RPM1 wrote:
I have about a dozen little ones that need to be potted.
Do you re-use pots or just buy new ones? I have old
plastic pots that I can bleach and boil the crap out of
but maybe I should just go buy new ones. I know that
my orchids are totally disease and bug (except for ladybugs)
free. I'd hate to introduce any nasties to my little oasis.
Ruth CM
If you are confident, then you can reuse the pots. I'm never that
confident. You could have a virus or some other nasty that just hasn't
manifested itself. Heck, I just bought a flat of free plants to a new
members meeting, and after giving half of them away I discovered some
brown scale on one. That was a bucket of cold water. I've never had
brown scale before, so needless to say I wasn't looking for it.
Anyway... If you have the heavier plastic pots, and they don't
look all scaled up and nasty, then no reason not to reuse them. Wash
them well before (before!!) bleaching them. At least scrub off any
attached bits of bark, roots, and as much of the 'dirt' as you can.
Bleach doesn't work well on killing things it can't get to, so bleaching
a clean pot is the most effective.. If you do that, you don't need to
boil them. To me, even the best plastic pot isn't worth all that
trouble, so I just use a new one. I barely have enough time to water
the plants, much less scrub pots.
Rather than buying new plastic pots at the home center, consider
giving your local orchid grower a call. He (or she) might have some of
the pots they use, brand new, that they can sell you. That is usually
far cheaper than buying them at the garden center, and if you buy a lot
of plants from them they may give you the pots for free. If you use a
lot of pots, (oh, and some day you will, I can sense it...) then
consider getting together with a few buddies and order them by the case
from your local distributor.
--
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