When to use what media?

[kaitala]

The more research I do, the more I get confused. There are SO many options for potting media. How does the newbie choose?

From hydroton to rice hulls, marble chips to bark, it seems the choices are endless! Is there a chart for "if you want x, then use y"????


Stephi

[trdyl]

There are a lot of choices for orchid media. I don't know of any charts. To be able to better answer your quesion, what orchids are you growing? Some orchids do better in some medias than others.

[Becca]

This link might help you: Orchid Mix - How to Find the Best Orchid Mix. While this website suggests what potting medium to use that they sell, you can still look at what there mixes are made up of and get a general idea of what to use. Generally, fine rooted orchids will need a fine to medium grade mixture, and larger rooted orchids needing a more chuncky mixture. Of course I guess it also depends on if the orchid likes to dry out quickly, like Cattleya's, or if they like to stay moist, like a phal. What kind of orchid are you needing potting medium for?

[natasha]

to confuse you more: you should also consider what kind of waterer you are, whether lazy or downright religious and where the plant is located, shady, full sun, exposed to rain, greenhouse, home environment etc coz this will determine whether you'll need water retentive media or fast draining media. you can also just use the same media the orchid come in when bought from nurseries.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by trdyl

There are a lot of choices for orchid media. I don't know of any charts. To be able to better answer your quesion, what orchids are you growing? Some orchids do better in some medias than others.

Agreed. It does come down to what you're interested in growing.

Orchids are the largest family of flowering plants in the world.

As in nothing tops Orchidaceae in the number of species in existence to date within the group of plants we collectively call flowering plants.

With that much diversity (roughly 22,000 species strong and counting), there's no way to generalize the cultural requirements of the entire family (it's impossible - I'm not exaggerating, it's literally impossible).

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by natasha

to confuse you more: you should also consider what kind of waterer you are, whether lazy or downright religious and where the plant is located, shady, full sun, exposed to rain, greenhouse, home environment etc coz this will determine whether you'll need water retentive media or fast draining media. you can also just use the same media the orchid come in when bought from nurseries.

Yep. Your growing environment and watering regimen plays a role in what kind of potting media would be better suited for growing a certain kind of orchid as well.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

It's always easier to break down some of the information that seems overwhelming into smaller more manageable bits to understand.

So let's start with...

What orchid are you interested in growing?

We'll worry about everything else later, assuming you haven't purchased the plant yet, of course...

If you have already purchased it. What's the plant in question?

[johnblagg]

I was like you at first and very confused and to top that off had no local supply of orchid bark where I live at all.I tried everything I could from takeing bark off fire wood and chopping it up to using pea gravel and lava rock.I just kept shifting my phals and lonely little noid den from one medium to the another....


The real rule you need to heed is they must get air at the roots if it packs down tight it is most likley going to cause root loss.If it settles down around roots but leaves lots of spaces for air to enter it will work and you will just have to discover how often it needs watered ....more often or less and that is only learned by trial and error by each and every one of us .....every house is different and even in the same house every room is different.

Under water when in doubt they survive dry much better than soggy, growing on a tree branch or a rock means they are not soggy even when it rains once a day they dry fast hanghing in the air and with roots hanging in the open.

I myself finaly got it right when I started using a medium that drained fast and dryed out so much I had to water more often it kept my roots from rotting and as I got more roots and they started growing faster I learned I could water more and more in my choice.

since you did mention rice hulls I will say I am a big advocate for them they are great for me and start out extreamly hard to over water when fresh and as they age and break down start holding more water but always drain well.The phals I grow in them adjust to the hulls breaking down as they age and in a season or two both the medium and the phals are very nice.I repot twice a year and never throw out the old medium but rather I unpot the orchid remove the medium from the roots and mix about 1/3 new fresh rice hulls with the old medium and repot into it.This opens it back up to drain and keeps it at the stage that it stays moist but ariy at the same time it behaves almost like s/h but with a natural medium that has a reservoir of built in nutrients.

The rice hulls also have the advantage of never sticking to roots and of being small enough to pack around roots easily.They have the disadvantgae at first of being so light the plants are easily dislodged and can fall out of the pot.They are also very very hard to keep wet at first they drain like leca at first but this is actually a good thing and I just water as often as I have too.

I stock pile my rice hulls outdoors in a mound and just klet nature condition then for me now having discoverd they are better after they start holding some moisture in my situation and I simply walk outside and grab a 5 gal bucket full when I need them

Sorry to ramble but I like Rice Hulls a lot here is a example of a plant growing in them

[kaitala]

It sure is confusing!

Right now I have Phals and Dens from Lowe's, and a Mediocalcar. They're in orchid bark, also from Lowe's.

I've been looking at the sites and seeing the various potting media, and I understand there can't be an entire dissertation on each media with an "add to cart" button. However, there seem to be several choices that all fit the same requirements in the brief descriptions they give.

For example, marble chips and cobblestone and broken brick all provide inorganic fast draining layers, with some weight to keep top heavy plants from tipping. So why choose one over the other? It seems Volcanic Rock and Leca are two lighter weight inorganics, why use one and not the other? What are the different applications between cedar, cypress, fir, pine and redwood???

[johnblagg]

now you have got me on that one for sure

Leca is great and works well in s/h as well as just in a regular pot and water like bark but thats all I can say on that one ..I do s/h and love it.

bark I just could not get the hang of mold, medium breaking down, judging how dry it really was ect

lava rock mixed with charcoal worked great for my den.

I myself one day had a pile of rice hulls a friend used for mulch in his flower beds and I thought it might work for my chids ....It did very, very well and now I grow my phals and my den In rice hulls.


confusing it is but it is just a matter of what really works for you and the only way to find out is try it.What works for me may fail compleatly for you.

I started out with cheap home depo and wal mart niods so it was not a great loss to kill one ...although I have not yet lost one it good to start with something you can replace easy to learn with.