Orchiata order...is the bark ok?
 

Just ordered Orchiata bark via Amazon. Ordered what was labeled as Large grade; smaller than what I had picked out of the BetterGrow bark I was using. Not only that, but the bag had Obvious Moisture in it, bark was very dark, and some spots that are suspicious for mold. 😞

Maybe should have kept original BG bark? Thought I was upgrading to a premium type; indeed, after only a few weeks the BG already seemed softer. I also thought I was opting for bigger pieces, so my B. little stars would have tons of aeration (short of being mounted); guess I should have ordered the Extra Large grade! (It Is a seedling/young plant though, so maybe ok for the next year or so?)

Lightly soaked the Orchiata for about 5 min then rinsed majority of dust off. Ran distilled water thru pot once reported my orchid.

Rest of bark I have drying out on a towel, then will rebag in gal ziploc bags.

So did I make a mistake at any point? Will it be ok? Obviously I won't be Watering any time soon.

Thanks.

Orchiata has some pretty distinct grades, ranging from:

#8 "Precision" at <1/4"
#9 "Classic" at 1/4"-3/8"
#5 "Power" at 3/8"-1/2"
#5A "Power+" at 1/2"-3/4"
#7 "Super" at >3/4"

Yes, there are penicillium and trichoderma that are native to the aged bark, but both are beneficial, and consume pathogens, so don't let that be of any concern.

Thanks, Ray! Good to know. (The grading system you mention is slightly different than just small through extra large listed on Amazon; yours sounds more specific and maybe for you more professional types?) 😜

So...does my plan yo dry out the bark and re-bag sound ok? I guess maybe the beneficial organisms may or may not survive, but at least not harmful, as you say.

Just out of curiosity, does Orchiata usually arrive Moist...or was that just due to being in a mailbox for a day or two? (Arrived week early and notification was delayed)

Once I put in New bags, is the bark good for some time? (Though I only have my One Orchid I'm focusing on, so may be moot point for any time in the near future)

Thanks

When I bought my first small supply of Orchiata a couple years ago, I did a lot of research online -- partly because the stuff is expensive and I didn't want to waste my money, and partly because I'm a bit OCD and I sometimes go overboard on researching things. :blushing:

Ray listed the named sizes that the company offers above, but it can be confusing because they don't actually describe them as small, medium, large, etc., and sometimes different vendors will refer to them in that way. But since there are actually five different sizes, some vendors will not be using the same size descriptions for the same product.

It sounds like you got Power Plus #5A, which is most often described as large, but perhaps you were hoping for something along the line of Super, which sometimes may be called extra large.

About what you refer to as "spots that are suspicious for mold," if it's kind of a white-looking stuff, it may be the dolomite that the company adds. Here is a link to the manufacturer's site, and if you scroll down to FAQs, they explain it.

Orchiata

As far as the product being moist, I honestly can't remember if mine was moist or not when I first got it. It's dry now, but I've had it for quite a while.

I'm sure others will be along to comment. There are a lot of differing opinions on potting media, and I think for most of us, it's a process of trial and error. I'm personally happy with Orchiata, and I use it for some (not all) of my plants. I just wanted to mention that it does dry out faster than many other types of media, so keep an eye on it. You may have to water sooner than you think.

The second photo looks pretty typical of Orchiata bark.

Your Brassavola Little Stars should grow fine in it, but will probably outgrow the container long before either kind of bark would have degraded.

For optimal root health, I would suggest potting that plant into a clay (unglazed terracotta) pot instead of plastic.

I use Power + for my phals and other large-rooted orchids. Yes, it does come with moisture, which makes the first re-pottings easier. I don't rinse it, but it dries out over time; thus the comment that it may require more watering than you expect. The moisture is not due to decomposition of the medium, so it does not hold much moisture at first. It does seem to last a fairly long time, as advertised.

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.

When I first started reselling Orchiata, all of the bags were wet, unopened from the factory. Later they started coming in dry, which I preferred, only because they were lighter weight!

I don't think you need to worry about that at all.

No need to soak Orchiata before use as per instructions,a plus IMO.

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.