Sand in Bark Mix

[DweamGoiL]

This morning, I went to flush out my pots. Everything was fine, until I got to my Paph. fairrieanum, which arrived about a month ago. The vendor had a note inside the packing material to not repot for at least 30 days so I followed their instructions.

Since I received the plant, I will say that I noticed that some of the newer leaves that were growing, were rotting at the base. At first, I thought I was overfertilizing since Paphs generally tend to be sensitive to this. It never sat quite right with me that I had never actually seen this plant's roots and as one leaf after another began to wither, I began to think something was definitely amiss.

This morning, I noticed that with all the other orchids I had been watering that the water would sift through the media and drain freely out at the bottom. With the new fairrieanum, the water was sitting on top and would eventually drain from the sides down. It was as if the center of the media was really dense. I also noticed that the pot itself also weighed a bit more than all the others and no matter how many times I flushed it, there was still evidence of salt in the media.

I decided to look inside the pot and began pouring out the media it came with. It was terribly dense, and at first, I couldn't figure out why, but it felt so grainy; it was sand mixed into the bark, and a good deal of it. The sand was making the center of the pot become compacted and was retaining way too much water and had started to rot some of the roots. I repotted into my usual orchiata mix and trimmed some of the roots. I did notice there was a lot of new root growth, which is great and decided to not bury the roots too deeply, but a bit more shallow so they could dry faster. Incredibly, the plant looks perkier already.

I will never wait so long again to repot a new plant. Lesson learned is that whatever media worked for the nursery it came from does not mean that this is what will work best for me in my conditions!

[Island Girl]

Was it from orchids.com by any chance? I believe they advise for you to "not repot for 30 days" (....I kinda wonder if it's so u can't return them, so they can blame the plants problems on the customer, but I dunno.) Anyways, thats great that after the repot it perked back up!! I have heard that about Paphs (that they imediately respond well to a nice, fresh new media). Good job! That seems wierd that they would have sand in the potting media (I mean, that amount/ratio of it), but I don't grow Paphs, so I don't really know...

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

As far as I know, Norman's Orchids (aka orchids.com) does not grow their Paphs in sand.

I wouldn't advise using sand as a potting media.

I've never known of any to be growing in sand.

Many grow on limestone hills or cliffs. Some are true epiphytes.

[DweamGoiL]

Ding, ding, ding!!! It was from Orchids.com

[Bud]

Right, I have never heard of sand as a media mix for any orchid. I heard of a handful of potting soil added to the bark mix for some Jewel orchids but not for Pahiopedillum.
For your plant get a regular orchid media mix, or order some online from those reputable sellers who you can run after if there is an issue.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

So it was Norman's Orchids.

Go figure.

[james mickelso]

Paphs do grow in sandy soil in some places. In some places they grow in peat type soil. It depends on what species they are. Most like the higher pH that limey soils give. Remember that growers usually grow from seed or flask and what and how they grow them makes a difference when we get them. And most use water that has been conditioned by filtering. I saw paphs in New Jersey years ago when I was in the Navy that grew in sandy soil so loose that I wondered how they could stay upright. I don't think paphs like to be watered as much as we think. In the wild they are in a breezier environment.