I have been using the last two weeks to upgrade my pots. I had many of my epiphyllums in the self watering hanging pots shown in my hoya post. I found that the soil was too moist for my epies. I was told I needed more perlite in my mix. My mix already consists of 1/3 perlite as it is. I use 1/3 potting soil, 1/3 perlite, and the rest a mix of clay cat litter and vermiculite. I also mix in the used coffee grounds from my husbands excessive coffee habit. I am now mixing it again half an half my mix with perlite. It's more white than anything else, but hopefully my plants won't rot. Another trick I learned is layer perlite in the bottom of the self watering pot then pot in the normal airy potting soil. Since perlite comes in 3.5 cf bags for $14 at OSH it's fairly cheap, but I do tend to go through it a lot.
I have since re potted all of my large plants in black gallon nursery pots. I don't think they can handle being re potted again, but this leaves about 10 empty self watering pots. I now have the problem of what to do with my cuttings. I have recycled some 4 in round pots, but they don't really fit in the flats very well. I was using plastic cups with burned holes in the bottoms, but even these were too moist and was causing rot. I was introduced to these pots when I bought some plants from Pacific Epies. I really like them, they are heavy and have lots of holes in the bottom, they come in clear and green. I bought the green ones only because I'm cheap, but I would really like to have the clear ones so I can watch the roots grow. They are made for orchids, but I'll use them for epies. I couldn't afford 1000 of them and less is not as economical. I found a lot of 100 on ebay. I bought them. With shipping and tax it comes out to about 23 cents a pot. This is better than the lot of 1000. I hope they come soon, so I can re pot my cuttings again. I also have some more epi cuttings waiting to be potted up.
There are many kinds of pots, clay, plastic, plaster, ceramic, and come in all sorts of sizes. My favorite to say is the "Long Tom," it's about 1 1/3 the height of the diameter, it's made for plants that need a lot of root room. Then there are bulb pans, which are about 1/3 the height of a regular height, for shallow roots and cactus and succulents. It can also be used as a training pot for bonsai. Standard clay pots are as high as they are wide. azalea pots are about half height, they make 3/4 height.
Now you get into orchid pots, they come in standard, 1/2 height and long toms. They come with slits in the side for root development. I have been making some orchid pots by drilling holes in the side of standard clay pots, it works well. Another favorite kind of pot is a strawberry planter, it's an urn looking thing with holes in the side to plant strawberries or herbs or even succulents.
One thing to keep in mind while planting is holes in the bottom of the pot, soil will go through them. I have found a cheap way to keep the soil confined for the first few watering's, coffee filters. Yes coffee filters, just place on over the holes in the pot and put your soil over it. You can also use a layer of newspaper, this takes a bit longer to break down though, but newspaper makes excellent compost also. why not use it to line your pots?
For more interesting information on pots and types of pots, I found this exhibit. It's quite interesting to see all this antique pottery. From cache pots to chamber pots, (not really) you'll find them on this website.
