Don't use terrarium bark!

[The Mutant]

I just want to warn any other relatively new Paph owners away from this idea (if there would ever be a second one as dumb as me, that is...)!

I thought I should test and plant some of my Paphs in this bark since it would mean less work for me. It turns out that laziness kills Paphs... :sob:

The bark in question was from Douglas fir trees (I think) and it was specially treated to last longer in terrarium conditions. It turns out that at first, its rather water resistant, but when it starts to absorb water, it turns into mush in about 6 months (my Green Hornet loves it btw, so I'll keep using it to my Phrags)...

I now have a mastersianum and an urbanianum completely without roots (they've been put into sphag, shadier, warmer, and with higher humidity, but I think they're lost), and a schoseri with beginning root rot. I hate being so stupid and killing my Paphs in the process! For some reason, I never really understood the importance of air movement around the roots, I thought I did, but I've proven that I didn't.

I did some emergency repotting yesterday, and will continue today. Luckily for me, the lowii, the fairrianum, the malipoense, the littlest roth, and the venustum all had nice root systems, despite this bark being about as far away from their ideal substrate as possible (the little roth belongs in the root porn thread btw). I think these plants in themselves are strong, so it would've taken a lot before they started to show signs of distress (the mastersianum and the urbanianum were both weakened before this), but if I had kept them in this bark, they would've declined eventually.

So, no more terrarium bark for my Paphs. It might take a whole lot more work for me with the other bark I use, but at least it doesn't kill my babies. Don't do as I did, alright?

 

[NYEric]

Sorry to hear that. ity:
Welcome to the orchid hobby. Live and learn.

 

[Trithor]

I am sorry to hear about your potting media problem. We have a very poor supply of good bark in South Africa. Our bark all comes fom our paper/pulping industry. The bark is a bye product, and grading and consistency are a real problem. I have never tried 'terrarium' bark, and will never try it after your experience.
Another side that I can add though, is that the bark needs to be partially composted/matured as well, do not use fresh bark. The fresh bark may look attractive, but the paphs don't like it.
The best bark that I have ever used was Pinus rogsbergii (or some such spelling). Unfortunately it is no longer available (locally)

 

[Paphman910]

Sorry to hear that! I usually soak the bark overnight and if the bark floats ... it is better bark and I throw out the ones that doesn't float!

I use bark with large perlite, charcoal so I can prolong the life of the mix.

 

[abax]

My sympathies and I hope you can pull some through the goof. As Eric
said, "live and learn". I've done it at least once and probably everybody
here has too.

My perfect mix for my conditions is Orchiata and hydroton in clay orchid
pots. The air movement through the potting medium is very important.
If humidity is low, it's a bit more work, but not all that much.

 

[polyantha]

I've got some terrarium bark in my mix since it is cheaper. I've never had problems, my bark is not treated like yours tough.
I will try Orchiata when I find a source where I do not have to pay more for shipping than for the mix itself.

 

[The Mutant]

Thanks for your sympathies guys, and yeah Eric, I'll hopefully learn from this. I just wish I could learn without casualties.

The bark I normally use is cheap pine bark, which works quite well. The problem is that I have to sort it first, and toss everything that's too deteriorated (the bark is not fresh in other words but I don't want it to be too mature either, hence the "cleaning") and use what's left. This is what I tried to avoid by using terrarium bark instead, since the cleaning takes hours, and I usually lose the feeling in my fingertips. No more shortcuts for me though...

I've yet to find a nice bark that doesn't cost me a fortune (no Orchiata here in Sweden as far as I know)... This pine bark works for now, but I think it would be better to look for something else.

I wll keep using the terrarium bark for my Phrags though, so far they love it.

Abax: Yup, that airflow is so extremely important... I'm glad I discovered this before I lost more plants though, so at least something positive came out of it (lesson learned). What seems to work, more or less, in my conditions are; bark (the cheap pine sort, that I can cut into pieces of my choice, all depending on which orchid I'm going to pot), perlite (unfortunately one fine graded such, haven't found any large perlite in Sweden), and sphagnum. Mostly bark in the mix, of course. I have clay pellets in some pots, and also packing peanuts in others - especially on plants which roots don't seem to thrive. This in plastic pots, and then I'll have to water pretty frequently, but I prefer that over root rot.

 

[abax]

Theresa, I can order some Orchiata for you and Ray will ship it. He has
40litre bags in several sizes. Check out FirstRayOrchids and find which
size you prefer and let me know. You shouldn't have to use inappropriate
bark when I can get something much better to you.

 

[naoki]

Interesting (but sorry for your problems), do you know what kind of "treatment" they received?

 

[The Mutant]

Theresa, I can order some Orchiata for you and Ray will ship it. He has
40litre bags in several sizes. Check out FirstRayOrchids and find which
size you prefer and let me know. You shouldn't have to use inappropriate
bark when I can get something much better to you.

That's awfully nice of you and I'll take you up on your offer as soon as I can afford it (maybe this Summer).

Interesting (but sorry for your problems), do you know what kind of "treatment" they received?

Unfortunately, no I don't. It was something which made the bark more resistant against fungus and bacteria, if I remember correctly. I've long since tossed the bag it came in, so I can't check I'm afraid.

 

[andre]

Does anyone know where to get Orchiata bark here is BC?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[NYEric]

As in Canada? No.