My experience with sphagnum moss

[mimigirl]

Whoa! I have net pots and two plants that need this. Thanks Leafmite.

[Leafmite]

Perfect.

[Shep]

I have had far better luck with varying sizes of bark for fine-root orchids compared to sphag. It seems easier to adjust bark size for watering requirements.

I was gifted a couple of bunches of Oncidium that were planted in sphag. The older PBs died almost immediately with the younger ones holding on for life. Consequently, I asked for another bunch or two and planted them in fine orchid bark. They're doing really well.

Personally, I like to flush my plants because I think the introduction of new air promotes root growth. You just can't get that with sphag, IMO, because then you get the gloopy, nasty moss that likes to eat all roots in sight.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Shep

I have had far better luck with varying sizes of bark for fine-root orchids compared to sphag. It seems easier to adjust bark size for watering requirements.

I was gifted a couple of bunches of Oncidium that were planted in sphag. The older PBs died almost immediately with the younger ones holding on for life. Consequently, I asked for another bunch or two and planted them in fine orchid bark. They're doing really well.

Personally, I like to flush my plants because I think the introduction of new air promotes root growth. You just can't get that with sphag, IMO, because then you get the gloopy, nasty moss that likes to eat all roots in sight.

Yeah, when I was told that watering normal soil pots was like them breathing, it hit me. The water pushes out the stale air in the pot and allows fresh in. As soon as you grasp that, you see why leaving a plant long term overwatered is bad.

[tarev]

Never liked sphagnum moss. Maybe it will depend on the quality of it, your location's humidity levels and watering habits ..but I just find it hard to know when it is dry enough. And I want to lessen root disturbance, oftentimes like with bark, you will eventually have to repot sooner since the media has decomposed already, making it too suffocating for the roots.

So in experimentation I use different kinds, clay rocks, lava rocks, hygrolon baggies with styro peanuts and clay rocks, coir nuggets with bark, anything to keep the media more well aerated. So far it works for the Phals. And have learned to adjust how I plant the Phals, allowing it to lean to the side, raising the lower end higher, so it is not in too deep, seems the roots like it best to have more space to sprawl around the container.

Onc on the other hand I have always used bark mix with smaller, finer sizes. They like that too, especially those that I also experiment with containers to use, putting some in fabric containers (geopots) and some in coir pots. Works very well, so no need to use sphag moss.

[Leafmite]

The one orchid that gets the sphagnum moss is my first Angraecum leonis. It really loves it. I have it in a little net pot stuffed with two lava rocks and a bunch of moss. It came in bark and wasn't too happy and it did not like being mounted. My other leonis is bare-root mounted on a cedar shingle without any problem.

[lauraeli]

I grow in both bark and sphagnum. A lot of them are in 50/50. But I do have one mini that is in just sphagnum and it is happy as a clam. The only advantage with bark, for me, is that i can soak the pot to water.

And I have noticed that my happiest phals are the ones that have spagnum in the mix.

Oddly, they dry out more quickly and need to be watered more often than the ones in bark.

[wintergirl]

I have a den laevifolium, whose little rubbery roots like moisture. I keep it in all spag and moisten everyday. Funny thing a piece of the spag is growing, tiny green with tiny white roots. I heard that the dried compressed stuff won't grow, but it can.

[dbarron]

Really, I've thought (and seen evidence) that the medium doesn't matter much, as long as you water appropriately for that medium. I've been touting that saying for non-orchid plants for years, I think it applies here too.

Obviously certain genera need more constant moisture than others, and you have to learn the species needs. You also have to balance that against the humidity in your house, the temperature, the sunlight exposure, etc. It's all very complicated, so there's no one right answer.

However, you have to learn it for every plant you grow successfully and well, not just orchids. And if you persist, you *will* learn.

[Raqsharqi]

When I decided to take orchids seriously, I decided to follow one grower's approach to see how that worked for me. It's easier to see what works when you have some sort of system than if you just tinker around with a lot of techniques, IMHO. When I came across repotme, I figured that was as good an approach as any. They recommend a sphag mix for my dry climate, and it mostly works.
I have found, though, that I can't pack the mix in as tightly as they seem to. If I mix in some peanuts and leave a lot of air space, I have better luck. Also, if a particular orchid seems to stay wet longer than the others, it is often a sign to me that the root system isn't what I think it is. When the roots are really healthy, they seem to use up the water. When they are mostly the old, thick, green roots with no new growth, the sphag stays wet. So for me, watching the condition of the sphag tells me something.