Preparing Orchiata Chips for Repotting

[Clawhammer]

I stopped rinsing and soaking Orchiata because it is a PIA and also dry chips are easier to pot with. Glad to hear that others do the same thing. I haven't noticed any issues since I stopped rinsing. I give the repotted orchid a thourogh watering after repotting to remove excess bark dust.

[DirtyCoconuts]

i am not a big bark user but the bag of the 'super' size park i have been using for years did not need any rinsing when i bought it but i have heard others more recently saying it was dusty- i asked one at a meeting and she mentioned she started buying off ebay and i asked if she checked the age of the bag. she had not- my guess is there is either a decline in their quality or some older stock is getting sold and it is a little drier and older.....??? dunno, just my observations

[Roberta]

The Super size is the one that is not as consistent as the others. Not so much needing rinsing, but if you really want big bark, not a bad idea to sift it, a plastic basket can do the the job. (Anything with suitably-sized holes) Use the smaller pieces for smaller plants.

[Mountaineer370]

Almost all of my small collection of orchids need repotting, and I got started on that project today. I had to order more pots before I can finish, but I got four of them done today. I also don't have a lot of Orchiata left, so I figured I should order some more of that, too.

What I learned is that the Besgrow company, the original Orchiata supplier, in 2019, sold the Orchiata portion of their business to a company called Dalton's. The Besgrow site says Dalton's is a "partner" of theirs. I last purchased Orchiata in 2020, and I'm still using the same bag. But again today, I felt the need to rinse the dust off first.

I have no idea if the change in companies has anything to do with this but just thought I'd mention that since we've been discussing it here. It's still a great product, and the rinsing is just a very minor inconvenience to me. And I can understand some of you may not want to bother rinsing at all.

With three out of the four I repotted today, I ended up reusing most of the old bark in the pot. The appearance and texture were still fine and it had no odor. I just rinsed it and put it back in the new, bigger pots, along with adding new bark to fill in the bigger size. Only one had a slight earthy odor to the bark when I dumped it out, and thinking maybe that meant decomposition, I discarded it.

[DirtyCoconuts]

i am a huge proponent of the smell test for media!!!

dont throw it away though...it is then great for mulch, compost, and - terrestrial orchid mix!!!!


i use a lot of that in my cyms and other terrestrials

[Dimples]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

dont throw it away though

Agreed! I use old orchid bark for my houseplant soil mix. I like bark better than perlite.

[gdupont]

I used a strainer with dry orchiata from the bag today to try to get the dust out, here's how much came out, from just the one bag!