2 orchid plants in one pot??????

[sandra]

Is it ok to put 2 small plants (exactly the same) into one container? If this is acceptable, would I expect to see the same results as one or could putting them together somehow stimulate growth? Stunt growth? No difference? Big difference? Oncidiums, each now in 3 inch pots or dendrobiums - also now in 3 inch pots. I have just taken a keen interest in orchids and started purchasing them last week. I live in South Florida, have a large screened patio with north east exposure and very slight west exposure and am totally clueless as to the care of these beauties but as dumb as this question may be, I've picked up a lot of advice here and have decided because of the expense involved, if it means keeping them thriving and around for a long time, well......dumb works for me!!!

Thanks to all in advance.

P.S. I am so happy I found this site. It's awesome!

[mayres]

If you become a master orchidist you will find that your plants will outgrow your containers - so one reason to keep them separate is that you have to repot to divide not combine (just the opposite of what you are suggesting!). For example people in my orchid society that are really good at growing cattleya orchids are dividing large plants into 6-7 plants. Generally most people would not want to put two different (types or crosses) in the same container - though I have seen them sell a multigeneric and phal in the same pot at Trader Joes for retail - I think a lot of people buy them for the cut flower value - since their care long term would not do well with two genera like this together - one wants more water, light, humidity, etc. than the other. My suggestion is if you like the co-mingled visual of two or more together - put several small pots together in a larger decorative pots and cover with spanish moss or something to give an appearance of a single planting - but keep each plant in its own primary pot. Good luck and enjoy! mike

[kmarch]

Sandra,

Often, before plants are sold, when they come out of the flask, they are grown together in what we call community pots or com pots. Growing little seedlings together seems to help them grow stronger than if they were grown in seperate pots. So growing like plants together in the same pot is fine.

Are the plants you're considering putting together the same cross? If they are it will avoid confusion if you have to seperate them later as they grow. If they are different crosses, it would be worth your while to figure out a way to keep it clear which cross is which.

As long as they like the same culture/conditions, you should be fine. I understand your desire to have a larger 'display' if you will. I like that too. For that reason, I rarely if ever divide my plants. In about 10 years of growing, I have divided only 3 plants, all giant Cattleyas that were starting to decline.

Happy Growing!

-Kevin

[sandra]

Thank you both, Mike and Kevin for your replies and suggestions. I'll keep the plants separate. Actually Mike, the reason I was asking was that although, appearance-wise, they'd look prettier but more than this, I'm looking into the future and just know that I've just caught on to something grand with these orchids and am preparing for how I'm going to make more room for all the ones I plan on purchasing!!! I have close to 100 plants now on my patio (succulents, palms, etc.) and once I get into something, I reeeeaaaalllly get into it. I just purchased 2 more orchids yesterday on ebay and another bid, ending in about an hour have just increased my collection to 7 since last Thursday! The only thing I'm worried about is the watering (how much, how often, etc.) I've just purchased some plant food which I'll alternate between waterings, bought the skewers to test the need of when it's time to re-water, etc. but I'm still unsure of how much, how often. I've repotted them with new bark so I will probably first submerge them in a big pot of water.

Thanks again for the replies.

P.S. Trader Joes don't exist here in Fla. I miss them. I lived in southern Ca. most of my life and was a frequent customer there, especially in the summers when they came out with their coconut ice bars!

[mayres]

Sounds like you are addicted indeed - I started out trying to fertilize on a schedule and quickly learned that I couldn't rememberr from week to week if I'd fertilized last week or the week before? Comes with age I guess? So I've learned out of necessity to just water every time weakly. So far it appears to be working.

[sandra]

Mike, you water and fertilize every week? And I've been wondering before I've even started how I'm going to remember if last week I did or didn't also! But I'm still young and cute ..... for 53 anyway!

P.S. I won that other auction on ebay today! I'm cookin' now!

[kmarch]

Hey Sandra,

When I was starting out I had some plants (Cattleyas mostly) that needed watering every 7 days, some (Paphs) that I watered about every 5 days, and others (Masdevallias) that I watered every 3 days. I devised a colour-coded system for watering in which I took a calendar and in different colour pens plotted out every 7, 5, and 3 days. I went to an office supply store and bought those little round coloured dots, 3 colours, that matched the colours i had used on the calendar and stuck dots on the pots. then when i got up in the morning I'd look at the calendar and see (for example) that today was marked, in green, "5 Day" so I would water all the plants that had a green dot on the pot (which were the plants which needed watering every 5 days). The next day (for another example) i'd see "7 Day" in blue and "3 Day" in red so I would water all pots with blue or red dots on them. This system worked extremely well for me when I had nearly 200 plants with different watering likes. Later I gravitated to Paphs and Phrags and didn't need the system any longer.

-K

[God.Jr]

guys i was also thinking about putting twp orchids into one pot ....BIG POT ......
i was thinnking along the lines of two phals, wen i say big pot i'm talking about a 12in pot i would say.

i had two thoughts on how to do this one was to put them straight into a mos bark mix not to close of course ...... and the second was i get a big piece of drift wood or something and put that in the pot so it takes up most of the space then place one one the top of the piece of high from the pot and the second level with top of the top or slightly in .......

i know now i'm probably talking about a different types here.
i can see where you are coming from with the type that will grow more canes that you can then split......but you don't split phal's do you.

*funny i was thinking about two plants in one pot and then i come here and find it in the new post section on the first page, madness*

[sandra]

OK Kevin, ya got me going now. I'm going to Walmart to buy dots!!!!! I'm all for organization. I keep going on to the patio to look for where I'm going to be placing all the orchids being shipped to me that I bought on ebay. I bought 2 more today!!!!! So, since last Thursday before I had any, I will soon have 9! I'm just a little leary though because I have no clue on when to water them. I have one den now and 2 that were not labeled and have no clue what kind they are (on the sale rack reduced from $27 to $2. A customer who was buying up all the plants on the sale rack, told me he was an avid cultivator and that the 2 I got were very healthy. I repotted both, cut back the roots on one of them and have them in bark, so time will tell on those) and the 6 coming are more dens and oncidiums. I have to find more info on the watering and print it out and keep it with the dots!!!!

I am having so much fun with this. Thank you Kevin for all the advice and helping me with all these baby steps! You have 200 plus? WOW. Where do you have them?

[kmarch]

Hi Sandra,

I had about 200+ orchids when i lived in the US (they are now being taken care of by a friend until my CITES export papers are approved). I grew them all in my apartment balcony which had been turned into a sun room before i moved in. Eastern exposure.

I've lived in Melbourne Australia for almost 3 years now and have about 550 plants, almost all Paphs, growing on metal shelving units in a window. Melbourne is a little cool in the winter to grow many Paphs outdoors but there are a lot fo things we can grow outside without difficulty, namely Cymbidiums, Australian native Dendrobiums and terrestrials, and other things like Zygos and Lycastes, the cool growing Coelogyne and other things. So effectively I'm windowsill grosing with some things outside.

Um....can you clarify what you meant when you said you, "cut back the roots" on one of your new orchids?

-Kevin

[sandra]

Again Kevin, WOW!.....550 plants. Do you plan on coming back to the states to live? What about all your plants? I'd have a hard time leaving them, really.

Yes, I cut back the roots on the one orchid whose name, I have no clue. It's huge and was completely root rotted. The plant itself looks healthy but the roots were disgusting. Soggy, practically falling away on their own when I touched them, limp. I carefully removed all the bark and cut the roots up to maybe, 1/2". The one thing I didn't do though which I later found out I should have done is rinse them under water and use a root stimulent but they were so water logged, perhaps it was best that I didn't? Is there something you suggest I do before I have to call paramedics?

I can't get over 550 plants. That would be a sight to behold.

[kmarch]

Hi Sandra,

Sounds like you did ok on the root thing. From time to time I have encountered some very strange urban myth-type anecdotes for growing orchids, usually coming form florists who sell but do not grow orchids. Examples include things like putting your orchid in the cellar or basement in the winter or putting it in a bag with an apple under the kitchen sink for a month in order to induce blooming. Of course these things are nonsense. A long time ago I heard it said that for other tropical plants (non-orchids) one can induce growth by trimming roots. Of course this is a bad idea too as the plant relies on its roots to take in most of the moisture and nutrients it needs. I was a little concerned that another of those gardening myths had crept into orchid growing.

Anyway, you were right to remove all the rot even if it meant you weren't left with much. Hopefully in its new fresh pot it will start to grow a new set of roots.

I plan to take some orchid pics today so I'll try to remember to take a snap of my growing space and post it. One reason I like Paphs so much is that they don't take up alot of space. I think you'll be suprised to see how many plants I have in a rather small space. Of those 550 only about 200 are blooming size the rest are near blooming size or seedlings of various sizes. Many varieties (especially many of the Brachypetalum crosses) can bloom in 50mm pots.

[sandra]

Great Kevin. I'm looking forward to seeing your photos. I'll keep checking in to see if you've posted them.

Before I got to the "nonsense" part in your post, I was trying to picture in my head if I had any bags in the cupboard and apples in the fridge for the orchids...LOL. I gave them their very first watering today. It was an eventful project. I then added new moss on top. Fingers crossed, they'll still be alive in the morning when I awake. I met a grower at Home Depot today who told me to water them frequently (every other day) so now I'm totally thrown for a loop on their care. Until I know for certain, I'll water them every week through autumn (and check first to make sure they're dry).

Thanks again for all of your advice and conversation. I'll keep checking for those photos of yours.

P.S. I just realized that it's Friday already where you are. Winding down for the weekend so I won't necessarily see those photos till Monday, very understandably! Enjoy your weekend.

[Ellen]

Another consideration when thinking about growing multiple plants in a pot (we're not talking compots here) is that generally there's competition and one plant grows larger and stronger than the other, basically crowding it out and taking resources from it.

[sandra]

Originally Posted by Ellen

Another consideration when thinking about growing multiple plants in a pot (we're not talking compots here) is that generally there's competition and one plant grows larger and stronger than the other, basically crowding it out and taking resources from it.

Thank you for this insight Ellen. Never knew it worked like this. Don't know the first thing about orchids and I'm on my 9th plant already since last week. I want to do everything right so I appreciate this advice here. I would have thought that 2 of exactly the same (identical) ones, would just start out bigger. They're in 3 inch pots and always thought that they were slow growers but I will put them in separate pots as suggested. I've yet to get them (6) that I bought on ebay. I'm very excited! Thanks again.

[pikevi]

I do have one "fake" collection of three orchids in one basket: a mix of three different species.

I think it is cheating since I have three individual pots that hold them .

They are sitting in a basket full of chips and moss. The upper part is still exposed and I intend to cover that up with 'live' moss, which I acquired yesterday.

I hope it works: no, not the plants.. fooling others!!!

[kmarch]

Hey Sandra,

Did I recommend Ortho's All About Orchids to you? It is probably the best book I have found for basic orchid care. The info is clear concise and very practical. It covers watering, light, potting, pretty much everything. Also it is extreemely reasonably priced. I bouht mine years ago for something like $14. It can currently be found on Amazon.com for less than $10 (http://www.amazon.com/Orthos-All-Abo...3656880&sr=1-1)

It is really worth the investment.

On a different note I took pics of my growing space this weekend and am planning to start a new thread about growing spaces and how to organize them.

Cheers,

-Kevin