Potting Media for Aliceara Hilo Ablaze
 

Can anyone recommend potting mix/media for Aliceara Hilo Ablaze? Mine are still in the original medium from the grower, which I think is some kind of peat or moss. They are struggling a bit and probably need to be repotted.

Thank you!
Merideth

Anything. They need a lot of water in active growth. Choose your medium based on how often you can water. Sphagnum is good if you learn how to use it; people also use bark, bark mixes and semi-hydroponics with good results.

And be sure you wait to repot until new roots begin growing.

like ES said, it is about your conditions and habits.

tell us about your growing area

Growing conditions include eastern, filtered light (which might not be enough...), 74 degree temps that inevitably vary due to slightly open windows in Spring, Summer, and Fall, humidity would vary for same reason, good air flow from ceiling fan (and from window breezes). I water when the peat/moss starts to just barely get dry on the top.

I’m tempted to use sphagnum moss because it seems like it would be easier to keep consistently moist. But perhaps include some perlite for some air pockets/circulation?

Use either 100% sphagnum or use something else. With your conditions almost any potting medium would work. If you don't drench the sphagnum, and only wet the very top (which takes 1-2 seconds at the sink or with a water wand), it will always have lots of air inside.

I mix some smallish bark in with my moss. Like you, my ceiling fan runs on high and the front door is nearby, so the air circulation is good. My moss mix is nearly dry every other day. I use clay pots, so it's hard to over water.

Interesting. I’ve never heard that method of watering with sphagnum moss. I’ve always watered it pretty heavily, so that it is wet all the way through. This is why I typically do a 50/50 mix with either perlite or orchiata bark.

Soaking sphagnum moss causes almost all the problems beginners bring here to Orchid Board, and there are a lot of those problems. A few plants do well with moss soaking during warm weather, but most are better watered the way I mentioned.

That said, Aliceara Hilo Ablaze becomes a very large plant. A lot of large Oncidium intergenerics growing in warm climates in sphagnum go through a lot of water when making new growth. They may need to be soaked almost daily when they are healthy and growing fast. When they're not actively growing they use a lot less water, and the method of wetting only the top of the moss works well.