On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 18:52:22 -0700, "wendy7"
wrote:

Super great ideas so far everyone! Hope we can keep this going
& going.
How about tag colours & the use of them. I use yellow ones for all
the species, white for hybrids. An added red tag is for bug treated plants.

I tried colors once for potting date. I label everything with
the P-touch type of label maker and tape - black type on white
plastic with clear tape.

So I tried blue and yellow. The first year every pot got a blue
tag with the date written on it. - Just the date. Any pot not
tagged in blue - needed repotting. Second year the tag color was
yellow, any blue tags were to be repotted... Ran out of tags and
mixed colors and did not get done.. gave up. I could not see the
tags often.

I also tried colored tag to tell me this was one I wanted to sell
at the next os meeting or the next time I had a chance.

SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

A number of local growers, myself included, make net pots from gutter
guard (fine guage), which is normally used to keep leaves and debris out
of roof gutters. It works even better as a mount: instead of putting the
plant in the gutter guard container, mount it on the outside and fill
with a mix of your choice (I use peat and perlite). When the mix needs
renewing, simply tip it out or gently wash it out and replace. Because
the material doesn't seem to break down under even the strong UV we get
in Brisbane (Australia), you have a perpetual mount which will not
decay.

Different shapes and sizes can be made - for small ones, no support is
needed; for larger, try aluminium wire (bonsai wire, for example) to
obtain a square or cylidrical shape. Just the shot for some of the
scrambling bulbophyllums and coelogynes.

Cordially, Phil
--
################################################## #############################
Dr Phil Diamond
Department of Mathematics, University of Queensland, Brisbane,AUSTRALIA 4072.
Tel +61 7 3365 3253 Fax +61 7 3365 1477

I'm not to the part where I can go all Martha Stewart, but I use Q-tips
cotton swabs to stick down in the medium (Assuming that its not mounted)
To see if it's still moist or when the medium's dry.

-Sin

A number of years ago I started making my own rhizome clips for plastic
pots since the regular ones don't work too well on plastic. Grab a piece of
wire with pliers so the wire is in the jaws from the side. Wrap the wire 2-3
time around the pliers jaws in a 1/2 to 3/4 in circle. Keep the circles
close. After the last wrap, pull the rest of the wire to a right angle to
the loops and clip off about 4" long. The loops fit down over the edge of
the pot snuggly, no matter what size pot and the 4" protrusion can be shaped
to curve down over the rhizome or press across the top of it.
If I had any sense, I would have marketed these somehow. I have seen these
recently in some catalog somewhere, I really can't remember where (Charlie's
maybe?). Once you learn how to make them, they're quick & simple and
extremely effective. So when you run out, just sit down and make a few from
a roll of galvanized.
A take off on this is to make the 4" tail as long as you like and keep it in
the same plane as the loops. Fasten the loops down over the edge of the pot
and your wire sticks straight up to tie any plant parts to. You can branch
out and get a little fancier making "cup-holders" for 4" pots with a loop
upward for hanging.
Gary

"wendy7" wrote in message
news:0o%Hc.312$f9.280@fed1read02...
For example, when I am potting, I use an old lazy susan.
I put it in a wide flat bowl which catches any spillage & is clean
enough to use.

--
Cheers Wendy

Remove PETERPAN for email reply

Although not a tag *color* suggestion, a very practical and useful
idea is to double-tag each plant that merits it. One tag goes in the side
(in the usual place), and the other goes into the pot- all the way down at
the bottom, where it gets no light and very little chance of being pulled
at and hastily returned (to the wrong pot, usually) by some careless
admirer.

Second tip is to skip the Sharpie pens, which fade to illegibility
in a matter of months or weeks. Pencil is better. However, for those that
insist on using pens, the Sakura "Ident-I-Pen" markers work very, very
well. Art stores carry these archival-quality pens for a couple of bucks;
I have one that still writes after 3 years. Writes on glass, metal,
plastic, etc. just like a Sharpie.

E-mail address in the header isn't valid. Send no e-mail there.

Cheers,

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ

Aha! Pantyhose for orchids. I forgot all about that trick.

I've received in mounted orchids that were secured to small
"fingers" of sphagnum that were made by stuffing the moss into a bag made
out of expandable Nylon mesh. You can get this mesh from shower scrubbers,
as well as mesh grapefruit bags and even "turkey bags." Disinfect in a
little bleach first, tie off one end and stuff with sphagnum before tying
off the other.

E-mail address in the header isn't valid. Send no e-mail there.

Cheers,

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ

Another non-color tag suggestion, I've started writing the plant info on
both sides of the tag. I got sick and tired of having to turn it (either
the tag or the plant) around so I could read the tag.

K Barrett

Can't help but notice that colour coding seems to be the theme for
tracking various things like watering/fertilizing...etc. This might
sound dumb, but personally, I use the good old fashioned pen + paper
method and just record the dates.

Cheers,
Xi

Susan Erickson wrote:
On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 18:52:22 -0700, "wendy7"
wrote:


Super great ideas so far everyone! Hope we can keep this going
& going.
How about tag colours & the use of them. I use yellow ones for all
the species, white for hybrids. An added red tag is for bug treated plants.


I tried colors once for potting date. I label everything with
the P-touch type of label maker and tape - black type on white
plastic with clear tape.

So I tried blue and yellow. The first year every pot got a blue
tag with the date written on it. - Just the date. Any pot not
tagged in blue - needed repotting. Second year the tag color was
yellow, any blue tags were to be repotted... Ran out of tags and
mixed colors and did not get done.. gave up. I could not see the
tags often.

I also tried colored tag to tell me this was one I wanted to sell
at the next os meeting or the next time I had a chance.

SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 21:06:51 GMT, "Diana Kulaga"
wrote:

In the "Wish I'd Thought of This" category: A wonderful lady in our society
uses oxygen occasionally. In June she came to the board meeting with all
kinds of narrow plastic tubing that she doesn't need. She uses it to cover
wire hangers that might burn tender leaves and inflors in our hot FL
summers.

Along the same lines, I have a cat with kidney problem that I have to
give daily sub-q fluids. The iv-set line (the tubing the runs from
the fluid bag to the needle) is probably about the same size or
smaller than the tubing you describe. I've used it over wire as a
cushion when wiring plants into baskets and slide it over the hook in
wire flower stakes to avoid damage to the spike.

Some else mention bamboo stakes previously and they have all sorts of
uses from a quick flower stake for small plants, to propping up a new
leaf that is flopping over, to steadying rootless pseudobulbs potted
in sphagnum, to removing scale in hard to get to places. And they are
cheap.

Also, I keep a spray bottle of Ray's alcohol-based cinnamon extract on
hand. Sprayed on a Q-tip, it can be used to treat scale and mealies,
and it's handy to treat fungal / bacterial problem.

And the most important thing I learned about growing plants inside -
put a fan in your growing area and let it run continuously. It helps
prevent a host of problems.

deg

I have a solution to the problem of securing plants in plastic pots. I
seem to need this a lot - rootless divisions, topheavy plants.I don't
like to pack the mix tightly, so a stake down through it won't help. So,
for bulbos (which can be shaped like a roller coaster), any catts,
milts, brassias, tall dens, etc, I find rhizome clips don't work well
with plastic pots. I use an old soldering iron (alternately a long
rhizome clip laid over a stove burner on high for a short while,
carefully handled with a potholder) to burn holes in the sides of the
pot opposite each other just a little below the level of the rhizome.
Then I insert a bamboo stake (from the grocery for shishkabobs) which
should be just snug enough down on the plant to hold it firmly. I leave
about 1/8-1/4" of it sticking out either side and clip off the excess
with wire snips. Works great, is inexpensive and so adaptable to
different plants and pots.

My tip: a spool of thin galvanized wire can be very versatile
in creating hooks for mounts, hangers for wood baskets, securing
a plant in its pot, etc. etc.

---Prem
www.premdesign.com

Another non-color tag suggestion, I've started writing the plant info on
both sides of the tag. I got sick and tired of having to turn it (either
the tag or the plant) around so I could read the tag.

K Barrett

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 07:44:05 -0700, Wendy wrote:
Good stuff Sue, Another good container for waste is one of those
large kitchen trash bins with the step on peddle that opens the lid.
I also liked your idea of using newspaper?(I think you mentioned
this to me at one time)??
Cheers Wendy (Wondering when this post is going to drop off??)

Yes, just remember to open the papers and flatten from the middle
of each section. It makes it easy to clean the bench between
plants. Just grab the 4 corners (1 or 2 sheets) and you can haul
away the litter. The next layer of paper is clean and ready for
you to pot up the plant. Any spillage can be picked up and
reused - this is after all a clean surface. When your done and
all spillage is recovered. You can unpot on this sheet and take
the trash and used sheet away.

That way you are always making divisions and potting up on a
clean surface.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

Aha! Pantyhose for orchids. I forgot all about that trick.

I've received in mounted orchids that were secured to small
"fingers" of sphagnum that were made by stuffing the moss into a bag made
out of expandable Nylon mesh. You can get this mesh from shower scrubbers,
as well as mesh grapefruit bags and even "turkey bags." Disinfect in a
little bleach first, tie off one end and stuff with sphagnum before tying
off the other.

E-mail address in the header isn't valid. Send no e-mail there.

Cheers,

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ

There have been SO many good ideas here! But I hope you ALL have used this
one.
Go to the art store, and buy a palette knife. It is just a little thing with a
VERY flexible blade.
When you repot- first soak your plant in a pan/bucket(whatever is appropriate
for your plant) of water for a couple hours. I have found that "overnight" is
not too much, but it IS a bit scary. Then when ready to dump the plant out-
use the palette knife to gently remove the roots from the pot. Works like
magic- you can just slide the thing under to "stuck-on" roots, and they come
right off.
No home should be without one.
When you tire of your orchids, you can slop artist's paints- acrylic/oil onto
a palette, and then apply it to the canvas, just like Van Gogh.
Elinor