Quote:
Originally Posted by silken
I agree. Mine end up in a mix of sphagnum and bark chunks. But I find that when they come from the store, most of them are too firmly packed and then there is that wet mass up under the crown, so it never dries out. A looser amount seems to work better for the phals I have.
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Orchids magazine had an article and also recently some mail responses that explained why we will find them packed so tightly. It seems that these phals are not soaked when they are watered like you would with bark mix.
You only water when the top is dry and you only put enough water in to flood the top once and let it soak into the dry sphag below. That way, the media doesn't become too wet and that center core never really gets soggy.
The more tightly the sphag is packed, the less water it absorbs and the more quickly it will dry.
The nice part about sphag is it gives the roots the humidity they need in a home environment.
However, it is difficult to manage. I have some plants in the house that I will go almost two weeks without watering. They are doing great!
But my goodness, it's hard to hold back!
I have enjoyed the challenges of using different media for orchids and especially the challenge of self control when it comes to "fussing" over the plant
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