What's wrong with MG?

[Shadeflower]

Roses, did you soak the new bark for a couple of hours first?
Better quality should be water repellent to start with so you have to saok it a bit to get it loosened up.

I'd be very surprised if their fine grade dried too fast but you do need to "prime" it first by letting it sit in a bucket.

Let it sit and soak and expand a bit, then on future waterings it will retain more

[RoseSD]

Originally Posted by Shadeflower

Roses, did you soak the new bark for a couple of hours first?
Better quality should be water repellent to start with so you have to saok it a bit to get it loosened up.

I'd be very surprised if their fine grade dried too fast but you do need to "prime" it first by letting it sit in a bucket.

Let it sit and soak and expand a bit, then on future waterings it will retain more

Yes I did.
The issue with Gubler fine bark mix I think has to do with way too much large perlite. Would it be bad if I missed MG bark with it?????

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by RoseSD

Yes I did.
The issue with Gubler fine bark mix I think has to do with way too much large perlite. Would it be bad if I missed MG bark with it?????

Not bad at all... may be a good compromise. The whole point here is to come up with a medium that fits your watering practices and also gives the orchids what they need in the way of humid air around the roots - for the next couple of years.

However, your watering practices must also provide your plants what they need... you may prefer to have a situation where you only have to water once a week or every two weeks, but that may mean that the plants stay too wet much of the time. An open medium needs to be watered more often, but that is a good thing... flowing water pulls air into the root zone and flushes out the crud. And when you water, flowing water - running out of the pot - is what is needed. Spritzing is not particularly useful, except maybe to cool things down on a very hot day. It doesn't do what the orchids need which is fresh air pulled into the root zone.

[RoseSD]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Not bad at all... may be a good compromise. The whole point here is to come up with a medium that fits your watering practices and also gives the orchids what they need in the way of humid air around the roots - for the next couple of years.

However, your watering practices must also provide your plants what they need... you may prefer to have a situation where you only have to water once a week or every two weeks, but that may mean that the plants stay too wet much of the time. An open medium needs to be watered more often, but that is a good thing... flowing water pulls air into the root zone and flushes out the crud. And when you water, flowing water - running out of the pot - is what is needed. Spritzing is not particularly useful, except maybe to cool things down on a very hot day. It doesn't do what the orchids need which is fresh air pulled into the root zone.

I flash it out first then soak once every four days for most adult orchids.Phal gets it every 8 days.