Hickory Wood

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Shadow

I make potting mixes by myself and I use pine that I bring from the forest (by myself too). So, I know exactly what I'm using. Now I have almost 100% of my collection growing in pine mixes for already few years and only two plants in oak mixes (only because the pine is not recommended for these particular species). There is nothing bad in pine bark if you prepare it properly. Of course, I use bark, not the wood.

I would never contridict you, however only the resinous pockets are particularly bad for plants. After all, pressure treated pine has been used for years as planters, and such. I agree with the pine bark (or any bark for that matter.) I use a oak/pine mix for some of my Encyclias since they are known to prefer southern live oak.

[Ross]

OK, we need to get back on track, folks. Tess asked a fair question that got some adrift answers. Firstly we need to determine the specias of Hickory being proposed. The hickories of Maryland are not likely to be the same spp as Florida. There are at least 11 species of hickories (counting the pecans) native to North America and many more in Europe or the Balkans. Most fruit woods (including oaks and apple and pear, etc.) conatin sugar and depending on the local environment rot at varying degrees. I would bet the hickory FaeryGirl was refering to is a different species than the trees Tess has access to. Even so, environmental conditions in the south will allow just about anything to rot down in a few years or be attacked by insects almost overnight. Maryland has a much different climate and mounts indoors are different still. Just being wet doesn't cause wood to rot (necessarily.) The wood would need to be subjected to a source of fungy. As I have stated in a couple replies to this thread I am using apple wood which is even higher in sugars than any of the Hickories, and Have had no problems so far. The mounts are subjected to 5 second mistings every three hours (in fact the misters just went off this minute!) and stay wet all day. They dry off every night. This would be a cause for rot in many instances, however at first signs of white mold, I spray mount with Physan 20 and mold disappears.

One of the responses indicated people confuse wood with the bark. Well, bark of most trees does not contain the same cells or structure as the sapwood or the heartwood. That is why Pine bark is so easy used for orchids (after proper treatment.) That is why Oak bark (by-and-large) does not contain the same levels of tannin as the woods. In fact Black Cherry has much higher levels of tannin than any of the oaks (and arsenic besides, as does the pit) but makes a pretty nice mount for certain orchid species. The previous comments come from my training at a Forestry school and many years of work with the US Forest Service where I dealt with many aspects of trees every day.

[Shadow]

I agree with you. I don't use pieces with resin. And then I boil the selected pieces.

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Shadow

I agree with you. I don't use pieces with resin. And then I boil the selected pieces.

That's the "proper processing" I was refering to. You have the picture!

[Faerygirl]

Ross, you are of course correct. The climate here would be much more conducive to rot that the climate in Maryland, even in a drought year. And, you can take a walk in any Florida yard at almost any time of the year, turn over a piece of wood and find termites and wood boring beetles and what-have-you.

Things decompose QUICK down here which makes composting a dream.

I made the terrible mistake 4 years ago when first built my greenhouse of going out with a chainsaw and cutting live grapevines to use as totems and vine-anchors in the GH. Of course you read about grapevine being a long lasting mounting wood blah blah blah...

My natural Florida grapevine wood started to rot within a year and now has had to be completely removed from the GH, plants that were climbing on it had to be relocated and remounted.

Now I confine my totems to PVC covered with Coir, and I confine my grapevine usage to the hard sandblasted pieces that come from California.

I don't know where Tess lives, if its Maryland I am sure her hickories ARE a different species than ours. I only know ours rots with ligntning speed, and makes a REALLY aromatic campfire!! ;-)