The cattleya in question here is in a huge wire basket lined with 1/2 inch
plastic coated wire mesh to fit the form. It can be bought in a hardware
store. I also broke up a bunch of clay pots and used the large shards to
line the basket and then filled it with packing peanuts and topped it with
bark to keep the peanuts from washing/blowing away. This plant is in spike,
nine or ten leads right now.

I have a few in wire baskets that are lined in coconut mat liners and filled
with 1 inch chunky bark/charcoal/perlite. I think the coconut mat stays a
bit too damp and restricts airflow a bit more than I would like, but it
works. I much prefer the plastic coated wire mesh method of lining the
baskets to keep the potting media in.

..
"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
.. .
Hi, Nancy,

A couple of thoughts in return.

First, I have a large Catt in a wire basket with a coco liner and it is
doing fine. However, I use Aliflor for my Catts and peanuts under the
Aliflor. I remember Al writing about his huge C. amethystoglossa (I do
mean huge). He had it in a wire basket with nothing but peanuts for
medium. After all, if these plants were growing wild they'd be bare root.

Second, while I do use CHC (and I like it), I mix in some small Aliflor
along with charcoal and either sponge rock or perlite. But I don't use it
for mature Catts. I *will* use it for the babies, and some of the Epis and
Encyclias love it. CHC wicks up and retains a ton of water, though, and if
you combine that with a plastic pot you have a recipe for water retention.

I don't over water, but I've been amazed at how wet some of the root
systems stay in a CHC mix. I don't use bark mixes at all, since I can't
seem to get a feel for them. Bottom line for me is that I value CHC for
stuff other than Catts.

HTH

Diana

"Nancy G." wrote in message
ups.com...
Planning the attack on transplanting and dividing. It's been 2 to 3
years for most of them. They were divided into 6" pots, planted into a
CHC, perlite, and charcoal mix. It's gotten to the point of moving
them up or dividing and staying in the same sized pot.

Has anyone planted in a hanging style wilre basket lined with coco-mat?
Has it worked for you? Would it be better to plant in them or mount
the plant on the outside? I have one that is growing on a bare
cocoliner. Stupid I know, but it was failing in a regular plastic pot.
I put it on the cushion before any more roots could die, they grew to
the the thing while waiting to replant in something that I thought
they'd like.

I have 30 of the 12" welded and dipped baskets with mats. They were on
clearance last fall. I bought them with my larger catts in mind. That
is almost enough to drop on my most aggressive growers. Now I'm not
sure.

I will have to make some mods to my area due to the larger size. Some
will hang, either tilted or flat, some will go back on the bench with a
ring under to keep them from rolling. The bottoms are round, not flat.
Now that's a picture, a bunch of orchids set on little do-nuts or
whoopie cushions so they don't roll around on the bench.

I just thought that the catts that like more drainage or air around the
roots would benefit. I don't know whether the CHC has stayed a little
too wet or they don't like plastic, but the roots haven't gotten and
stayed really mongo until they go over the edge of the pots, or in a
couple of cases the pots blew over spilling abut half the mx. The
humidity in my growing area is high, maybe a little too high. I think
I've only really watered in there 3 or 4 times in 2 months. Nothing
seems to be shrivelling. Roots are growing and the new pseudo bulbs
are starting, just separating from the rhizome to about 3" tall. I
guess I have about a month to decide, but want to have the job done in
March. Probably will be time to start feeding by then, if not sooner.

Oh well, just a couple of questions and thoughts.

Nancy