Recommendations for DIY Potting Media?

[realoldbeachbum]

There is so much conflicting orchid guidance on the internet nowadays. I only trust you, Orchid Board.

I have been using Repotme premixed medium. Now that I have 54 orchids (can't believe this addiction), I would like to prepare my own. I have mostly Cattleyas & Phals, with a few Paphs and Oncids thrown in. I am looking to mix my own Cattleya and Phal medium. All orchids are grown inside by Eastern window or grow lights. Any DIY media suggestions?

One more thing: What is the difference between Orchiata and Fir bark? They look alike to the untrained eye.

Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks!

[estación seca]

It doesn't matter what you use. What matters is you understanding your plants, and giving them what they want.

[Roberta]

Orchiata is New Zealand pine bark. It tends to be harder than fir bark, and is graded into a large number of sizes, helpful for "fine tuning" the potting job. Fir bark, depends on the source. Since it's a byproduct of the lumber industry, it can be highly variable in quality, depending to the trees that it comes from. But a lot cheaper.

I totally mix my own... buy big sacks of bark and mix in about 1/3 by volume of perlite (sponge rock)... give or take, I don't measure. As ES says, it comes down to the needs of the plant. If you're growing Cattleyas, go for large bark, perlite may or may not be needed. The goal is something that will dry out quickly and have lots of air space. (Doesn't need to be bark, volcanic rock or other inorganic medium works well for lots of people, especially with high humidity) If you are growing Oncidinae or Cymbidiums that want to stay damp, you probably want small bark. I look at what the plant needs in the way of water (quick drying, more moist, etc) and decide from there. I try to manage it so that I can water everything in an area the same, and adjust the medium to get the effect that each plant wants. (So that the decision gets made every 2-3 years at repotting time, not every day or so when watering...Only way to manage a large collection)

[estación seca]

For people who cannot walk by a plant without watering, use large orchid bark or LECA and water every day. Or grow in semi-hydroponics (S/H); there is an entire forum here on Orchid Board for S/H. Forums are accessible via the left yellow menu.

For people who want to water all the plants on the same schedule, good luck. Your best hope is using different-sized potting mixes, smaller for more thirsty plants, so the various plants use up the water in the pot in the same time frame. S/H is also very useful for these people, but you must not let the reservoirs run dry.

For people willing to look at each plant each day, and water when it's time to water rather than by the clock, use whatever you wish.

For the truly lazy or time-poor like me, set up an automatic watering system on a timer, and grow everything in large bark, LECA or with S/H. This can be done simply or more complexly.

[hypostatic]

Originally Posted by estación seca

It doesn't matter what you use. What matters is you understanding your plants, and giving them what they want.

Yeah, this is a very good point. What works well for one person, in a certain climate/environment, might not work well for the next person.

For my conditions, I can get by using bark, sphag, or a mixture of the two. Generally speaking the larger/thicker the roots are on an orchid, the more I'm veering towards a mostly bark substrate, to maximize aeration in the roots. If the media needs increased humidity, I'll add some sphag to retain some water content.

For Catts and Phals I'm going with about 80:20, bark:sphag, with exceptions here and there. For my Onc twinkles that have tiny roots, I'm growing them on straight sphag (using high quality AAA Grade New Zealand Sphagmoss really makes a difference). For the pure sphag, I'll usually drench the plants/media, and then leave them alone for 1-3 weeks.

Originally Posted by estación seca

For people who cannot walk by a plant without watering

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by realoldbeachbum

One more thing: What is the difference between Orchiata and Fir bark? They look alike to the untrained eye.

Orchiata is Monterey Pine bark, which is very tough and stable, so it doesn't degrade as quickly as standard bark. For most orchids either one will work. Because it degrades more slowly, Orchiata is often a better bark choice for orchids that hate having ttheir roots disturbed by repotting (Psychopsis is one example) or orchids that like to remain damp/wet, like Phrags.

[estación seca]

Yes, harder barks like Orchiata and Kiwi Bark degrade more slowly. But many people try to repot every two years, one for Paphs and Phrags, so the less expensive fir bark is often fine for plants that get repotted frequently.

Last night Alan Koch in his lecture to our society said he uses Orchiata because one large customer he supplies requires it. Alan said otherwise he would be happy using the much cheaper fir bark.

[Fairorchids]

If you have +/-54 orchids, by now you should have some idea about what mixes work for you.

I use a lot of different mix ratios, but all based on just a few components:

Spaghnum (100% in small net pots for small Vandaceous, 80% mixed with bark in 3" clay pots for Dendrobiums & small Cattleyas, 65/35 with bark for larger Vandaceous in baskets, and 50/35/5 chopped/sdlg bark/sdlg charcoal for babies going into 3" plastic pots the first time.

Fir Bark, seedling size for small plants, medium for Cattleya mix & large for Cymbidium mix.

Charcoal, seedling & medium sizes

Perlite, as coarse as I can get it. I use 3:1:1 Bark/Charcoal/Perlite for mature Cattleyas.

Aliflor (LECA), I use clay nuggets for a few Cattleyas, which need to dry out quickly after watering. It also works well for Rhynchostylis gigantea.

I refuse to pay premium for Orchiata, since most orchids outgrow their pot in 2 years, so longer life Orchiata is a waste.

[realoldbeachbum]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Orchiata is New Zealand pine bark. It tends to be harder than fir bark, and is graded into a large number of sizes, helpful for "fine tuning" the potting job. Fir bark, depends on the source. Since it's a byproduct of the lumber industry, it can be highly variable in quality, depending to the trees that it comes from. But a lot cheaper.

I totally mix my own... buy big sacks of bark and mix in about 1/3 by volume of perlite (sponge rock)... give or take, I don't measure. As ES says, it comes down to the needs of the plant. If you're growing Cattleyas, go for large bark, perlite may or may not be needed. The goal is something that will dry out quickly and have lots of air space. (Doesn't need to be bark, volcanic rock or other inorganic medium works well for lots of people, especially with high humidity) If you are growing Oncidinae or Cymbidiums that want to stay damp, you probably want small bark. I look at what the plant needs in the way of water (quick drying, more moist, etc) and decide from there. I try to manage it so that I can water everything in an area the same, and adjust the medium to get the effect that each plant wants. (So that the decision gets made every 2-3 at repotting time, not every day or so when watering...Only way to manage a large collection)

No spagh, Roberta? I have lots of little bagbabies, don't they need the moisture retention of spagh? Even the little catts?

Thanks so much. This is a huge learning process for me -- but as painful as it is, I LOVE it!!!

---------- Post added at 01:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:03 PM ----------

Originally Posted by estación seca

It doesn't matter what you use. What matters is you understanding your plants, and giving them what they want.

Thanks estacion seca. Since I am sooo new to orchids, I don't yet "understand" the plants. I must rely on you guys for guidance. Appreciate it very much!!

---------- Post added at 01:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:05 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

If you have +/-54 orchids, by now you should have some idea about what mixes work for you.

I use a lot of different mix ratios, but all based on just a few components:

Spaghnum (100% in small net pots for small Vandaceous, 80% mixed with bark in 3" clay pots for Dendrobiums & small Cattleyas, 65/35 with bark for larger Vandaceous in baskets, and 50/35/5 chopped/sdlg bark/sdlg charcoal for babies going into 3" plastic pots the first time.

Fir Bark, seedling size for small plants, medium for Cattleya mix & large for Cymbidium mix.

Charcoal, seedling & medium sizes

Perlite, as coarse as I can get it. I use 3:1:1 Bark/Charcoal/Perlite for mature Cattleyas.

Aliflor (LECA), I use clay nuggets for a few Cattleyas, which need to dry out quickly after watering. It also works well for Rhynchostylis gigantea.

I refuse to pay premium for Orchiata, since most orchids outgrow their pot in 2 years, so longer life Orchiata is a waste.

Thanks for the information, Fairorchids. I plan to figure out how to print it and post it in my grow room!

[Roberta]

I don't use sphagnum in my bark mixes, but when the weather warms up I water more often. (OK, I do water a lot... but get the wet-dry cycle that epiphytic orchids need) If sphagnum works with your watering regimen, it has some real benefits. The good part, it retains water. The bad part, it retains water. So in general you need to tailor your mix to your conditions. I use quite a bit of sphagnum, by itself, loosely packed, in baskets (net pots) for things that need both moisture and air and don't lend themselves to mounting. I also use it with clay pots for plants that need the root-cooling in summer (like Pleurothallids) Others swear by tightly packed sphagnum, the technique doesn't work for me in my conditions. So again, it's all in the execution, to get the result that meets your conditions.

An example of fine-tuning the media... I have an area that gets lots of sun, so that dictates the plants that go there. On the benches are Cymbidiums, that need to stay on the damp side. Hanging above them are Laelia anceps and relatives, that need to dry out fast. So, the Cyms are in plastic pots with small bark (and perlite), the L. anceps are mounted or in baskets with little or no bark (large if they have it at all) Result... the area gets watered by sprinklers every 2 days (every day if it is really hot), the Cyms stay damp and the L. anceps are dry within 2-3 hours. All are happy, in the same high light, with the same watering.