I just acquired my first Stanhopea, (S. grandiflora, though I
understand that name is obsolete) and I want to move it to a basket to
allow it to bloom.

I'm thinking of using a cedar slat basket or an arrangement using a
wire basket lined with coarse plastic netting. I would use coarse
diatomite or bark in either one. What do others in the group use? The
plant is large, and I think slab mounting might be impractical.

J. Del Col

jadel wrote:
I just acquired my first Stanhopea, (S. grandiflora, though I
understand that name is obsolete) and I want to move it to a basket to
allow it to bloom.

I'm thinking of using a cedar slat basket or an arrangement using a
wire basket lined with coarse plastic netting. I would use coarse
diatomite or bark in either one. What do others in the group use? The
plant is large, and I think slab mounting might be impractical.

J. Del Col


Actually I've been using the large coconut chips (straight, although I
suppose i could mix it with very large charcoal). Only have one
stanhopea, but I've switched some similar plants into baskets. My goal
is anything that would have to go into bigger than an 8" pot goes into a
basket. That is a lot of baskets - waiting on a new batch.

Depending on the basket, with the large coconut I don't really need any
liner. In smaller baskets (4-6") I use a liner and a smaller mix (my
usual coconut mix with charcoal and perlite 2:1:1). Obviously with a
stanhopea you want whatever you use as a liner to be quite open (window
screen is right out).

Does it work? Not sure yet. Basket culture is pretty idiot proof
though, it is really hard to overwater and if you have enough humidity
it is hard to underwater them too.

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

LittlefrogFarm - Growing the plants Rob likes. )

jadel,

Where are you keeping or planning to keep it?

I tried lining a basket with newspaper and moss and then putting coco husk
in it. Nearly killed a large assidensis. It is now in recovery in a 6"
plastic basket planted in straight NZ Moss. I still have to water it every
second or third day.

It is in a 70 degree quite humid room (60 to 70%)

Bob
"Rob Halgren" wrote in message
...
jadel wrote:
I just acquired my first Stanhopea, (S. grandiflora, though I
understand that name is obsolete) and I want to move it to a basket to
allow it to bloom.

I'm thinking of using a cedar slat basket or an arrangement using a
wire basket lined with coarse plastic netting. I would use coarse
diatomite or bark in either one. What do others in the group use? The
plant is large, and I think slab mounting might be impractical.

J. Del Col


Actually I've been using the large coconut chips (straight, although I
suppose i could mix it with very large charcoal). Only have one
stanhopea, but I've switched some similar plants into baskets. My goal is
anything that would have to go into bigger than an 8" pot goes into a
basket. That is a lot of baskets - waiting on a new batch.

Depending on the basket, with the large coconut I don't really need any
liner. In smaller baskets (4-6") I use a liner and a smaller mix (my
usual coconut mix with charcoal and perlite 2:1:1). Obviously with a
stanhopea you want whatever you use as a liner to be quite open (window
screen is right out).

Does it work? Not sure yet. Basket culture is pretty idiot proof though,
it is really hard to overwater and if you have enough humidity it is hard
to underwater them too.

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

LittlefrogFarm - Growing the plants Rob likes. )

Bob Walsh wrote:
jadel,

Where are you keeping or planning to keep it?

In my basement orchidarium, i.e. the laundry room. BTW, The plants get
good light, a combination of natural sunlight and fluorescent.

My conditions will be similar to yours 65-70F, 55-60% humidity.

I'd been reluctant to try Stanhopeas because of their flowering habit,
but this plant was a very good deal for its size and condition--6 inch
pot and plenty of mature pseudobulbs and new growth.

Thanks to all for the advice.

J. Del Col

Bob Walsh wrote:
jadel,

Where are you keeping or planning to keep it?

I tried lining a basket with newspaper and moss and then putting coco husk
in it. Nearly killed a large assidensis. It is now in recovery in a 6"
plastic basket planted in straight NZ Moss. I still have to water it every
second or third day.

It is in a 70 degree quite humid room (60 to 70%)

Bob

Bob,
I'm sure you are more skilled at growing stanhopeas than I, so I have a
few questions. With the coconut, did you nearly kill it by
overwatering? Underwatering? Something else? I'm just thinking that
maybe the newspaper made the basket too 'waterproof' so to speak.
Harder to dry out without direct access to air. This is why the
straight moss might be working better. Perhaps (and this is a perhaps)
coconut minus the newspaper would have been less lethal.

I've been staying away from NZ moss in baskets because I'm concerned
about the moss breaking down. One of the benefits of the baskets (the
main benefit, as far as I'm concerned) is that plants can stay in them
forever (or put the basket in a bigger basket when it needs it).
Coconut, rock, charcoal, all of those things I don't mind leaving around
my roots forever. Maybe sphagnum lasts a bit longer in baskets
(probably does).

I may be boarding a bunch of stanhopeas soon, so if the coconut is
instant death I'd really like to avoid it.

Thanks

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

Littlefrog Farm - Growing the plants Rob likes. )

I guy in our orchid society has the national collection of stanhopea,he gave
a talk on them at our last meeting.He grows his in baskets with spag moss
with perlite mixed in or young plants obviously in pots with same mixture.I
cant argue with his success this is all he grows .His collection is
massive,he has two 24 x 60 foot greenhouses and they are both full!

--
Thanks Keith,England,UK.
"Rob Halgren" wrote in message
...
Bob Walsh wrote:
jadel,

Where are you keeping or planning to keep it?

I tried lining a basket with newspaper and moss and then putting coco
husk
in it. Nearly killed a large assidensis. It is now in recovery in a 6"
plastic basket planted in straight NZ Moss. I still have to water it
every
second or third day.

It is in a 70 degree quite humid room (60 to 70%)

Bob

Bob,
I'm sure you are more skilled at growing stanhopeas than I, so I have a
few questions. With the coconut, did you nearly kill it by
overwatering? Underwatering? Something else? I'm just thinking that
maybe the newspaper made the basket too 'waterproof' so to speak.
Harder to dry out without direct access to air. This is why the
straight moss might be working better. Perhaps (and this is a perhaps)
coconut minus the newspaper would have been less lethal.

I've been staying away from NZ moss in baskets because I'm concerned
about the moss breaking down. One of the benefits of the baskets (the
main benefit, as far as I'm concerned) is that plants can stay in them
forever (or put the basket in a bigger basket when it needs it).
Coconut, rock, charcoal, all of those things I don't mind leaving around
my roots forever. Maybe sphagnum lasts a bit longer in baskets
(probably does).

I may be boarding a bunch of stanhopeas soon, so if the coconut is
instant death I'd really like to avoid it.

Thanks

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

Littlefrog Farm - Growing the plants Rob likes. )

Rob,

I think they were too dry. I don't always find that coco husk is easy to
keep moist. The paper was to be until the roots and settling of the moss and
mix would stay together in the basket.

I now have five Stanhopeas (assidensis, connata, occulata, reichenbachiana,
and nigroviolacia) in from 4 to 6" pots, all in NZ moss, and all doing well.
They are under flourescent lights.
I had them and others under metal halide when they were getting too dry plus
the temperature was too high (around 80 degrees).

Cooler and more moist seems to be the key for me.

Waiting for them to bloom. Some year.

Bob

Rob Halgren" wrote in message
...
Bob Walsh wrote:
jadel,

Where are you keeping or planning to keep it?

I tried lining a basket with newspaper and moss and then putting coco
husk in it. Nearly killed a large assidensis. It is now in recovery in a
6" plastic basket planted in straight NZ Moss. I still have to water it
every second or third day.

It is in a 70 degree quite humid room (60 to 70%)

Bob

Bob,
I'm sure you are more skilled at growing stanhopeas than I, so I have a
few questions. With the coconut, did you nearly kill it by overwatering?
Underwatering? Something else? I'm just thinking that maybe the
newspaper made the basket too 'waterproof' so to speak. Harder to dry out
without direct access to air. This is why the straight moss might be
working better. Perhaps (and this is a perhaps) coconut minus the
newspaper would have been less lethal.

I've been staying away from NZ moss in baskets because I'm concerned about
the moss breaking down. One of the benefits of the baskets (the main
benefit, as far as I'm concerned) is that plants can stay in them forever
(or put the basket in a bigger basket when it needs it). Coconut, rock,
charcoal, all of those things I don't mind leaving around my roots
forever. Maybe sphagnum lasts a bit longer in baskets (probably does).

I may be boarding a bunch of stanhopeas soon, so if the coconut is instant
death I'd really like to avoid it.

Thanks

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

Littlefrog Farm - Growing the plants Rob likes. )

jadel wrote:
I just acquired my first Stanhopea, (S. grandiflora, though I
understand that name is obsolete) and I want to move it to a basket
to
allow it to bloom.

I like to use the wire baskets that you can buy at Lowes, Home despot,
etc. The fibrous coco liner that comes with them is probably too dense
for Stanhopea inflorescences to punch through, so I line them with
decorative sheet moss instead. Then I stuff the basket with long fiber
sphagnum and perhaps a little aliflor or charcoal. It works very well
with Coryanthes and the few Stanhopea species that I've tried. The
sheet moss holds in the mix but allows inflorescneces to grow through.
It looks "natural," too.

Nick
--

If you have a large one allready, you can pot the thing up in allmost
any medium or mount you want. (don't use pure bark or pure coco husk,
by themselves they do not hold moisture long enough) Mist it every
morning and it will grow. Once they became adult plants they take a
lot less water. If you have an 8" basket with 10 or so bulbs of a
Grandiflora don't water it to heavy. I have a huge Grand. and I only
mist the moss around the outside of the basket and on top lightly
every morning. Then I water the basket good once a week. Any more than
that and it spits leave on the floor like an baby with a wet diaper.
I grow a ton of Stans. It is my prefered plant. I have them
everywhere, in all kinds of conditions, and all kinds of media and
mountings.
Wire baskets with newspaper liner and just moss or moss with bark and
perlite. Wood slat baskets with shreded tree fern, moss, bark, and
charcoal chunks. Big black plastic net pots. Or small Vanda type net
pots. I have used moss mixed with crushed up leaves from my back yard
(oak and popler mostly) and had great results. I have thrown baby
seedlings right from flask to pots with bark, perlite, moss, and sand
in them. Yes, regular old play sand.They seem to be able to survive
and do well under much varied conditions. I have some mounted on cork
where you can no longer see any of the moss any more, just a mass of
roots and shoots. The flowers will push through just about anything
that is not solid. I have had them bloom out over the top of a plastic
pot when it couldn't go out the bottom. The guy at Greenleaf orchids
grows all his in wire baskets with plastic liner and just the soiless
peat mix.
My personel pref. is mounting on large (1 lb. or bigger) slabs or
round tubes of cork. Evan when they are small I tend to look 3 or 4
yrs down the road at what I want the display of it to look like.
The biggest thing I have learned is keepem moist. Not soaking just
slightly damp down in the media. Good air and lower light levels at
fist after repotting. Once they are happy you can increase the
lighting to very bright. My biggest grand is in the propagation room
with all the babys and it hangs high up and about 3' away from 800
watts of HID (400 MH and 400 HPS) and it grows all year long. I have
some 4yr old runt (they were the tiny tiny sprigs left over from the
flask) Costies on a slab of cork hanging less than 2' away from the
same amount of light on the othe side of the room and they continue to
put out new shoots with out showing signs of burning.


dude

I just acquired my first Stanhopea, (S. grandiflora, though I
understand that name is obsolete) and I want to move it to a basket to
allow it to bloom.

I'm thinking of using a cedar slat basket or an arrangement using a
wire basket lined with coarse plastic netting. I would use coarse
diatomite or bark in either one. What do others in the group use? The
plant is large, and I think slab mounting might be impractical.

J. Del Col