OrchidSafari
Building a Better Net Pot
Moderator/Inventor: Tom Jennings
March 2, 2002

pecteilis_in_KY (Tom)
I found myself in possession of a lot of this six-inch wide gutter netting because it wouldn't fit my gutters. I kept thinking, it ought to make good pots. That is all it takes, eight inches of netting, a small block of wood, a hammer and a couple roofing nails.

Roll the netting around the block to get the measurement and cut the netting. Nail one end to the block, then PULL the netting tight.

jim4eq
Is it metal, plastic coated metal, or pure plastic netting? A guy I knew in North Florida would use the aluminum type, just bend and fasten to itself. No wood needed.

pecteilis_in_KY
Pure plastic UV treated netting. Pretty stiff. Six inches wide. The netting is a buck ninety-nine a pack of twenty-five feet. That works out to eight cents a foot, means this pot cost about a dime, nails and all. I tried that aluminum. Sharp and it is hard to destroy when your plant grows through it.

Jade
The aluminum stuff can be a bit sharp. You can get some nasty cuts. It's worth the difference in price to use plastic.

pecteilis_in_KY pic2
Anyway, pull the netting tight and nail it to the side of the bottom. Then roll the top down towards the inside to the depth you want, four, three, whatever. Then, and this is IMPORTANT: Put a small piece of wire through from the outside and bend over the top. This keeps the top from spreading when you pack it full of mix.

Note the small wire on the basket in the upper right hand corner. You can see the small wire just stuck through that I will bend over to lock the two ends together. They lap quite a bit, which is good. These pots are for us slugs who water too much or for plants that want humidity and air. I have masdevallias in them, as well as pleuro., and scaphosepalum. All seem to like them so far.

Picture five is of the bigger pots. I use old scrap white cedar for those. I have not seen the need to drill drain holes in them. I think the roots will come out where they please.

I also have been putting smaller catts in these six inch baskets. The picture, if it comes up, is of a scorched Hazel Boyd hybrid that will just fit this basket. Incidentally that plant is Hazel Boyd X Chicanery. The flower is so heavy, so thick that everyone who came into the GH had to feel, pinch it. They said it felt like wax. But the poor flower lasted only about two weeks.

If Randy is still here, he asked how coconut chips helped rooting. I put this plant of skinneri in the clay pot a month ago. Look at the roots go into that coconut chips!

Anyway, you can see that if you get away from the idea of round pots the options open up. Because these are square they are less prone to tip. They drain well, the plastic will outlast you and me!

Zeynep
Have you tried to use those pots as hanging pots?

pecteilis_in_KY
No, I can't figure where to wire them. But I make tubes and stuff them with moss, make pockets and hang those, small oncidiums, stuff like that. I am going to find ways to use up those hundred plus feet of netting Like the pots for Masd, pleuro, etc. I don't grow those, or try not to because my house is too hot. But I do like the smaller catts. diacs, and diac crosses.!

John_in_Arcadia_CA
Can you attach the wires to each side of the block of wood and then thread them up the sides then together to form a hook?

pecteilis_in_KY
Sure, that would work. The cedar was leftover from the house, but Home Depot has it cheap. It is a really soft, cheap wood.

Zeynep
Tom, you can probably spend $.30 for three or 4 wire hangers and hang those pots.

pecteilis_in_KY
I use wire from a thousand foot roll of electric fence wire, seventeen fifty the thousand the last time I had to buy a roll. They are cheap and expendable. Cut them apart to save roots and your wallet doesn't suffer.

Zeynep
Now I like the idea of just cutting the not so expensive pots away from the roots, instead of damaging the roots, or breaking a nice clay pot (I had to break one today :-( )

-end