Planter for Utricularia (bladderwort) or orchids and the like

Use-case

Some Utricularia species like an airy pot for which you can use the orchid 'vanda' pots, but making one yourself is more fun. Utricularia can be quite adventurous in conquering neighbouring pots so I had a few pre-requisites:

• •Use inside the standard P7 pots

• •Use it stand-alone

• •Use in high water-table situations

• •Use raised above water with a wick

So far they work well for me, if there’s interest I can also share the P9 version. Leave me a like if you like it, helps me save for extra filament!

Result

It’s a small 58x58mm pot, 50mm high you can use in 3 ways:

1 - Reducer ring

Print the reducer and slide it on top of a standard P7 pot. Tried it on the brands I have, they fit, even though it might take some effort. This makes sure the stolons don’t easily reach out. The bottom of the printed pot is then 28mm above the bottom of the P7 pot. You can either put some wick in it through the centre hole of the printed pot, or use it in a water tray with high water table so the traps can grow freely. This approach works well with Utricularia alpina for instance.

2 - Free-standing

Print this base to rest it in a water tray with a wick for instance. It should click in the slots on the bottom of the pot. This is also designed to print without supports. Using this for Utricularia ‘Jitka’.

3 - Anti-contamination

This encloses it a bit more tightly. Few holes along the top for air, but ideally the stolons shouldn’t find their way out too fast. Compared to a standard P7 pot, this does not leave much vertical space.

Printing

The example for the pictures here I printed too high temp which resulted in some stringing. On a dialled in printer & filament you should be fine.

I designed it to print with a 0.4mm nozzle, 0.2mm layer height. If you use 0.25mm layer or more, the perimeters might switch from 3 back to 2 depending on your slicer, so keep an eye on that. More perimeters is better here.

All is designed you can print it without supports if you used the orientation as indicated.

Licence and use

Spend quite some time tweaking and prototyping this, so explicitly sharing this for your personal use only, no (re-)sales. If you like it, please share a make, give a thumbs up, etc so I can keep up prototyping!