Growing orchid in bulb pans or other such shallow containers

[JScott]

There used to be a member here, I cannot remember his name, although I wish I could so that I could thank him, nor do I know if he is still active, but he would regularly extol the virtues of growing orchids in bulb pans, because that solves the problem of the media being wet in the middle while being dry at the top and bottom. He was quite passionate about it.

About a year ago, I had some plants in 6 and 8 inch pots that needed bigger pots. They were such nice plants, I didn't want to divide them, but a 10 inch pot is so very deep, I thought it would be hard to get the watering right, and it might be hard to accommodate a pot that tall under my florescent lights in the winter. I remembered what this person had said about bulb pans, and I ordered some.

When I unpotted the plants, I found exactly what I expected. Thee roots toward the surface were in good shape, while everything deeper in the pot was dead. I potted them in the bulb pans and thought let's see what happens. I was able to find a few clear ones, so I could observe the roots as they grew, and they grew like crazy. The plants in the bulb pans seemed more vigorous than the others.

Then finally today, I had to repot one of my plants that had outgrown its 8 inch bulb pan and needed to go into a 10 inch, and when I unpotted it, I found that the roots were healthy all the way through the root ball, not dead in the center like what I was used to when using regular pots.

So anyway, I just wanted to share that and recommend, especially if you tend to be an over-waterer like me, that using shallow containers to grow your orchids can really help you keep the roots healthy. I wish I could remember who it was that talked about that on here so I could thank him, but oh well.

[DirtyCoconuts]

This is quite interesting.

Could you please tell us what type orchid as well as a picture of the growing area/pot and media

It will certainly assist me in helping you lol

[JScott]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

This is quite interesting.

Could you please tell us what type orchid as well as a picture of the growing area/pot and media

It will certainly assist me in helping you lol

I'm a special ed teacher who works with emotionally disturbed students, and I had to go to a training session right after school today to learn how to legally and safely restrain students who are a danger to themselves or others, and I just got home and I'm beat. Tomorrow, I'll take some pictures for you. But I've mostly got Catts in the bulb pans so far. I have some Phals that need repotting, and I think I'll do those in bulb pans also. I also have a large Oncidium Sharry Baby in a bulb pan that is doing well, although I only recently repotted it, so I haven't seen much change yet. As I have other Oncidiums that get bigger, they'll probably go into the bulb pans as well. But I'll get you some pictures tomorrow.

[Dollythehun]

That was Bil, I think he lived in Spain. He was quite the guy, and I always enjoyed him. I pm'd him a year or so ago. He was still growing but not too active on the OB. I'll bet he be tickled to know he helped you!

[Ray]

DC - the type of plant is relatively irrelevant. The “thin” layer of potting medium can dry out easier, Virtually eliminating the risk of suffocating the roots. Plants that prefer more moisture may have to be watered more frequently, that’s all.

[Dollythehun]

DC, Bil grew mostly phals. I just looked for him on the member forum and didn't see his name. I'll poke around some older posts and see what I can find.

---------- Post added at 06:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:29 AM ----------

Pots suitable for Catts.

This is just one post but, you could search under his name. He talked about this ALL the time. 😆

[Keysguy]

A few years ago I was cruising around a fellow growers greenhouse (it's huge and I think I recall he has something like 2000 orchids) and noticed he had some plants in large bulb pans. I asked him about them and ended up buying a dozen from him. He had a massive carton he had bought from a nursery supply house (don't recall which one) so he was willing to part with a few. They are green plastic, 12" D x 6" deep. I use them for my specimen cattleya's using coarse fir bark potting media. They LOVE them! I grow outside year round here and they get plenty of natural year round air movement and heavy rain most all summer long. Not only do they grow out and over the top of the pot but they've also been known to send not only roots but new growths out of the bottom holes so that tells me the roots are happy at the bottom as well as the top.
That being said, I have one massive Lc. that had completely overgrown a 8" wire basket and I didn't dare cut it out of the basket. It wouldn't fit in one of those bulb pans so I dropped it into one of those huge flimsy black plastic nursery pots and buried it in the coarse fir bark. Fast forward about 3 years and it's out of control. I think it had almost 50 blooms on it this year.
I guess my takeaway is you can use almost anything that has good drainage if it's matched with the appropriate plant and growing conditions.

[MarinaDC]

Catts love bulb pans! Here is one of mine in a 12”. Moving it up to a 14” is gonna be fun (not)...

[DirtyCoconuts]

the reason i was asking had more to do with the mechanical stability aspect of the root function....the OP has edited their post and now the question is silly anyways so carry on.


I was just asking because i know some of my way tall orchids need to be able to reach deep into something to stay upright.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

the reason i was asking had more to do with the mechanical stability aspect of the root function....the OP has edited their post and now the question is silly anyways so carry on.

I was just asking because i know some of my way tall orchids need to be able to reach deep into something to stay upright.

When newly potted, stability is an issue for any plant. One way of handling that is to pile on the medium, and it helps if the roots go deep. Another is to stake the plant, using skewers, knitting needles or some other “rod” jammed down into the medium, but that won’t work well with shallow containers. That leads to a third option, using wire clips that “grab” the edge(s) of the container.

They can either be configured in an L-shape, acting as a stake the plant can be tied to, or simply as “cross bars” that press down on the roots to keep them firmly placed.

On that last concept, several years ago, a retired, large-scale grower asked me to consider carrying biodegradable stakes used for anchoring heavy duty landscape cloth the the ground. They were sort-of a barbed T shape with the ends of the top curved downward. A U-shaped bent wire was laid on the surface of the medium, “straddling” the plant and two of the stakes were jammed into the medium on either side, hooking the wire. Held quite well, and the stakes, made from PLA (polylactic acid, a plant-based polymer) degraded over time.