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. )