Are easy-to-snap orchiata pieces a decomposition issue?

[laCreatura]

Hi all, I tend to see information online about how orchid bark needs to be hard and I had a question about orchiata- I just bought a bag for the first time and while it doesn't feel soft on the outside, some pieces are fairly easy to snap into smaller pieces. Is this fairly standard for orchiata and is it just feeling hard on the outside that's important to gauge decomposition? I'm hoping I haven't unknowingly bought a really old bag of it since the place I got it from may not have a lot of turnover as they specialise in things other than orchids.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Dalachin]

That’s a funny way to judge, would probably depend on the shape of the piece. High quality orchiata usually lists a size range (for example, 9-12mm) and all the pieces in the bag are roughly that size. Cheap orchiata has lots of small pieces and dusty bits in the bag. You can salvage a bad bag in a pinch by seiving or manually picking out the pieces in the size range you want, and discarding the dusty, gritty stuff.

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board.

Soak some in a bowl for a few hours. If it becomes mushy I wouldn't use it. Otherwise I would use it.

[laCreatura]

Originally Posted by Dalachin

That’s a funny way to judge, would probably depend on the shape of the piece. High quality orchiata usually lists a size range (for example, 9-12mm) and all the pieces in the bag are roughly that size. Cheap orchiata has lots of small pieces and dusty bits in the bag. You can salvage a bad bag in a pinch by seiving or manually picking out the pieces in the size range you want, and discarding the dusty, gritty stuff.

It's a bag of dalton's 12-18mm orchiata which I'm pretty sure is the original brand, right? Despite that there's still a lot of dust and the size and shape of pieces weirdly seem to be all over the place (some large but super thin and some long and skinny like sticks but even some of the "normally" shaped pieces were snapping to pieces) so I've had to manually sort through it; thanks for the tip. I did just notice some soft pieces since posting and small holes in the side of the bag and it seems like a bit of moisture got in which might explain some things...

---------- Post added at 12:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:37 PM ----------

Originally Posted by estación seca

Welcome to the Orchid Board.

Soak some in a bowl for a few hours. If it becomes mushy I wouldn't use it. Otherwise I would use it.

Thank you! I've sorted through to find good pieces that haven't gone mushy when soaked but about a third of what I've taken out of the bag has been discarded as it's soft, sadly