Which bark?

[orchideya]

Is pine bark considerably worse than fir bark for paphs, or they will not see the difference?

Thanks.

 

[PaphMadMan]

Pine bark and fir bark can both be good choices for the base of a potting mix for Paphs, but there are certainly other choices too. I would say the quality of the product matters more than the material it is made from, and whatever type of media you choose you have to adapt your watering, fertilizing, transplanting, etc. practices to work with it.

 

[TyroneGenade]

If you are interested in trying something different, give LECA and Ray's K-lite a try. It is working well for me so far in the dry winter air of Iowa.

 

[Chicago Chad]

I think pine bark is better. It also holds moisture longer in my opinion.

 

[papheteer]

For some reason, under my care, plants do better in rexius fir bark. I have tried plants in Orchiata, but they either don't grow at all or just grow nice roots but very slow top growth. I have also tried incorporating some orchiata in my fir bark mix, but I haven't really seen improvement over just fir bark. Hope that helps.

 

[abax]

Orchiata as a main base with added hydroton, sphag., perlite, gravel and
just about anything you choose to suit the plant is the best thing to come
along in years imo. I love it!

 

[orchideya]

Where do you get orchiata in Canada?

I finally learned how to grow paphs in bark (meaning stopped killing them due to root rot) and have been using fine fir bark from ravenvision sold in smallish ziplock bags. I mix that bark, perlite and finely chopped sphagnum moss.
Now, I found large bags (1.2 cu.ft) of pine bark at Agrogreen Canada sized 1/8-3/8 inch which seems like a better deal money-wise, but I wanted to make sure that it is still ok quality-wise.
I would like to try orchiata if I found some.

 

[papheteer]

Orchideya, I ordered it from ray and had him ship to Niagara and I picked it up there. The bark from agrogreen doesn't look like Pine at all. Looks exactly like the fir bark I use. Can you post a close-up photo of the bark you got from them?

 

[orchideya]

I didn't buy it yet, thinking about buying because I do need some perlite, so thought if I should get that bark too in the same shipping.
How do you know the difference? All bark looks visually the same to me.

 

[papheteer]

The photo on their site looks exactly like the rexius fir bark i get from clouds orchids. Best to call and ask them to be 100% sure.