growing media

[kiwi]

Hi all,
It is time to repot here in New Zealand. Has anyone tried the recipe suggested in the book by Lance Birk? (8 parts medium bark, 2 parts chopped (spahgnum) moss and 1 part sand). If so has it been successful. I am thinking of using it as he suggests that it is pretty good for most Paphs.

Cheers

 

[Trithor]

I tried it some years ago ad I am sure that most growers have. It was successful and my current mix is based on it. As with any mix, it depends on how you water.

 

[Ray]

... And how the mix plus the pot plus the rest of your conditions work together to suit the needs of the plant.


Ray Barkalow
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[Bjorn]

Its not sphagnum moss, its sheet-moss. Makes a difference particularly re ph and CEC. I use it all the time.

 

[naoki]

I thought he use sheet moss, which is quite different from sphagnum moss.

 

[emydura]

Yes, I'm not a real fan of sphagnum moss in a bark mix. Just gets too wet for me. It may work for you though.

 

[Stone]

Yes I use something similar but I add some chopped oak leaves and charcoal. Sphag is ok to use if you can't find sheet moss but chop it well and screen out the fine stuff though a 5mm sieve. It works very well with most of the green species, multis and terrestrial paphs. I'm not a big fan of it for brachys but that may have to do with how I water.

 

[abax]

I do quite well with Brachys and there is absolutely no moss of any kind in
the clay orchid pots. Stays waaaaay too wet for waaaay too long in my
greenhouse. I hadn't thought about chopped sheet moss for multis since
I only have two that are alive and look good, but show no signs of much
growth. Perhaps I should repot with moss in the mix.

 

[HotHouse]

Is sheet moss available in Australia because I can't seem to find it? Does it go by another name?

 

[Happypaphy7]

I don't think any one "recipe" works the best or better than others necessarily.
As mentioned by others, it all depends on your watering habit mostly and other conditions.

I am with David, sphagnum moss tends to stay too wet, although I still use for certain things like phals and seedlings of epiphytes.

For Paphs, I either mix in sheet moss ( this drains well and does not stay wet too long) or no moss, and just a mix of orchiata ( on some plants I use chc without any big difference on results other than I can watered often with chc) clay balls, large perlite. I add charcoal on occasion, mostly don't.

I even tried bonsai mix with certain parvi hybrids and they have been growing very well.

At the end, it's all about excellent drainage and moderate moisture rentention that you want.