Alternative medium :wooden shavings

[Ravi]

Can an Orchid be grown on large curved wooden shavings salvaged from carpenter’s shop/ saw mill? If plant derived bark can be used , why not wooden shavings ? They are also plant derived

[Ray]

Bark tends to be chunky and irregularly shaped, so retains void space well. Wood savings, being flat (even if curled) can stack, eliminating that void space.

Most woods will decompose faster than bark, too.

When I lived in SC, Jemmco Orchids sold cypress chips. Being as cypress never decomposes, it was a great medium, but being flat chips, you had to add a second ingredient like perlite, to keep the stacking to a minimum.

[TomThumb]

Also going to point out that the wood shavings are a great shape to decompose quickly. The slivers are thin and retain just enough air for micro-organisms to bread. It also retains water much more readily than bark since the cells are arranged to soak up water while bark is meant to breathe and limit water intake. Think about what a tree uses the wood inside of its trunk for and what it uses its bark for.

[Ray]

For what it is worth, there is a group of about a dozen of us experimenting with Hydrafiber, which is pine that has been shredded into what might be characterized as "fine excelsior". I have has a Phal. bastianii in it since May, and while it does appear to be excessively dense, the plant seems to like it