Orchiata size recommendations

[likespaphs]

hi
i don't know if i missed it in the other posts on Orchiata, but any suggestions on sizes for multis, sequential species, parvis, etc?
thanks

 

[likespaphs]

just found this (http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=319842#post319842) so i think i found my answer....unless other people have thoughts

am i incorrect thinking that most people are using this straight and not mixing it?

tia

 

[SlipperFan]

I can't speak for others, but I use it as part of a mix with Sponge Rock and some kind of stone or clay. I use #5 for seedlings and 5A for most larger plants.

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

I always mix it with sponge rock, lava rock, and a little charcoal and sand.

 

[cnycharles]

I mix as well; just replacing either bark or chcs with the orchiata

 

[Jim Toomey]

Eric:
Ratios?

 

[Ray]

FWIW, the plants I get in from Hawaii seem to be consistently 75% 5A, 25% a similarly-sized perlite.

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

More or less along Ray's lines....maybe closer to 30%. Certainly for brachy's I try to go more like 40% inorganic.

 

[Jim Toomey]

Thanks!

 

[SlipperFan]

Mine's about half and half, by volume, of orchiata & clay/stone with a big hand full of Sponge Rock.

 

[suss16]

Have tried 80/20 Orchiata/perlite and it seemed to work fine based on my growing conditions. Lately I have tried straight orchiata and things seem to be ok too. Give me another year to see how things progress.

 

[chrismende]

I've been using straight Orchiata, and it seems fine. The holes between the bark chunks stay open, so no air spacers are needed.

 

[swamprad]

Over the next six months I'll be repotting everything in the greenhouse into straight orchiata, except for the phals and phrags and bulbos and a few odds and ends that are in sphagnum.