Zeer Pot culture for Masdie's?

Never heard of this, but I'd be happy to know more about it, and if it's enough for at least a part of the Masda…

 

For you that don't know about zeer potting..... Zeer potting is taking two clay pots(one about 1" bigger than the other) and stacking one inside the other. Fill the space inbetween the two pots with sand, moss, or other moisture retentive mix. As the moisture evap. It cools the pots to keep the root zone cool.

Paul.... I think it's time to be the guinea pig!

The person who I believe makes swamp sticks has a mount that you fill with water to keep the mount moist and cool.

 

I think this idea is similar to the "cool pots" that one vendor sells. The pots are porous so they take up water which is quickly evaporated. The energy required to break the bonds of water molecules (heat) is transported out of the pot as evaporation occurs.

This method is most effective where humidity is low or where there is high air movement across the pots.

 

If your going to use organic fertilizers then you'll have to mix what you use with others.... Like seaweed, fish emulsion, and Ca/Mg because just fish emulsion alone won't supply everything the plant needs. Also use about 1/4 of the recommend dose every 2 weeks and don't let the fertilizer sit in the pots as you will end up with bad things as there's very little microbe life going on to break down the rest of the fertilizer.

 

FWIW, several folks pot up the cooler-growing plants in LECA in a clay pot. Standing in a tray of water, it's simply S/H culture with an external reservoir.

The evaporation from the clay medium and through the pot walls does a nice job of cooling the root zone.

 

I have tried both Zeer Pot and S/H cultures for Pleurothallis. Never was successful with S/H, but perhaps it is something in my growing conditions. If your Pleurothallis are in the enclosed environment with constantly high relative humidity, Zeer Pot culture seems to be non advantageous. High ambient relative humidity significantly reduces evaporation rate on the terracotta surface and as a result cooling effect is minimal. Looks like Zeer Pot culture can be more beneficial in growing areas where relative humidity is rather low.
My Pleurothallis are in walk-in “orchidariums” in double terracotta pots without wet filler. If I will have enough time this weekend, try to do temperature measurements of the potting media and pot surface.

 

Paul, I have never tried the clay pot in a tray thing.... you're on your own, buddy.

Marni is right - the use of a "standard" fertilizer in any pure water supply is extremely risky, and will likely result in a solution pH WAAAAAY too low. I have used the MSU RO formula since 2008, and really like it. About a year ago I switched to the K-Lite formula, which is a low-P/Low-K variant of it.

 

I used growmore urea free and had little problems. I did get much better growth with MSU. The price really isn't that much different.... I think you should give Klite a shot!

 

OK, the measurements were done 24 hours after watering. Relative humidity in the growing area was 73% and ambient air temperature 19.3 Celsius. A pocket infrared thermometer was used to measure temperature on the surface of the pottery and potting media. An average temperature of the plastic pots was 18 Celsius, and 17.5 Celsius of the media in these pots. An average temperature of the external terracotta pots was 17.4 Celsius, 16.6 Celsius of the internal terracotta pots and 16.7 Celsius of the media in these pots. Note that I have double terracotta pots with no wet filling material between them. Using classical Zeer Pot culture in growing setups with relatively dry-air conditions one could expect higher evaporation rate and more efficient cooling effect than in my case

 

Paul... Looks good!

I agree.. Plants will be the factor that determines how well it works.