Geir Harris Hedemark wrote:

(TRAINMAN9) writes:


ago. At the time he was reusing plastic pots, in my opinion not an acceptable



Could you please elaborate? Does something nasty happen to old plastic
pots?



They do tend to get a little brittle over time. For paphs, reusing
pots is probably not a horrible thing. For other genera, it is a good
way to spread virus if the pots aren't very well cleaned and
sterilized. So, for anything but slippers, I use brand spanking new
plastic. If nothing else, it supports the oil industry, and we all know
that this is a very patriotic thing to do here in the USA.

I reuse pots all the time, but only for my slippers. And I don't
generally bother to sterilize them first.. I don't use pots from
diseased or unhealthy plants, those get pitched into the trash can when
I pitch the plant in the compost. Is this bad? Well... If I were
selling plants, I would use all new plastic. It looks better, and
besides, if you are selling plants you don't get very many pots to reuse
anyway. Many paph growers (not me) insist on putting a little used
potting mix into the new potting mix, presumably to innoculate the
medium with beneficial critters. I don't see how that is any different
than reusing a few fairly clean pots from some healthy plants.

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 purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit