Wow, I'm a fan! 45 gallons, that's a barrel! I have a barrel that's 55 gal, being used as a compost bin. Great, now I'll be having 'ideas' about using it as a pot... uhoh. With what did you fill this 45-gallon "pot?" How in the heck do you water that?

He diverts a river............Bwahahahaha...............

Drew, your plants are so beautiful you could rent them out to decorators in the winter.

I've been trying to get a business like that started, but I live in a VERY cheap area. Too many Swiss people here and they are stingy.

I think a plant leasing/maintenance business is a great idea for someone who has the time, energy ... and plants! There's a company here in my town: http://www.plantpeopleofflorid... that leases plants to offices/businesses. I worked in the mortgage office of a local savings & loan years ago and the plant company supplied the plants for the VP's office and a couple of other areas in the building. I worked for the loan data processing department but for a couple of years did double duty in the huge reception area because they couldn't seem to keep receptionists for very long (boring job!) So, we moved my computer, printer etc. out to the reception desk and I brought in many of my own plants to decorate the rather large, bland area. The owner of the plant maintenance company came by one day and stopped and complimented me on how great the reception area looked and said she wondered why they'd never "dressed" up that area before. I told her that we didn't have many visitors coming to our building; on occasion someone would come in to meet with the commercial real estate folks but I guess the upper management didn't want to spend the money for live plants in the reception area. When I transferred to another department I'd see co-workers in the break room on occasion and they'd always tell me how bare and empty the huge reception area was since I'd transferred. My little cubicle area in the new dept. was small but I still had one plant on the corner of my desk and one on top of the file cabinet and a hanging basket in the corner behind me.

Warning about renting or loaning plants! Our daughter and family live a few miles from us. They entertain often. I used to take large potted plants over to help decorate their garden for parties. I started finding huge snails on my plants and in my garden. I discovered they had hitchhiked from our daughter's neighborhood three miles away. I became the crazy woman with a flash light at night stomping snails.

I am a member of that crazy snail stomping club too, Sandi.

.....and rock salt

Thanks Tiffany and Elaine. Tiffany, I use 1/3 Orchid mix, 1/3 Miracle Gro Potting Mix and 1/3 Pine Fines (finely shredded pine mulch). I toss in some coarse perlite as well. When temps. are 70 and below, It really doesn't need that much water. It will take maybe 1/2 gallon every other week. In the Summer, when temps above 85, it will go through 5 gallons every 4-5 days. In the Winter it likes the moisture level between Semi moist and dry.

Nice mix and instructions Drew. I've been wondering,
What are the rocks in orchid mix and what do they do?
Is there any advantage to using horticultural charcoal vs. burnt wood from my fireplace?

eclayne said:Nice mix and instructions Drew. I've been wondering,
What are the rocks in orchid mix and what do they do?
Is there any advantage to using horticultural charcoal vs. burnt wood from my fireplace?

Thas a great ? Evan! Are you speaking of the Perlite when you say "rocks"?

I would think either would work. Don't know for sure though.

Evan that stuff is called Aliflor, I think. http://www.quarteracreorchids....

On the charcoal question, it might depend upon what kind of wood you're burning. From what I've read, pine resin may be harmful to orchids. Same may be true of other woods with aromatic resins, I guess. On the other hand, talk to anyone who grows orchids and they'll tell you dozens of things that orchids might or might not be sensitive to.

Time for a funny story, a very knowledgeable orchid grower on Dave's other forum declared again and again how sensitive orchids were to any kind of soap. While I was away this summer, my neighbor kindly sprayed my Brugmansias with soapy water solution to keep the spider mites in check. I'd neglected to tell him that I usually move the brugs away from their position shading the shelves of orchids. When I got home, the brugs looked fantastic, and of course the orchids had been thoroughly soaped as well. No harm done that I could detect.

Where orchids grow naturally, they sure as heck are exposed to a lot of wacky stuff, and they survive!

Never noticed that stuff! I use the Lowes' "Special Orchid Mix". Of course; all I have ever done is dump it in the wheel barrow and mix it all up. I never wear my glasses so I can't see anyway! BAHAHAA!

Aliflor expanded clay so better drainage and holds water. Cool! Thought them rocks was funny looking. I'd been using orchid mix/potting soil for Arisaema and A. konjac but it's pretty pricey stuff in quantity. Not to mention the quantities you must use in your flower barrels Drew.

eclayne said:Aliflor expanded clay so better drainage and holds water. Cool! Thought them rocks was funny looking. I'd been using orchid mix/potting soil for Arisaema and A. konjac but it's pretty pricey stuff in quantity. Not to mention the quantities you must use in your flower barrels Drew.

My ______? venosum grows in this clay concrete down here Evan. I think you can try a more dense mix?

As common as it is, Monstera deliciosa is one of my absolute favorite plants. The one I had in the ground at our old house would survive our mild winters (9b) with foliage dieback, but in the summers would resprout and grow leaves spanning 3' across and 3.5' long. I have another in the ground now at our new house, but it's still smallish. Here's a pic of one of my M. deliciosa albovariegata - it's just starting to attain some decent leaf size - maybe about 2' or so across now. Our new house seems to be in a slightly warmer microclimate (even tho we moved less than 2 miles), but I'm still not brave enough to put my variegated babies in the ground!

That's a beaut Carter. Looks pretty darned happy.

Yep!

Love it!

Bubbles said:Warning about renting or loaning plants! Our daughter and family live a few miles from us. They entertain often. I used to take large potted plants over to help decorate their garden for parties. I started finding huge snails on my plants and in my garden. I discovered they had hitchhiked from our daughter's neighborhood three miles away. I became the crazy woman with a flash light at night stomping snails.

LOL BUbbles. I have a solution that will help keep them from overtaking your growing area if you have not already sprayed down the area to get rid of them... regular African toads (the big ugly guys covering most of the midwest) eat the young snails & ants, and whatever...
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