New York is a big state and don't know where you are located. I'm about 15 or so miles east of Albany. I have large bags of bark if you are in driving distance. Shipping cost alot.

I would just buy Reptibark from a pet store in the largest sizes.

thankx purplelotus reptibark is good..expensive but really good quality.

Ahmed, you did not say how big you want the bark particles to be. This is an orchid forum, so I am assuming relatively big. I bought this bark at David Shannon Nursery in Brooklyn recently for my gritty mix.

$10 per 3 cu ft bag.

I used 3/8 screen to filter for gritty mix, and what was above that size, I used as a phal mix component. This is what came out.

the mix really good for orchids.green toe.
i use all the bark for the gritty mix as well.growing cactus and succulents.what is in the mix in the pic?
red lava rock,oil-dri and bark in equal ratio.all 1/16 -1/4 inch.all the materials is sifted for dust.and washed before to get rid of all fine particles.Ahmed

The mix in the photo is my own mix for Phalaenopsis made with 3 parts pine bark (>3/8ths, too big for gritty mix), 1 part coarse perlite (screened >1/8th to avoid dust) and 1 part chilean orchid sphagnum moss.

i know that is my problem.i am trying to find smaller size bark.it seems like you have to spend the money and get the repti bark.or go throu the process of breaking the bark you have to smaller pieces.done that time consuming but cheapest.thankx for sharing the knowledge

Check out the place I mentioned - that bark was very good for my gritty mix. I had very little in the >3/8th size, which was fine because I have only two orchids, so it works out.

will do. thankx for sharing

The base orchid potting mix around these parts is composted/treated radiata pine bark. It is much more expensive than pine bark mulch which may be fine but perhaps might cause a nitrogen deficit in a mix.

nitrogen deficit is easy thing to get rid of.just sprinkle some slow release fertilizer like osmocote and you will be golden.waiting on the media organic component to decompose to release nirtogen it not gonna happen in the container simply not enough time(i repot every other year)so you got to supply your plant with food.

No one I know in the orchid world uses untreated pine bark in their mixes. Maybe it is all a hoax so that Orchid Nurseries can sell you an expensive bag of treated bark.

The only way to prove or "disprove" is to run scientific trials.

Anyway, here is an article that may be of interest.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stuff about treated Pine Bark

arthurm thank you for sharing the info with us.

>> No one I know in the orchid world uses untreated pine bark in their mixes.

Why not? What's wrong with it?

"The base orchid potting mix around these parts is composted/treated radiata pine bark. It is much more expensive than pine bark mulch which may be fine but perhaps might cause a nitrogen deficit in a mix."
I cannot say what is wrong with it without running a trial, but the "no one" in the posts above are the numerous orchid growers I have met in 40 years of orchid growing.

Of course things may be different in NYC. Untreated pine bark here is Radiata Pine. Might be a different species there. Nothing much grows in a Radiata Pine plantation.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stuff about treated Pine Bark

This post was edited by arthurm on Fri, Sep 6, 13 at 3:53

arthurm..i have used untreated pine bark and fir bark, either in gritty mix or the 5-1-1 mix.i grown all different kind of things in both.
as an observation..all plants health decline once moved from peaty mixes to bark mix for a while.within a couple of month it all change.plants put on a new growth and get so lush.i guess next season one must try to make a side by side experiment....once i lay my hand on some treated pine bark.

Yeah, it may be a difference between our continents. My VERY limited orchid+bark experience is that I am nursing a pair of weakling Phals in a bark/moss/perlite mix (see http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/orchids/msg080116331106.html). New leaves are coming, which to me is big success, but too early for bloom spikes, so the jury on pine bark will be out for a while.

This post was edited by greentoe357 on Mon, Sep 16, 13 at 15:58

There is no need for a Jury, You need to know what sort of bark we are talking about. Different Continent maybe different source of bark. I am talking about treated Radiata Pine bark from Plantations....and as i said above nothing much will grow will grow in a Radiata Pine bark plantation.

There are 90+ orchid societies in the state of NSW plus untold numbers of gardeners who grow Cymbidiums as garden plants. The base ingredient in most Cymbidium mixes is treated pine bark.

Sure you can treat the raw bark and I know one guy who does but he has an enormous collection of orchids.

This mix thing is very complicated because you have to take growing conditions into account.

The best mix + poor growing conditions gives poor results.

arthurm..i think you should do a side by side experiment. it will be very educative for you esp and to all of us-if you want to share the results.
in container culture the grower is in control of all the inputs water air and nutrients.versus in the ground or raised bed ,worms and bacteria in the soil will decompose the material for the plants and plants will take up the nutrients.also as they bore their way through the soil they provide air for the plant roots.
so the media in the container culture is for anchoring the plant and a media to put your own nutrients and water.i think the most imp ingredient is airy mix.since there is no worms to do that for the plants roots.
treated or not treated pine will do the same by the plant as to provide air water and nutrients(which in this case will be fertilizers).
i think the grower should work with whatever ingredients he has around.this is how i think about choosing different kind ingredients for the growing media.what works for my light condition and watering routine and all ..may not work for any body else.we all here trying to better educate our self about the subject ya?

greentoe-i am glad that you saved these plants.they look good.only time will show a result for you hard work,when the time comes-next spring probably-it will be well worse all the trouble.growing plants is amazing experience.working around plants with issues..well even more rewarding.it is the feeling of success.
just my thoughts.

Sounds like we're discussing ground growing plants (worms), there are many, many orchids that are NOT really considered ground growing. I'm a treated bark, pre-mixed kind of guy myself, but then I can be a little lazy about some things. Making up my own mixes from scratch for my @80 orchids is one and I spend the extra $ to buy it pre-mixed instead... I'm trying to emulate growing mounted on trees by using a large chunky Orchiata (same as radiata I think) mix or mounting, ground growers get a much finer Orchiata mix to more closely emulate their normal growth enviro.

I see nothing wrong with the mix shown above other than it may seem a little fine for some larger rooted orchids.

Just my 2 cents worth into this...

Bob

Bob, I was trying to make the point that radiata (Monterey)
pine bark needs to be treated, but there may be various other barks available in the USA.
Not so in Australia where the only plantation waste that is usable is Radiata pine.
Passing on the advice that i should have some education.
Maintenance on a 1000 orchid collection and other orchid activities leave little time for experiments.

This post was edited by arthurm on Thu, Sep 12, 13 at 22:52