Robert: May I suggest you contact an orchid grower or the orchid society in your area, they should know where to obtain coir. Cheers, John E. Bryan ROBERT PARKER wrote: > > Hail to thee, blithe spirits......! (especially Arnold and Kelly) > > At a nursery the other day, I acquired a coir hanging basket liner, with the > intent of cutting it up to fit into 4" square plastic pots on the bottom , to > contain the potting soil from coming out of all those holes that manufacturers > seem to think are needed for drainage. In the old days, I used sphagnum moss > crammed into the pots and it worked very well. I can't always find bags of sm > nowadays, so I hit upon the use of SHOP TOWELS. These are rolls of thick > blue paper towels available at Albertson's and most Hardware stores. I cut > each in quarters, fold to fit in each square 4" pot, then fill with mix , then plant. > It lasts long enough till repotting or transplanting time, and is certainly very > economical. > > The sphagnum moss was ideal, especially when one could find rolls of compressed > moss to use in hanging baskets. Some of it always lasted at repotting and could > be used again. Also roots could be dislodged from it with minimal damage. Prior > to this I used wire screening cut-to-fit in the bottom of the pots, but at repotting > time root damage was excessive. > > My current method is dictated by the amount of things to be potted up. Since > becoming a PBS member, and being a staunch supporter of the BX offerings - > (WHAT an understatement!) I now purchase pots by the case, SUPERSOIL by the > ten bag lots, sand by the six bag lots (they're so HEAVY!) and I now suffer from > carpel tunnel syndrome from all the labels and lists that must be made. I owe all > of this to that warlock Jim Waddick, who suggested to me that I purchase a > computer, from which I learned about PBS, and through the loving and benign help > (or is it wicked and malign - since it has become almost an obsession) of Cathy > Craig and Mary Sue Ittner, among others, to try planting things I never tried before. > Today is totally different from the way things were when I started. Working with > 40 to 50 pots at a clip, I no sooner finish a session, when another BX offering pops > up - sometimes three in one month! when I must needs (or is that needs must?) > start again. > > In a way, I sometimes laugh out loud when I consider that I started purchasing from > the BX mostly to help out the organization which I assumed was small and struggling to > make it - WHO KNEW! that it would become the behemoth it threatens to be! > > To get back to the subject: What I am presently looking for is a source for coir > compressed squares say 4" square, which can be popped into a pot prior to filling > it with potting soil. Working with large quantities at a time (such as a commercial > nursery does) there may be an outlet for such an item - it would save a lot of time, > a commodity of which some of us are in short supply. I did explore the websites > provide by Kelly (I think) and the http://vgrove.com/wholesale.htm site offers something > called pot covers with no further details. Maybe I should consider the chips? > Any info will be greatly appreciated. > > Also, a source of square 4" pots with NO BOTTOM HOLES - only four slits on the > sides like Farrand Jardiniere pots (no longer being made, Farrand informs me) would > also be appreciated. > > ROBERT PBS 10038 > > U S A - ALL THE WAY !!!Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com/ > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php