Sphagnum or bark for Bulbophyllum rothschildianum.
 

I have a Bulbophyllum rothschildianum that is in desperate need of repotting (the latest two growths are hanging outside the pot). I currently have Sphagnum moss and medium bark (pieces about 0.5" to 0.75" in diameter) on hand, which should I use? It is currently in fine bark, which it seems happy in so I would rather not change it, but I don't have any of that and it might be a while before I can get some.

is it very strong bark? could you break it apart in a food processor on pulse?

i would mix the two you have and use a lot less moss, that will hold more moisture that you lose from the bigger bark but you wont need much.


i also advise never restricting a bulbo and let them ramble all over the place and out the pot out of the basket etc

the bark is pretty hard (it is Orchiata) so I might be able to make it smaller. it is in a 4" plastic pot right now and only about half of it is actually in the pot (its a pretty small plant right now, 4 or 5 growths).

All the Bulbo growers I know are using pure spaghnum (as do I).

I like moss ONLY for my bulbophyllum but OP mentioned that it was happy in the fine bark.

In that case I will probably put it in full sphag, it will be a lot easier than chopping bark down to size anyway.

---------- Post added at 01:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:04 PM ----------

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Ok, I just put it in a basket of sphagnum, it looks good so far!