Orchiata order...is the bark ok?

[KokeshiHappyGreen]

Mountaineer, thanks for the info and link. I too am kinda OCD..if folks haven't figured that out yet 😂

Orchid Whisperer, is there a specific reason why you recommend clay pot? (It was suggested to me, as a newbie, to stick with clear orchid pots...and I Do like being able to see roots and how wet the media looks at least superficially.) I'm wondering if clay would make things a bit too cool for my little stars and in the past one thing I noticed across many types of media and containers was that cold and damp created lots of mold issues. That's why I was going more for warmer and dryer And only having the one orchid it won't be a problem watering more often if need be.

fishmom, thanks for the assurance about the Orchiata coming moist. Just being a worry wort, I guess. But things are finally going in a good direction and didn't want to mess it up trying to optimize things 🙄

Thanks to everyone for the great info and encouraging words and advice 👍🏻

EDIT
Not that it would affect any of the advice or comments offered, but just want to mention two things, by way of clarification:
1) The first pic shows what is mentioned in the description from Amazon, which says the gallon size I got is re-bagged/not in Original sealed bag from Besgrow.which is why I was wondering about the moisture
2) the second pic shows the BetterGrow bark, in my hand, compared to the Orchiata drying out on table below; clearly I didn't measure correctly, as it seems the Correct size match would be the Largest size, no matter which description. But since you guys say it dries a bit faster than other bark, the overall outcome of not getting oversaturated as easily and allowing good air flow should be close.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by KokeshiHappyGreen

Orchid Whisperer, is there a specific reason why you recommend clay pot? (It was suggested to me, as a newbie, to stick with clear orchid pots...and I Do like being able to see roots and how wet the media looks at least superficially.).

I use clay pots some of the time... for plants that don't like heat, a bit of evaporative cooling at the roots seems to be useful (especially with Pleurothallids) With plants that tend to be top-heavy, the extra weight is also very handy. I used it a lot for Catts and relatives, that need to dry out between waterings, I'm now going more for baskets (either wood or plastic) because they seem to do better, getting even better drying (and as they get bigger, and I grow them hanging, I would rather not lift the extra weight) So it comes to the the usual, "What is the objective?" and then figure out what combination of pot and media and watering gives you the result that you want. There are usually many approaches that get to the same place.