Why I think bark is the worst media for orchids

[estación seca]

I like the wine cork idea, mainly because there's pretty much only one way to get them.

[camille1585]

Interesting discussion about bark, and it works so well for me that I never really thought that some people may have polar opposite experiences with it.

These are my obervations over the years:

* Good quality bark is important. I don't buy expensive orchiata bark, but found a grower who has some high quality bark, which is hard, even chunks, and no small junk. It lasts longer and dries faster than cheap stuff. Unlike the OP, I find the fact that it doesn't settle evenly in the pot to be a plus, this means more air around the roots. Tapping the pot as I fill it does remove the largest gaps though.

* Bark works best (in my experience) when watering by soaking rather than watering from above (as several growers in this thread seem to do). This evenly wets the bark and the water 'channels' as it trickles down are no longer an issue.

* Adapting the size of the pot to the root mass helps avoid uneven drying and the root system seems to develop even better that way. I don't mind yearly repotting of young, developing plants, and I like seeing what's going on. As I grow mostly Phals, I don't worry about disturbing them since they generally don't care about being repotted.

While I see the appeal of inorganic media, and have tried it on a few plants, it's just not workable for me. Availability can be a problem (scoria is one example), and it's too heavy. I have used leca on a few plants, but it generally dries out much faster than bark (so more watering, which is difficult as an indoor grower), and when leca is bone dry is tends to suck moisture from the roots. That's a no go for me as the plants must spend 3 weeks alone each summer, without a plant sitter. Evaporative cooling of organic media is also a problem in the winter.

[Mountaineer370]

I'm a longtime Orchiata user -- well, if five years can be called a long time. I do have a few that are in a commercial mix of medium fir bark, charcoal, and Perlite, but the majority are in pure Orchiata, the size of the chunks dependent on the size of the plant. It does not break down, or at least it hasn't in the time I've used it. I have some plants that I hadn't repotted in three years and only did so because they needed a bigger pot, but the bark was still fine (though I did replace it since I wasn't sure it would last another three years, but from what I hear, that's a possibility).

I water from the top, over the sink, with a watering can. I tilt the pot from side to side and move the spout of the can around to make sure I'm wetting as much of the bark as possible. I only have a small number of plants, twenty or so. With larger collections, bringing each plant to the sink could be very inconvenient. I do water frequently, especially in winter when my indoor humidity is lucky to get into the 20s. My small number of plants is also the reason that the price of Orchiata isn't a budget-breaker.

I use clear plastic pots, and I can see empty spaces in some of the larger ones. I do tap the pot when repotting, which helps settle the bark, but I don't worry about a few pockets that aren't completely filled. In fact, I don't want the bark packed too tightly. Just tight enough that the plant is secure.

It's definitely a personal preference. We each have our own unique experiences and form our opinions based on them. The best media for me is not necessarily the best media for someone else.

The fact that lumber is a very valuable commodity these days and getting more scarce with the passing of each year makes me believe that in no part of the world are trees cut down just to harvest their bark. That would be a terrible waste of natural resources, as well as throwing a whole lot of money away.

(edited to fix spelling error)

[Keysguy]

I prefer good ole Rexius fir bark for my mature Catts but I do use small orchiata for my seedlings until they are ready to be up-potted and then I just gradually increase the size of the fir bark each time they get up-potted.

[ChrisMalaga]

Originally Posted by thefish1337

I've gone to mixtures that are 80-90% pearlite, leca, stalite and charcoal and 10-20% bark. I don't know why but a little bark seems to perform best for my conditions.

It makes sense to me. Bark releases tannins, acidifies the media with time and also releases some humic acid I suppose. It also allows beneficial bacteria and fungi to grow, apart from pathogens. If you're lucky enough to have enough beneficial microorganisms or were able to provide them. It's something that plants would appreciate (you can also deliver this artificially though). If you mix bark with leca at such concentration, you may provide a good balance between the properties of both materials.

It's just the physical properties of the bark itself that I criticize.

---------- Post added at 11:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:00 AM ----------

Originally Posted by camille1585

I have used leca on a few plants, but it generally dries out much faster than bark (so more watering, which is difficult as an indoor grower), and when leca is bone dry is tends to suck moisture from the roots. That's a no go for me as the plants must spend 3 weeks alone each summer, without a plant sitter. Evaporative cooling of organic media is also a problem in the winter.

You can just use a piece of synthetic rope or other wicking material, pass it through the bottom hole of your pots and place the other extreme in a bucket full of water below the pots (you can use a mesh to make the pots sit above the bucket).

Even in autumn here (which is still 80F/28C) I saw that humidity reached the top layer. I must say that the plants in self watering were inside, ventilation outside could make the upper layer dry faster. I will see this summer, I may add pebbles to the top layer if I see excessive evaporation is an issue, but by that time I think all orchids will have such an extensive root system that this may not be an issue.

I must also say that I alternate leca and some more more water retentive materials, especially in the upper layers: a few pieces of scoria and pumice here and there that can retain the moisture and release it gradually. The rope inside also reaches 1/3 of the height of the pot, I just don't place it in the bottom, but a bit higher, so it's easier for water to reach the upper layers. I thought everything would get dry much faster, but it doesn't at all so far.

---------- Post added at 11:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:21 AM ----------

Originally Posted by isurus79

Chris- I'm curious about why you want even wetness throughout the pot. Some nooks and crannies in the pot will dry faster/slower than others no matter what media you use. The plant roots will adapt, as they do in nature (which is full of nooks and crannies)!

Because it happened to me many times that a part of the root system was in contact with water for too long while another part of the root system was totally dry. I know it has something to do with the way I water, my environment, the bark I use (I'm sure Orchiata will be superior). I just think for me it has caused so many problems over the years, that I started questioning myself: why do we use bark?

Orchids use bark as a support, not as a media. They grow attached to trees because it's what they have available, but you can see orchids growing on a brick wall, stones, or whatever is available, if the humidity and PH of the media supports life.

The real media is usually air and rain, or moss growing on the trees and the root system of other epiphytes growing close to the orchid, this is where the orchids puts its root through, not the bark. The only orchids growing on something similar to bark (chunks of dead wood, fallen leaves etc.) are terrestrial ones I suppose? I think the bark of a living tree has very different properties from bark chips in a plastic pot.

So when I hear that people grow orchids in bark because it "simulates" what they have in nature, I feel a bit puzzled. Leca may not be a natural material, but it gives better conditions/amount of oxygen and humidity for roots to grow in my opinion.

[theorchidapartment]

I think my experience with Orchiata is similar to Cheri (Mountaineer370), though I haven't been using it as long. Most of my potted orchids are in translucent pots in Orchiata with perlite added in different proportions.

Orchiata's particular water retentiveness (or lack thereof) is perfect for the seasonal shifts in my apartment and the way I water. To me, its price is justified by its longevity. It also helped that I was able to buy a giant bag at wholesale price and probably won't need to buy media again for a very long time, since I don't have room for many more orchids!

Since quality is an important factor, especially in organic media, I admit I did chuckle when I opened this thread declaring bark is the worst and saw that op had never used Orchiata.

I guess it bears repeating that there are so many factors that go into which media works for us that what is the worst for one person might be the best for others.

For example! A few weeks ago, I was gonna jump into a thread about coconut husk to rail against how quickly it breaks down, how it retains too much moisture, etc., but realized that it must work for certain people or else it wouldn't even be a topic of conversation.

[Roberta]

I am reminded of a very colorful character, alas no longer with us, who had a small orchid business, came to many club meetings. He would enthuse about a "new" medium that he had started using with "phenomenal results" ... a couple of years later he would be extolling the benefits of something else. What, no doubt, he was observing was that plants just generally tend to put on a growth spurt when they are repotted. They will do it in response to repotting in general - and the interval of these "extraordinary results" was just about the interval that plants (these were mostly Catts) needed to be repotted... Note... correlation does not necessarily imply causation.

[ChrisMalaga]

I've never mentioned the fact that orchids grow faster in another media, that leca, or scoria or sphagnum are an elixir or other things of the sort.
I think an orchid grows at the same rate, either if you grow it in bark, leca or on your desk, if you give the proper amount of water, nutrients, oxigen and light

The majority of my orchids are still in bark - pure bark or different mixes (I don't switch everything to a new culture all of a sudden) and now that temperatures are raising and days start being longer again, there is significant new growth in all of them.

I will also continue using bark, mixed with other things, for terrestrials, as my problems with bark come only with epiphytes it seems.

My orchid friends here in Spain are VERY conservative about cultivation and use only bark, like if was the only media "approved" (scoria and sphagnum are more ok but also take some hate). When I was showing them the pictures of some of my orchids in self watering some months ago their comments were like: "omg what are you doing? Do you want to kill that plant straight away?!!", so the meaning of my post is more a consideration about why bark is still the media 99% of people use, and many people fail with, but will keep using for the rest of their life when I think there are alternative media that are valid for at least a very long list of orchids.

[Leafmite]

The medium's purpose is simply to keep the air around the roots humid and to provide stability. That is all. I have no idea why people decided upon bark when nearly anything works.

Rock wool is a medium that a few people in my Orchid Society have been using for orchids that need more moisture. I have been curious about it but have not yet tried it. I just keep buying the NZ moss. for the Tuberlabium, Phal bellina, Dendrobium auriculatum and Phaius. The rest do well in the lava rock.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I like the wine cork idea, mainly because there's pretty much only one way to get them.

In addition to the ones I (ahem...) collect myself, I have friends that save theirs for me. A friend just dropped off a bag of corks today!

I recently found out that plastic corks work as well as the real corks, and they don't decompose. I still have and use both types, tending to use all plastic in one pot, all real corks in another pot. I mostly use them for orchids that prefer the most rapid-drying medium, like Cattleya types.