrowing orchids, the orchid pots at home were truly like a general store, with every kind of pot imaginable. At first, I used the very traditional and popular green ceramic pots of Chaoshan, and later I grew fond of purple clay pots. As the number oforchidsincreased, the jumble of pots made management inconvenient. In order to harmonize the many orchid pots in the growing room so that their 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 period each pot dries out at the same rate, or at least does not differ too much. On this point, as things stand now, plastic flower pots are relatively easy to achieve. Of course, some orchid enthusiasts, for ventilation and aesthetics, specially customize or buy whole batches of purple clay pots or lightweight porcelain pots, but the cost is really rather high. Regarding plastic pots, many orchid enthusiasts have different views and feel they are not ventilated, but this is actually a misunderstanding. OrchidsWhether they are difficult to grow or not, the first thing to solve is the ventilation and moisture control of the structure inside the pot. What kind of orchid pot to use and what kind of growing medium to mix are both crucial. As for what kind of flower pot to use, the emphasis should be on considering its economy and usability. If the choice of growing medium and the control of moisture are not mastered well, then no matter how good the orchid pot used, the result will not necessarily be good. When cultivatingorchids, theflower pots are diverse, with commonly used ones including clay pots, porcelain pots, purple clay pots and plastic pots. Clay pots, that is, unglazed earthenware pots, have good air permeability, can filter water, and are cheap, suitable for use in large orchid nurseriescultivation, but clay 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, clay pots are much more expensive than soft plastic nursery cups. The sandy ware orchid pots fired in Yingjing, Sichuan, have decent water absorption and air permeability, but combined with locally commonly used growing media such as peat soil, it is still not easy to achieve the effect of the pot drying and wetting quickly. Porcelain pots, that is, glazed pots, are generally used as cachepots. Their appearance is attractive, but both air permeability and water filtration are rather poor, and in this respect there is no difference from plastic flower pots. Of course, in terms of expense, they are also more expensive than plastic flower pots. Recently a kind of lightweight porcelain flower pot has appeared on the market, fired at low temperature, which has the characteristics of water absorption and air permeability, but the price is even more expensive. Purple clay pots fall between clay pots and porcelain pots, combining the advantages and disadvantages of both, but the price is relatively high, and they are more likely to be used by householdsgrowing orchidsin small quantities, such as the Chuhan clay orchid pots produced in Yixing, Zhejiang. In the areas of Dali, Jianchuan and Lijiang in western Yunnan, a kind of black earthenware jar (also called a waist-drum pot) is traditionally used. This kind of pot is loose in texture, with thin walls, and multiple drainage holes left in the bottom. The ratio of pot height to pot width is about 3:2, with the pot mouth and bottom relatively small and the middle of the pot thickened. In this way, the capacity of the area where roots concentrate their growth is increased, which is very suitable for the growth and development ofLianbanorchids, Xiaoxuesu, Daxuesu and other orchidflowerswith thick, strong roots. Its drawbacks are that the pot mouth is relatively small, making division and repotting difficult to carry out, and that the pots are generally large and heavy once filled with soil, making moisture control even harder. Plastic pots are a commonly used orchid-growing container in recent years. They are lightweight, cheap and convenient to use, and are currently used quite a lot in various places in the south. Plastic pots do not absorb water and have poor air permeability and heat dissipation, but this can generally be made up for by methods such as raising the orchid pots on stands and adding more drainage material. Plastic pots are often paired with air-permeable materials such as volcanic stone and sphagnum moss as thecultivationsubstrate for orchid cultivation. As long as the structure of the growing medium inside the pot is reasonable, plastic flower pots can likewise achieve the effect of ventilation and air permeability. As far as the orchid's living environment in nature is concerned, orchid roots grow underground, and the ventilation effect there is not necessarily better than in plastic pots. The issue is that the soil in which they grow is relatively loose and drains freely, so they can also flourish. A single orchid plant introduced for tens of thousands of yuan is likewise grown in plastic pots, and all develop quite well. There is no fixed method for growing orchids; any kind of pot can be used to grow orchids well. At the company where I work, two large pots of orchids sit by a window, with a pot mouth diameter of 40 cm. These glazed 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-collectedFour Seasonsorchidshave 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 are 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 flower pot orchid enthusiasts choose. The key is what growing medium is used and how moisture is controlled. Of course, there is another issue, which is that the size of the orchid pot must be combined with the strength or weakness of the seedlings. If a very weak single seedling must be planted in a medium-sized orchid pot, then the suggestion is to plant two to three seedlings in one pot. Excerpted from "The Orchid Classic" by Keke