Zygopetalum medium

[Fran20]

Zygopetalum received potted in sphagnum moss but was too soggy. Will it thrive if I repot it in lava rock?

[estación seca]

For the great majority of people, no.

Many Zygos grow in masses of leaf litter among rocks. They need a lot of water in active growth. Most people would not be able to water enough if potted in lava rock.

Sphagnum is soggy because it's overwatered. Plants in sphagnum must be watered differently than plants in bark. To water with sphagnum you should wet just the very top, not soak the whole pot. The water will diffuse through the sphagnum, making it evenly moist and leaving plenty of air spaces.

When in active growth, some fine-rooted orchids, like Oncidiums and Zygos, may indeed be able to use all the water in a pot of soggy sphagnum within a few days. You always need to pay attention to how the plant is growing.

Take

[Fran20]

Thanks for the valuable watering tip!

[estación seca]

For now you could pull the sphagnum root ball out of the container, and let it dry out faster.

[BrassavolaStars]

I’ve also found that if you put an overwatered pot in front of a fan set to high, it will dry out in a few hours.

Zygos do tend to like moss or fine bark though so I wouldn’t use lava rock. If you want it to drain faster, you could also take it out of the pot (without disturbing the moss) and place styrofoam, sponge rock, or rocks at the bottom of the pot.

[Keysguy]

a fan set to high, it will dry out in a few hours.

One thing I have learned growing in a tropical environment (OK, technically it's sub-tropical) is that great air flow can cure a lot of ills and be the great equalizer. That being said.......I grow nothing in pure sphagnum.

I grow my Zygo's in the same mix I use for all small pseudobulbed orchids.......oncidiums, zygo's, miltassia, etc as well as Paph's and Phrags. It's small chopped fir bark, charcoal, sponge rock and individual strips of sphagnum (maybe 10% max of total).
I get it from Kelley's Korner and I believe they call it Paph and seedling mix. I love it and my plants do great in it. Just cut your watering way back in winter but water them good in summer but make sure you've got a constant good flow of air across them.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Yeah, in New York it would be unattainable

I do grow mine in mostly lava rock but I water a lot and live in a swamp

You would do well to use large grade perlite (#4) charcoal and some high quality bark.

[Dollythehun]

Pots also make a difference. I favor clay, it breathes.

[SouthPark]

Pots should definitely be considered.

I use either of two kinds ----- Click Here #1 and Click Here #2.

Both kinds are plastic, and have good drainage. Although, the pot shown in link #1 has much much better drainage.

In the tropics here, I use either type (#1 or #2) for catts.

I use #2 (the one with less drainage) for pretty much any orchid I grow here.

For #2 (less drainage than #1) - I have no issues with growing paphs, phrags, a single phal, sedirea japonica, encyclia radiata, den, catts, catasetums, oncidiums, a single aerides, vandas, and a single sarcochilus.

I have an incoming (first ever) zygo - Debbie de Mellow 'Honolulu Bay' - and will be happy to test it out in 5 mm average diameter scoria, in a pot like in link #2. But noting - this will be growing in the tropics, and I water my orchids usually each morning.

But - when I do go for holiday breaks, I generally set up my automatic watering system to handle the most 'vulnerable' ones (eg. phrags) ----- while the rest (catts, vandas, paphs, dends, onc, catasetums etc) are manually watered by somebody else ----- skipping full 2 days between watering ---- and this is usually in hot summer time.

This doesn't mean lava rock/scoria is fantastic for everybody, that's for sure. As long as the grower is ok with a particular method, and all the orchids remain healthy for the long haul, then that's what I like to hear!

[SouthPark]

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