Orchiata

[Stone]

I just recieved 7 bags of Orchiata. I must say that on first sight I'm not overly impressed. It doesn't look much different from the radiata bark I've been using for years. But it does have a resinous smell (meaning its not aged very much) I don't know if this is a good or bad thing? I guess it should last longer if its not composted. Anyone see any root problems using it straight from the bag?

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

I have found Orchiata to be the best bark I have used in decades. It's consistent, does not break down quickly, and paphs usually show good root growth fairly quickly (but that may also be due to K-lite). Even though people say to use it straight, by itself, I still add spongerock, lava rock, and a little charcoal. It has calcium, but I still add some crushed coral for brachy's and parvi's. If anything, it seems to be the best medium I have found for brachy's. I always found brachy's to hate repotting...but they repot very well with Orchiata.

 

[abax]

I use it straight from the bag for small plants and add charcoal and maybe
some hydroton for larger plants in clay orchid pots. I'm with Eric on this...
best product I've found in years. It works particularly well with K-Lite.

 

[Trithor]

I wish we could get Orchiata here. The bark we get is used for landscaping (mulch) and is available as huge chunks which makes it unusable. As a by-product they generate smaller grades, but more often than not they are more flakes than chunks and so compact in the pots, again not a desirable situation.

 

[JeanLux]

I use it straight from the bag since 6 months now, and esp. my catts and co like it a lot !!!! Ordered this time also one bag of super, and this is really suited to use as the outer layer in baskets!! Jean

 

[limuhead]

I have been using it for about 6-8 years. While it is still the best bark on the market it is not as consistent as it was before. Recently I have been mixing it 1 part CHC, one part #5 Orchiata and one part #4 perlite. I have found this mix to be really good for my paphs, phrags, miltoniopsis, and anything from seedlings out of flask and compots; pretty much all genera. My cattleya go from this mix(overgrown in 2") into net pots with HUGE bark. Essentially 3 chunks fill up a 4 inch net pot. I can post some pics if anyone is interested; pretty much like a mount, but retains more moisture and won't rot when it rains for weeks at a time over here...

 

[goldenrose]

I repotted a lot of different orchids, mostly paphs, last fall, all doing well & have order more. I mixed with charcoal, perlite, lava rock.

 

[Ozpaph]

I have used it for a year and its great.
I used it straight from the bag.
Roots, everything very good.

 

[Ozpaph]

I have been using it for about 6-8 years. While it is still the best bark on the market it is not as consistent as it was before. Recently I have been mixing it 1 part CHC, one part #5 Orchiata and one part #4 perlite. I have found this mix to be really good for my paphs, phrags, miltoniopsis, and anything from seedlings out of flask and compots; pretty much all genera. My cattleya go from this mix(overgrown in 2") into net pots with HUGE bark. Essentially 3 chunks fill up a 4 inch net pot. I can post some pics if anyone is interested; pretty much like a mount, but retains more moisture and won't rot when it rains for weeks at a time over here...

please show pictures.

 

[Ray]

I agree with the "not as consistent as it was" statement. Still better than anything else out there, but not as uniformly graded as it used to be.

 

[NYEric]

True Orchiata is good. i got some recently that had pieces of "I don't think so..." bark in it so I'm checking packages carefully when i get more.

 

[Cheyenne]

Orchiata is good. But, there is always a butt. I used it for probably 3 to 4 years. I have to give a word of warning. When they treat it with dolomite solution it is for a reason. Pine bark has a lower ph to begin with. So they treat it to raise it up to acceptable levels. The first year I used it everything was great because I was using water with a good amount of alkalinity. Later I switched to just rain water and had been lazy with using any lime products. I noticed roots would begin then immediately die when they got into the mix. So I checked ph and it was considerably lower than pots with regular fir bark. So I tested it right out of the bag and it was alright. Then I put some in water for a few days then drained it and filled it up again to wash of the lime and the ph was really low. I think it has to do with the way it is composted, I believe they compost it for a year or something, then treat it with lime. Sam Tsui said he will not use orchiata any more after a few years of use Because of the ph issues. Other things grew great in it. Dendrobiums, cattleya, epidendrum, phrags all did fine not paphs. Also the roots won't stick to it like they do fir bark. They more grow along the top and around the sides, not down threw it well.

 

[tomkalina]

Our experience has been similar to Cheyenne's; We also moved our Paphs and Phrags out of Orchiata back into our standard fir bark mix this spring because of poor root growth. In fact, we are months behind in releasing our compot list this year because we found that after one year in fine Orchiata mix, none of the Paph. or Phrag. compots had developed roots beyond the original flask roots.
While the long-petalled Phrag species adults seem to like it, all of the adult besseaes did not. Sparse roots circling the pot surface seemed to be the norm for besseae.

The compots noted above were repotted into fir bark mix late this spring, but it'll be months before I expect to see good root development. Sam also told me about the Orchiata pH going down after a year and recommended I add dolomite lime to bring the pH back up, but I decided not to do this because we are using K-Lite. That's not to say that under conditions different from ours, or for different genera, Orchiata doesn't work - but for us it doesn't work as well as our standard fir bark mix for the genera we grow.

 

[dodidoki]

I have no experience with this but I learned that there could be Rhizoctonia in any bark what can cause rot problems, so I desinfect any bark before using as potting media.

 

[Cheyenne]

Our experience has been similar to Cheyenne's; We also moved our Paphs and Phrags out of Orchiata back into our standard fir bark mix this spring because of poor root growth. In fact, we are months behind in releasing our compot list this year because we found that after one year in fine Orchiata mix, none of the Paph. or Phrag. compots had developed roots beyond the original flask roots.
While the long-petalled Phrag species adults seem to like it, all of the adult besseaes did not. Sparse roots circling the pot surface seemed to be the norm for besseae.

The compots noted above were repotted into fir bark mix late this spring, but it'll be months before I expect to see good root development. Sam also told me about the Orchiata pH going down after a year and recommended I add dolomite lime to bring the pH back up, but I decided not to do this because we are using K-Lite. That's not to say that under conditions different from ours, or for different genera, Orchiata doesn't work - but for us it doesn't work as well as our standard fir bark mix for the genera we grow.

Right on Tom, I have done the same thing of moving back to regular mixes. I also thought at first maybe the plants just need to be repotted again even though the bark is not broken down.so I repotted into new orchiata and after months still no roots. So once spring came and weather warmed up I started checking a few plants. The lack of roots was frustrating. So I put a few back in regular fir bark and literally after one to two weeks I had roots on all the ones I repotted. Now I still have alot of it, so I am saving it for my other genera and I am using it in the firbark as you would use charcoal to keep the mix lasting a little longer. By the way catasetinae just love it.

 

[Roth]

In short:

- The processing of Orchiata involves 'aging' the bark. Basically the bark is stored in piles that are turned for several months, until it becomes hydrophilic, volatile compounds are removed as well as some potentially toxic chemicals, as well as some organic acids. It is not a composting, that would involve using nitrogen to degrade the cellulose/lignin structure. In Orchiata, the cellulose/lignin structure is pretty much intact, hence its stability.

- Orchiata must be very easy to wet, as it is hydrophilic at the end of this aging process.

- At that stage, the complete stock is screened for debris or whatever, and to grade it.

- The lime is added just after the grading, to get a final pH that is suitable. It is not added at the aging process.

This said, again, ammonium nitrogen fertilizers give the best result, especially in Orchiata. In that case, and in my experience, the plant growth is maximal, and the roots keep growing. Using nitrate nitrogen is not so much of a good idea in Orchiata, or any media whose pH has been upped to the core by the addition of lime. At least, the growth is not optimal, in my, and others, experience.

 

[Bob in Albany N.Y.]

Tom, so when you talk about adding dolomite lime are you talking about the everyday lime that we all add to our lawns? If that is correct and you had a greenhouse couldn't you just cast the lime around and then water it in once a year?

 

[tomkalina]

Xavier - The problem is, many of us are using either MSU for R/O or K-Lite fertilizer, and they are nitrate based. If ammonia based fertilizers are required to produce optimal root growth in Orchiata, then we should go back to the old Peters 30-10-10 if we use it as potting medium.

Bob - You have to ask Sam; He made the recommendation to add lime after a year to increase pot pH. We never did it because I wasn't happy with the root growth in Orchiata and decided not to add another variable to the cultural equation.

In the final analysis, what works for you, works for you. If you're having good results with Orchiata, keep using it, but bear in mind the pH change after a years growing.

 

[papheteer]

I bought some orchiata from Ray back in May. Repotted some seedlings in it last month and so far very little root growth. Usually with fir bark there's lots of root growth a month after repotting. Ill give it another month or 2, if i see noimprovements, ill repot in Douglas fir bark.

 

[Stone]

In short:

- The processing of Orchiata involves 'aging' the bark. Basically the bark is stored in piles that are turned for several months, until it becomes hydrophilic, volatile compounds are removed as well as some potentially toxic chemicals, as well as some organic acids. It is not a composting, that would involve using nitrogen to degrade the cellulose/lignin structure. In Orchiata, the cellulose/lignin structure is pretty much intact, hence its stability.

And that is exactly why I bought some to try. All the radiata pine here is hot comosted with urea and Iron sulphate, and while it produces a good product, after a year in the pot with ''wet'' growing things like paphs, it disintergrates pretty quickly. In fact the bark from Sth Australia I got recently was so composted that it was almost half peat! It will be ok for things that are dry for most of the time like Catts and Dends but not very suitible for others.
As for the screening and cleaning quality of orchiata, its not much different. Still has wood and skin in it but not bad enough to worry about.
But if the resin I smell does not worry the roots, then it should be good.