Orchid pots for succulents

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 If you have ever been to a gardening center I am sure you have seen orchid pots. I saw one the other day while at the store and had to buy it. I do not grow orchids and wasn't sure what I was going to use it for, but it was cute.

I tried googling to see how other people used orchid pots for succulents, but I didn't see any with pots like mine. My main concern was the holes. How am I suppose to fill this pot up with soil when it has holes all over it.  I decided to just go for it. I sat the pot inside a small tote bucket and started filling it up some soil did fall back out, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.   I used soil with chicken grit added, but didn't add as much chicken grit as I usually do. I did a mixture of 1:1 chicken grit to succulent soil.

After I filled it with soil I was talking to other plants lovers about what I was trying to do and I found that some do use orchid pots for their succulents. A few said they use cheese cloth, coffee filter, or window screen to keep the soil from falling out. 

The holes in the sides of the pot should allow for great aeration which is important when caring for succulents. It should also allow the soil to dry out quicker. The attached tray could be a problem, but if you want to bottom water you could fill the tray a few times. If you want to top water you could tip the water out of the tray when your done. Don't leave water sitting in the tray, succulents do not like to be constantly wet. Leaving water in the tray could lead to health issues for your succulent. Succulents are prone to root rot, which is caused by their roots staying to wet. 

I decided to use a snake plant in this pot. Snake plants are easy to care for and do well with bottom or top watering. I always top water my plants, but with a pot like this you could easily bottom water. Mine is fairly tall and fits well in the pot. Snake plant is also pretty had to kill. Snake plants are slow growers, so I won't need to worry about repotting for awhile. Snake plant will also tolerate a variety of different light. Don't put it direct sun however because they will burn. Snake plant seemed like a good plant for this experiment due to how versatile it is.

 

I plan to buy a few more orchid pots and test how other succulents do in this type of pot as well. The next plant I plan to try it with is my string of dolphins. I think with the holes on the side string of dolphins will do well in this type of pot. I am going to try to find one that doesn't have the attached tray for them. String of dolphins have a shallow root system. Meaning they could be harder to care for in some pots especially if you like to bottom water them. I prefer to top water all of my string succulents. If my string of dolphins do well I try other string of succulents as well. 

I will be posting updates on how my plants are doing in this set up. If you try this or have used orchid pots in the past for succulents leave me a comment. I would love to know how it worked for you and which succulents you thought did best in orchid pots.