cyps in pots 2013

[Anthony Darby]

Leaf mould breaks down too quickly. Composted bark lasts longer, but as you are only adding 10% to an 80 - 90% inorganic mix, it is not important and isn't used as a nutrient source anyway. As Michael Weinert suggested, I sprayed systemic fungicide as the fungus competes with the orchid and are only important in a natural setting where the breakdown and release of nutrients from leaf mould is important.

[SteveC2]

To clarify, I do not use leaf mould with cyps, but have found that it definitely helps in the mix with my so called difficult woodland plants like Cremastra.  I never have very much and find that it takes years to form, so have to pick and choose where I use it. 
I was simply making the point about the problem of going out and digging clay / beech leaves / leaf mould.

[Anthony Darby]

I think the only clay anywhere near cyps is the baked stuff that the pots are made of.

[LarsB]

I've done a small experiment this winter. Last year i potted up some Cyp. Ulla Silkens and regina, plus some Dactylorhiza in some inorganic mixes of sand and perlite, with some also cat-litter-gravel. i left some of the Dactylorhizas in my normal claysoil mix and I've just had a look at how they have done over winter. The plants in the inorganic mix had done far better than the ones in the soil mix. This experiment was only with a few different plants and only one year, but i do think I'll continue along these lines with the potted hardy orchids.

[Botanica]

Cyp.parviflorum.

[K Andrzejewski]

Because of the construction of this bed, Manfred added some fertiliser, I can ask him if you like.

- this is the answer: an dünger verwende ich blühpflanzendünger sonst nichts = only fertilizer for flowering plants, nothing more
I got the question for all people who wrote comments in last two days - what can happen if someone will put rhizome into porous substrate (like seramis mixed with perlite,tufa + composted bark), all day will be raining and next day weather will change to frost -4 for a couple of days??? Is this really necessary to explain, that without basic info: where you keep your Cypripedium in the winter time (greenhouse, conservatory, cold frame or outside) - this whole discussion is nonsense??? In my opinion only Jeff gave full information how he is growing his Lady Slippers.
Regards -
Kristof
Lars - first story: cat-litter is not a gravel, but this is clay; second: season already started, but to compare the results - let first your Dactylorhiza grow.

[Anthony Darby]

Let's clarify something. The clay in cat litter is baked and remains pelleted like Seramis®. Clay itself is made up of mineral particles smaller than 2 μm and holds its shape when a wet lump rolled in your hand.

[monocotman]

Kristof,

instead of demanding information about how we grow cyps, please take the time to look through the various cyp threads in this section.
This is what most people do when they join the forum.
There is a wealth of information from some excellent growers which will answer all your questions about culture using inorganics.
Most people grow their cyps in pots in a very similar way to Jeff.

Regards,

David

[K Andrzejewski]

Every forum and still the same story...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentonite
For my cat I'm buying cat litter in Tesco, Sainsbury, Co-operative (former Somerfield) and sometimes in the small pet-shops or off-licence too, so I hope - we will don't start discussion now about the differences between cat litter in other european supermarkets & shops...
Kristof

[LarsB]

Hi Kristof,

I'm not sure what you want here, but i think you have misunderstood a few posts. Yes, i know that Cat-litter gravel is not gravel but baked clay pellets. I've also grown Dactylorhiza in inorganic matter last season and I can fully judge how they have survived by now, so I'm not sure what you want me to wait for. Judging from your posts you have a lot of experience, so why not contribute with that?

[Slug Killer]

Every forum and still the same story...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentonite
For my cat I'm buying cat litter in Tesco, Sainsbury, Co-operative (former Somerfield) and sometimes in the small pet-shops or off-licence too, so I hope - we will don't start discussion now about the differences between cat litter in other european supermarkets & shops...
Kristof

Cat litter difference has already been discussed if you care to use the search button. There is however two very different types of cat litter and one will almost certainly help kill your plants.

If you haven't read them already, see the extensive information about Biosorb/cat litter/ultrasorb in  Wisley logs numbers 18 and 19

[K Andrzejewski]

I've done a small experiment this winter. Last year i potted up some Cyp. Ulla Silkens and regina, plus some Dactylorhiza

I've also grown Dactylorhiza in inorganic matter last season and I can fully judge how they have survived by now,

- Lars, now I'm lost - or I'm too tired today...Last year winter 2011/2012 or last year winter 2012 until spring 2013 and season already started now???
Kristof

[angie]

Mine are all coming into flower nicely and I bet all the flowers will over by the time I come back from the conference. Hope it's a cold spell here when I am away. Oh well there is always next year.

I have mine growing in all different materials and so far I can't see any difference, they have all had low temperatures and its been a long winter. I will say that the ones in the cat litter seem to be a little later but since I am a novice I can't really comment.
Its really interesting to hear what others do. I do find it helpful.

Angie 

[K Andrzejewski]

I think short explaining would be good for everybody, but because a mix of different things occurred in the same time, I will start from the beginning.
1)   More than one month before Mark bought a few Lady Slippers from Germany for very reasonable prices compare to UK. A few of them arrived with damaged roots, one of them was presented on this forum. Because I introduced him this seller and I feel a bit responsible for this situation, my suggestion was to rescue this plant in other way than people usually are doing in UK. I think planting this Cypripedium in clay soil from the nearest basalt quarry (industrial estate) will be the easiest solution.
2)   In my opinion – plant presented by Mark on the photograph show exactly what can happen, when we plant our Lady Slipper in well drained soil substrate, and after the rain frost will come. There is good visible - roots damage occurred in approximately the same radial distance from the pot edge. I hope, everybody still remember closed airports in Europe ( like Frankfurt/Main or Paris) or more  than 1m of snow in Northern  Ireland before Easter this year??
3)   This problem of course don’t occur when we keep Cypripedium indoors (conservatory, greenhouse, polyethylene-tunnels or in the cold frame) and we don’t water in winter, just absolutely minimum only. But – I think, there is many other people in this country, from Isle of Sky to the white cliffs of Dover, who maybe don’t want to spend thousands of pounds for building professional greenhouse in the back yard but still would like to keep a nice Lady Slippers clump in Italian terracotta pots. So I think there is a good opportunity to connect this two ideas – save Mark’s plants (and recover them not in next 3 years but now!) and show someone else how to do this.
4)   Basalt is a igneous rock of volcanic origin and his plutonic analog is gabbro: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAPF_diagram
Both contains basic component called feldspar – calcium rich plagioclase. As a result of weathering processes, plagioclase is converted into clay minerals, also rich in calcium.
Because I have found old record of Cypripedium calceolus from the wood on the Gabbro and Serpentine Massive published in Flora Silesiaca by Anton Johann Krocker in 1814, in my opinion this will work without problem. Contemporary occurrence of other orchids on basalt rocks I know from Poland, Germany and Czech Republic (Orchis mascula/ovalis, Dactylorhiza sambucina, Platanthera chlorantha, Dactylorhiza viridis) or endemic species of Canary Islands or Madeira. Here a small sample:  http://garten2null.de/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Barlia-metlesicsiana.jpg
5)   In think this is very common opinion about "well drained soil with good drainage" due to lack of understanding the properties of clay minerals. Of course, amount and percentage share of clay minerals differ – but one is for sure:  I have never - ever saw Cypripedium calceolus growing in the wild in non-clay soil.
Regards -
Kristof

[K Andrzejewski]

According to the previous post: on 19 of March I went for holidays until Easter. I was watching every day weather in UK on my iPhone, and I think everybody was surprised the same way with terrible strong cold winds, rain with snow and every night frost for more than one week. Because nobody expected such scenario, my plants stayed outside all this time, remaining of brown noses  (1 and 2) are still visible; 
Cypripedium segawai x fasciolatum; Mix in pot on the base of an old lawn-clay soil covered with aprox.1 inch layer of my own garden compost (pure organic material from self-made wooden compost box).