What do you think of this?

[Acro]

What do you think of this growing method?
Check it out:

 

[Sashoke]

Doesnt look nearly deep enough for VFT roots, but damn it looks beautiful.

 

[Aionios]

I'm just thinking of the mess that could possibly be made after watering. Can't say they're not creative, though.

 

[Dexenthes]

Pretty aesthetically pleasing, but watering would be a bit of a process.

 

[Joseph Clemens]

It looks like it could have its unique pros and cons. If I had a functional greenhouse, I'd be willing to give it a try. It appears that many more large/mature plants could be grown in less space than conventional methods. I can envision several different watering methods that would likely suffice in that kind of setup. One concern, if used with Drosera, or Utricularia, is that there would need to be methods developed that would facilitate isolating the weedier species/varieties, so they wouldn't infiltrate the plantings of other species, unless their presence (as companion plants), were acceptable, or even desirable - which it sometimes can be.

If the line you're using to hang/suspend the plants is natural/biodegradable, I would encourage changing them out with something more durable, like stainless steel wire, or the suspension could suddenly fail, and allow your plants to drop unpredictably and become damaged.

 

[Not a Number]

From the copyright on the photos it would appear these are from Megan Read - wife of Ed Read. And from the sequence in the middle that there is some narrative to go along with these photos. I wish the link to the associated blog was supplied.

 

[Joseph Clemens]

Perhaps, here.

 

[DragonsEye]

First thought was "Cool!" Thought that came immediately after that was ... "But they'd be a ***** to water."

 

[Not a Number]

Perhaps, here.

Thanks:

http://radmegan.com/2011/09/inspired-by-twitter-making-string-gardens.html

Pretty aesthetically pleasing, but watering would be a bit of a process.

First thought was "Cool!" Thought that came immediately after that was ... "But they'd be a ***** to water."

Which is why it would be nice to see the associated narrative:

I plan on watering my string gardens about twice a week, via a “soaking bucket” of pure water, making them far too messy and soggy for me to keep in the house.

The Pinguicula ball she said is indoors. She probably waters that with a spray bottle. The long fiber sphagnum outer shell will retain moisture well. She could may even be able to use a wick watering method with these.

 

[Whimgrinder]

First thing that came to mind was: long-term maintenance challenges!

 

[Jcal]

I wonder how the roots would react to being subjected to light...

a utric ball is something i might consider but I cant keep things wet enough in my home. I dried out an orchid pretty quickly that was mounted. never tried mounted orchids again.

 

[SubRosa]

From an esthetic standpoint it isn't my cup of tea. I don't think the growth habits of the plants selected lend themselves to basket culture. From a strictly utilitarian outlook it's the cat's meow for those with no outdoor space and sunny windows. On the other hand I think Neps would be wonderful subjects for this sort of culture, within the limits of space and mess as previously mentioned.

 

[theplantman]

I think orchids and such would be fine. For that to work, plant selection is critical. In fact, I have a Resurrection Fern ball that is modeled on the same principle. It goes dormant when dry and immediately greens up for every rainstorm.

The moisture needs of CPs IMO would preclude them from being used for such a system. Might work long enough to sell them, but as far as long-term growth, they'll never be happy. The only way I think you'd make that work is in a 100% constant humidity environment or on a mist bench. Even then, the intense lighting that CPs need will probably dry them out too fast.

 

[jimscott]

I think that would work for Nepenthes and butterworts, but not as well for VFT's and Sarracenia.

 

[SubRosa]

This culture method is commonplace with orchids, although usually an open meshed plastic or slatted wooden container are used to allow the flower spikes of varieties that spike downwards such as Stanhopeas and Draculas to reach full potential instead of dead ending in a standard pot. It also provides a means to allow extensive root sytems the ability to dry quickly such as on my Rodriguezia venusta. It's a tried and true method if you do the work to keep the moisture level acceptable to the species grown.

 

[fredg]

I much prefer to keep things as simple as possible so I can spend more time actually looking at the plants. This method would be far too time consuming for little ( if any) reward. They would only be short term too.

 

[Zath]

a utric ball is something i might consider but I cant keep things wet enough in my home. I dried out an orchid pretty quickly that was mounted. never tried mounted orchids again.

I had actually been toying with that idea (utrics) myself last year. Got stuck on how to keep the growth consistent, rather than having it grow a "skirt" of upward pointing leaves at the bottom.

As for the OP, I love the concept. Not sure I'd want to do it myself with those plants, but I'm sure glad someone did so I could see it.

 

[Acro]

From time to time I like to post thought provoking images or links (remember this one: http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php/136399-Do-you-Dare ) and I'm glad to have started some discussion!

Yes, most of the images came from here: http://radmegan.com/2011/09/inspired-by-twitter-making-string-gardens.html

However the first time I ever saw hanging planted moss balls was from Fedor van der Valk's 'String Gardens'. He plants everything in moss balls and creates stunning results by using some unexpected plants. Check out his website: http://www.stringgardens.com/

 

[Joseph Clemens]

Back when I lived at 9005 Aspen Avenue in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I built a greenhouse in my back yard there. I grew many different plants, mostly orchids and various CP.

I used a high-pressure misting/fogging system, supplied by a sump tank, continuously refilled with R.O. purified water. I used a well pump to pressurize the water, then push it through tanks of mixed bed deionizing resins. The R.O./D.I. (polished water - at 18 Meg ohms/cubic centimeter), was then sprayed through misting/fogging nozzles, controlled by a timer, at about 120 psi and distributed about the greenhouse via oscillating fans. This created enough mist, that an empty five-gallon bucket, sitting almost anywhere inside the greenhouse, would fill, in a weeks time.

During the winter, I heated the greenhouse with a vented heater, fired with propane, and supplemented the heat, by inserting a small electric water heater (set at 120F), into the fogging circuit.

It was so wet/foggy, I had to disable the fogging/misting, in order to see what I was doing, whenever I was working in the greenhouse. Many of the orchids were mounted on cork bark, and pieces of cedar shingles. Others were planted in net pots. In these conditions, my 2" pot, tetraploid Cattleya harrisoniana seedling, quickly grew beyond the confines of a 4" net pot and its first bloom was twenty-three flowers.

- - - - -
Above are the conditions I envisioned when reading about the planting technique, reported on by the OP. With this in mind, watering these plants wouldn't be difficult, or even an issue.

 

[Acro]

With out a fancy setup, I think most Carnivorous plants, planted that way, would end up too dry. However I think that a variety of other plants could do just fine.