Tightness of Medium

[dianecty]

Hi! How tight must the medium be? Should it be tightly packed or should I leave large air spaces so that the plant can breathe?

I am using lava rock.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Pack it in enough to anchor the plant in the pot. Too much and roots can start getting damaged, (breakage).

[Ray]

Lava rock - and any other non-flexible medium - should not be packed at all. When you pack such a rigid mass, it's the roots that do the compressing. With those, the idea is to shake or bounce them around so they will "settle" and anchor the plant adequately.

Flexible, compressible materials, such as damp bark, CHC, or sphagnum are what need to be slightly "packed" to anchor the plant.

[dianecty]

Hi Ray! Thank you for your response. What I did was I just put enough lava rock so that the plant does not fall out or lopsided. Just enough for it to stand straight in the pot. There are a lot of big spaces. The roots are very visible on top. Is this ok?

I read Dorothy's post about her plant growing roots outside the root and then wilting and then she took it out and the plant perked up right away becuase it needed air not moisture!!

Anyway, in the wild they grow with all their roots exposed, right?