Musty bark

[Jugyjoy]

I’ve recently bought some Orchiata bark but it arrived wet and smelling musty. Unsure that it would be all right to use it straight out of bag, I baked it in the oven. This worked somewhat as the bark is ok when dry, but when it gets wet it still gives off that musty smell, albeit somewhat attenuated. Unfortunately, i have already used it to repot one of my phals and am now stuck not knowing if the pot needs some kind of further intervention.
Would be grateful if anyone could advise.
Many thanks.

[Mountaineer370]

I have used Orchiata almost exclusively for about the last eight years. Originally, it was produced by a company called Besgrow, and in 2019, they sold their Orchiata division to a company called Daltons.

The last time I bought some was last summer, and it came from Amazon, sold by Josh's Frogs (they had the best price), and they had repackaged it into their own bags, which I didn't mind at all, figuring they had acquired it in very large quantities, and they were offering smaller quantities for sale.

It did have a little condensation in the bag. Just a very small amount of moisture visible inside the clear plastic bag, not what I would call wet. It did not have a musty smell. In fact, I just opened the bag and checked again, and it still smells pleasantly earthy and woody to me. I would definitely buy from them again.

Upon first buying my bag, had I opened it and thought it smelled definitely musty, which to me I would describe as a dirty, unpleasant, decaying smell, I would have returned it immediately.

I will say that the Orchiata of today seems to be quite a bit dustier than it was when I first started using it, so I routinely rinse it off before using, though I do not "soak" it.

As to what you should do with it now, it's hard for me to say without seeing and smelling what you have. Maybe our definitions of "musty" are different. Maybe our senses of smell are different. But I would not use any media that I personally felt was degraded or decaying.

[Jugyjoy]

Thank you, Cheri. ❤️🙏 It smells of mould. Baking it did work somewhat to lessen the smell. I will probably replace the bark because it does make me uneasy.