Ridiculous Potting Medium Ideas

[MateoinLosAngeles]

I was doing the dishes and looking at my Scrub Daddy sponge, standing there, firm and cold, with all those little intricate spaces between the polymer strands and thinking "if I cut this in cubes it wouldn't be a half bad potting medium for orchids as long as I don't use warm water."

I then snapped out of my day dream and couldn't believe myself! The obsession chases me to the point that I see potting media everywhere. What would be next, cat litter? Maybe foam filling from my pillow? Or what about those shoes I was going to throw away?!

The list is endless... so why not bring everyone into the conversation and maybe get some laughs?!

Here it goes:

What's the most ridiculous idea for a potting medium that you've either thought of, tried, used, or know someone who did?

Make sure to include pictures if you have them!!!!!

[estación seca]

Potting medium doesn't matter if it has the qualities the plant needs. There is a product whose name I can't remember that is composed of a web of non-wicking firm plastic filaments. It is used in sheets for evaporative cooler pads and terrarium walls. It is used in cubes as medium for epiphytic plants. It is very similar to your scrubber.

Orchidists have used whatever was readily available that provides good air at the roots with some moisture retention. The Sarcochilus hybridizers Barrita Orchids in Australia incorporate polyfoam bean bag filling in their potting mix.

I have seen used for epiphytes sphagnum, coir, pumice, bark of many kinds, LECA, Osmunda fiber, tree fern fiber, shredded swamp cedar, perlite, Grodan, volcanic cinders, charcoal, wine corks, the fibrous material I mentioned before, coconut shell chips, coconut husk chips, granite chips, various other rock chips, natural leaf mold, foam packing peanuts, fiberglass wool, and probably other things I can't recall in 5 minutes of thinking.

[MateoinLosAngeles]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Potting medium doesn't matter if it has the qualities the plant needs. There is a product whose name I can't remember that is composed of a web of non-wicking firm plastic filaments. It is used in sheets for evaporative cooler pads and terrarium walls. It is used in cubes as medium for epiphytic plants. It is very similar to your scrubber.

That would be EpiWeb!!! Very popular in Europe for mounting and also for terrariums, can make amazing moss walls with it. I wasn't sure it was for sale in the US but a google search did show a seller and I could find a few examples:

Source: Flicker

This looks like a really nice way to manage an indoor greenhouse for an apartment. The EpiWeb would likely minimize water run off:

Source: Flicker

Maybe I should try mounting a NoID on a Scrub Daddy sponge just as a little silly craft!

[Ray]

Mateo.

Many years ago, I was the US outlet for Epiweb. The stuff in nothing more than the same non-woven polyester matting used for rotary floor scrubbers. After some “less-than-acceptable shenanigans” by them, I ended up severing ties and going my own way with EcoWeb, and later AquaMat “3-D fabric”, used a lot in backpacks, which wicked and held water better than Hygrolon.

[alee023]

Originally Posted by Ray

Mateo.

The stuff in nothing more than the same non-woven polyester matting used for rotary floor scrubbers.

Sorry to revive an old thread but Ray, I found your 2017 post on Slipper talk where you experimented mounting a phal to a scrubby yarn pad. How did it turn out in the long run?

[Leafmite]

Looks quite a bit like the material used for pond filters. Is it plastic?

I do love to experiment with different materials. I could not grow anything in bark (it would rot by February and leave my early orchids rotten) so I tried Lava rock because I figured that if orchids grew on trees and the medium was only meant to hold the orchid and provide humidity to the roots, why not? I hated the dust so I tried LECA which did not work for me as my orchids would not grip it and it moved around when I watered. I tried marbles once...did not hold water or provide humidity. I tried the empty jar and soaking the roots once a day...got moldy roots. I tried NZ moss and that just decomposed too quickly so I was always replacing it which became expensive.
I tried using sponges as an addition to lava rock and it did not work at all, unfortunately. They sort of made their way to the top and the pups wanted to play with them so they got into the orchids...not going to try it again.

Now, for the orchids that are not mounted, I will always use lava rock as it works for me. The smaller 1/4 inch rock is doing great with all the orchids so I am thrilled..

[WaterWitchin]

I've used Matala mat, both the coarse and the fine, for both mounting and cubed up in a pot. Matala mat is a type of pond filter material but not "flexible" like Eco web and some other types of filter material. Have experimented with almost everything Estación Seca mentions, except lava rock. Go figure Leaf Mite. It is on my experiment list.

Have always avoided lava rock because I had to dig out a ton of it in a previous house where the former owner had it in aaaall the landscape beds around the house. It was a mud/rock/clay nightmare mess to remove and re-amend the soil for actual flower beds. That was about 45 years ago, and I couldn't imagine being able to dig it out now. It was also a curse when I had the water garden business and folks would use it as filter material.

Probably the most oddball things I've experimented with were sandstone broken up, clay pot shards, hedge tree chips, sea glass pebbles, and my favorite weird... sweet gum balls from the sweet gum tree. Weirdest mounts so far have been a cow skull, deer skull, deer antlers, and goat horn. I don't highly recommend any of the oddball stuff as something to put a whole collection in. But it's sure fun as experimental stuff.

[MateoinLosAngeles]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

sweet gum balls from the sweet gum tree. Weirdest mounts so far have been a cow skull, deer skull, deer antlers, and goat horn. I don't highly recommend any of the oddball stuff as something to put a whole collection in. But it's sure fun as experimental stuff.

Sweet Gum! My Archnemesis! Not only the ONLY tree I'm allergic to, but the only allergy I've ever tested positive for!!


I wanna see photos of the oddball stuff! Do you have a section in the growing area with skulls? Haha!

[Leafmite]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

I've used Matala mat, both the coarse and the fine, for both mounting and cubed up in a pot. Matala mat is a type of pond filter material but not "flexible" like Eco web and some other types of filter material. Have experimented with almost everything Estación Seca mentions, except lava rock. Go figure Leaf Mite. It is on my experiment list.

Have always avoided lava rock because I had to dig out a ton of it in a previous house where the former owner had it in aaaall the landscape beds around the house. It was a mud/rock/clay nightmare mess to remove and re-amend the soil for actual flower beds. That was about 45 years ago, and I couldn't imagine being able to dig it out now. It was also a curse when I had the water garden business and folks would use it as filter material.

Probably the most oddball things I've experimented with were sandstone broken up, clay pot shards, hedge tree chips, sea glass pebbles, and my favorite weird... sweet gum balls from the sweet gum tree. Weirdest mounts so far have been a cow skull, deer skull, deer antlers, and goat horn. I don't highly recommend any of the oddball stuff as something to put a whole collection in. But it's sure fun as experimental stuff.

Lava rock is not perfect as there is the dust (never let that dust get into your plumbing...rinse outside or in a bucket that is dumped outside) and it is sharp so when orchids are first potted in it, it is best not to move the pots until the roots are established (staking and wiring helps, too). It also needs flushed regularly as it is not being replaced every year or so. I did not have many options when I first started growing orchids and there it was...everywhere and very cheap. I like that it does not decompose, continues to allow good air circulation, and roots can grip onto it.

[alecStewart1]

I think traveling around the internet the "weirdest" thing I've seen is when people grow stuff more or less like it's a lithophyte. And I'm not talking lava rock / pumice, just like regular rocks, "river rocks" or those polished aquarium rocks.

I mean, Pinguicula I get, because a lot of them are lithophytes. Some people I've heard use chicken grit, limestone pieces, perlite and maybe some sand for their Pings.

There's a subtype of Pings that grow on pure gypsum in nature, one of the most known probably being Pinguicula gypsicola. So people who grow them will just get bags of gypsum and mix it with some sand and perlite, maybe vermiculite.

Orchids it's feels a little odd, though. I guess it some ways it makes sense: rocks don't really hold on to water, so they'll dry out much quicker which is good if you like watering every day or your plants like going from wet to dry. Plus depending on the size, you can get good aeration around the roots. I've heard some people have grown Neofinetia falcata lithophytically (<- don't think that's a word).

I've seen a few pictures of some Asian Cymbidiums where the top of the mix are those polished/painted aquarium rocks, which looks a little weird.