soil from scratch

[geogeo21]

so i have a lot of fir trees where i live. a lot with peeling bark. i see most orchid potting mixes are made out of fir bark perlite and charcoal. has anyone ever made their own from scartch? i'm wondering if i can put the fir bark in a food processor to turn it into smaller bits than add my own charcoal(from burned stumps in my yard) and perlite. i've used my pruners to cut the fir bark into small pieces but it takes forever!

[Fairorchids]

I do not think that food processor blades are as big enough or strong enough to deal with bark nuggets. The type of machines that do this type of particle reduction have much heavier blades.

There are many types of fir trees. Bark has to have a certain thickness to be suitable for orchids.

I do mix my own, but I buy the ingredients from a commercial supplier (usually Robert's Flower Supply in OH).

[FountainDesigner]

I make my own fairly often, and my 'chids love it. I live in Florida, and all of my orchids grow outdoors, mostly hanging in wood baskets. My custom 'soil' mix is made up of bark chips, stick trimmings, hardwood charcoal chunks, and usually a little bit of leaf litter - pretty much the stuff that would collect against an orchid growing on a tree in the wild.