I've been using clay pellets for 15 years, and lava rock for close to 30 years. I don't consider that a 'short' amount of time. And lava rock has been used in Hawaii to grow orchids commercially for generations. Inorganic media is not something 'new' to orchid growers who have been around for a while and it certainly has proved its worth in the decades it has been used. Like any other orchid media, it is best suited to certain growing conditions.

Being in a pot with the roots buried in organic material is what is unnatural.

I have been using rocks of various sizes for 4 years and got the idea from Santa Barbara Orchid Estates which has been growing that way for who knows how long.

As for fertilizer, I use a generic 20-20-20 quarter strength from a pump sprayer once a week. IMO way too much energy is spent on the "right" fertilizer.

Hi
When i went to Costa Rica I was so surpised to discover not one of the wild orchids were growing anything like I grow them lol. Most striking was the vast majority
were as high as they could get in the trees. All were growing with many other types of plants to the point of suffacation. Found only one Catt that was low enough to actually climb the tree to get a first hand look. I would definitely have repotted immediately lol Way too wet, too crowded and far too shaded. Only got to observe it for a week but the "media" was so decayed to the point of stench
and so wet you could squeeze water from it. Dripped the entire time I was there as it rained every day right at dawn. This area is listed as "dry" forest lol
Most of the others I saw were only observanble with binoculars and theb only parts of the leaves. Many tines was not sure they were Catts. If i actually saw other species I couldn't tell too much overgrowth .
Also was unable to get an estimate on how many were actually living in that area. As far as I could tell they seemed fairly healthy though none were in flower.
Got me to thinking about the fact that C.R has 1700 species of orchids in such a small area ,obviously NONE of them could be very common and none would be growing anything like I'm growing them at home.
my conclusion was that obviously they adapt which has always been what I've observed at home.
Still wonder about the unbelieveable speciation of orcids .Why doesn't the most adapted over run the whole forest?? You would think there would be far less species not more. When you think about it orchids are by far in the minority of what's growing in a particular area in the first place.
So i guess no matter how you grow them it's very un natural lol gary

Interesting info, Howard. I personally like the Schultz potting media, and the orchids seem to also.

Never gave much thought to potential long-term problems growing in semi-hydro (I use the expanded clay pellets). But of the plants that have been in it for 4-5 years now, they seem to be doing the best. Maybe it's the combo of MSU pure water (RO water) formula fert and the RO water I use? The plants don't seem to suffer from the extremes of deep soaking, then total dryout (99% of my plants get detailed attention only once a week, whether they like it or not).

Sharon

As Gary noted by observing orchids in the wild, they do not live in sterile environments. They may be epiphytes or lithophytes, but their needs are essentially the same as plants growing in soil. These orchids dont survive with only light and water and they donÂt depend on the occasional drop of bird poop as their only source of fertilizer. The micro ecosystems of their root zones include accumulated particles of organic debris, fungus, humus, and micro-organisms, all of which directly or indirectly provide elements of plant nutrition. ItÂs basically a scaled-down and modified version of a soil ecosystem.

An organic orchid medium does not duplicate this environment entirely so it does not eliminate the need for supplemental feeding, but it comes closer than an inert media because it can harbor at least some microscopic life that benefits the plant. That is, unless synthetic fertilizers are used, in which case microscopic life will suffer and the medium will be more sterile, just as occurs in soil.

The needs of orchids and many other plants can be met through artificial means. I donÂt dispute that, but I firmly believe that the more natural the approach, the better it is done for long-term health, growth, and productivity. I have had the best success with organic media, organic fertilizers, and occasional supplements of trace minerals.

There seems to be a rough rule that the closer to the equator you go, the more arid the mix.

You can grow orchids in almost anything provided you have conditions adjusted to the anything. For example, one Cymbidium enthuasist grows his in river sand which is kept moist and the plants are fed with very dilute fertilizer. Wonderful Cymbidiums, but you need to be a weightlifter to cart mature plants around.

Then there is this other guy, who got this idea that his Sarcochilus collection would grow better in mostly pebbles. They might, if he watered them nearly every day. But they were watered as per a normal mix, they survived but grew poorly.
Here is Sydney, Australia, i bet if i went north to say, Cairns, Australia that my statement in the first sentence would be true.

The orchid show season has started and most of the orchids exhibited at numerous will be potted in mixes based on treated pine bark.

Perhaps this is similar to - um - discussions about the "best" way to teach reading or the "best" food to feed your dog. People can get passionate about both. One time, a guy on a breed chat list stated flatly that people were mistreating their dogs if they didn't feed raw foods and cited credible research to back him up. He received death threats to his own dogs.

My guess is that potting media are like so many other factors in orchid culture - it depends. (Not counting light, of course. LOL) I can grow Phals with ease - some say they can't grow them at all, and others don't ever want to find out :); I can grow in straight sphag - others say everything in it dies on them; I water a lot less than many would - sometimes there are negative consequences but usually not.

And, Arthur, you've mentioned treated pine bark before. It reminds me of Girl Scout days when pine was great for fires because it had so much sap in it. The idea of using the bark for orchids goes against the grain, so to speak, but it sure seems to work for y'all.

Personally, the "natural" media of bark mixes and sphag appeal to me (pine bark aside), but it would be different if my plants in S/H had taken off instead of struggling.

Whitecat8

I'm certainly not getting excited over mixes. The search for that magic mix goes on.

Why are we using pine bark? Because there is no other cheap alternative for a large collection. I must stress the word treated. No experienced orchid grower would use raw pine bark from a plantation.

Apart from orchids grown by orchid growers. There is the Cymbidium. I wonder how many Cymbidium plants there are in gardens around this city of for million people. To some, you mention orchid and they think Cymbidium. Come spring and you need to repot your Cymbidium(s). you tootle down to the local garden centre and buy your bag of prepared Cymbidium mix which has as the basic ingredient......treated pine bark , plus sand, plus rice hulls and other secret ingredients.

"Struggling in S/H." Cannot believe that after reading all the testimonials written on this forum.

Interesting you say this Howard.

I don't worry about the pH of my tap water and I use it on all my plants in Hydroton. My tap pH is about 7.8.

The best results I've gotten in the long term is with an inorganic media. Backbulb health is better than I've seen and the plants grow and bloom. Granted, I've only been doing this for four years. Root health is also better, leading to increased flower count and longer-lasting blooms.

I have used the shultz mix for almsot everything I have repotted. A few are in sphag but just because I thought I would try it. I have noticed no downside to doing this as of yet. I was thinking would wine corks work well for some bigger plants especially if they were chopped up some?

me_171,

One the subject of wine corks-

I've tried that, and found them hard to chop up. And THEY FLOAT! Duh, I'm sure you know that, but I didn't think about that until I nicely situated a few plants with cork as false bottoms and/or potting media, and then I plunked it into a good fertilizer bath.

No longer a potted plant ;) LOL!

I even had some purchased ground up cork (I thought I'd try it), and it's maybe OK mixed in to lighten a sphag heavy mix, but once again, it floats! Any little pieces near the surface or a hole (I have many things in open stan type baskets now), it just floats away.

I only get away with cork by using the whole thing, secured under a mesh or screen as a false bottom. So I make 'nets' out of wine bottle protectors and tie that over the top of my cork bed, so presto! nothing floats away.

even lava rock alone won't hold it down.

Carolyn

Thanks I have to admit I am also a wino I actually work at a wine and cullinary center in between going to school. So I have access to a lot of cork I may use some for some my asconda that is in a backet just to give it a little something that with hold a little water around it inbetween sprayings. I was also thinking I could jimmy up a jun mount with wine corks. Then we can also get in the argument of natural or un-natural with the wine clousers.

Well I've tried inorganic, organic, and different mix ratios of both and find that in pots the inorganic mediums make for the happiest orchids. I love using small lava rock, I've got catts, dends, phals, and oncids growing like wildfire since I switched to the lava rock. heck I'm even trying a small division of a tolumnia in a small pot full of lava rock and after three months it's happy and putting out four new growths. The only organic mediums I'm still using are the tree fern slabs for mounts with a little sphag padding, and if I could find small slabs of lava rock that I could mount to I'ld at least give it a try with my tolumnias.
In my oppinion, if you have good humidity and you are willing to water at least twice a week then the inorganic mediums work well, They may not be natural to the orchids but many plants through out the world have been moved to foriegn homes and grown in unnatural situations through out the ages and have thrived for it.

What about lithophytes? Don't some wild orchids grow in/on rocks naturally?
As far as the great medium debate, I'm still on organics because with the heat, I find my orchids need a lot more water that I thik I could provide if they were in entirely inorganic media. I do use lava rocks at the bottoms of pots to add heft and drainage.

Lava rock can be quite misleading. It holds a lot of moisture, especially if you are using it s/h style. I've had phenominal results using rock. Most of my plants are in it. I use it s/h style and potted depending on the needs of the orchids. It tends to dry more uniformly than organic media. The drawback to rock is the weight, especially with larger plants.

Pumice is similar but is less water retentive. It hold roughly 1/3 of its weight in water. It is much lighter than rock. It's works well for plants requiring a distinct or rapid wet/dry cycle. The down side is that it is harder to find and more expensive than rock. When I want to run something a little wetter than pumice has to offer; I simply add a little organic medium to pumice. I've had nice results.

Clara

Actually, the bark used is fir and not pine.
The only thing that I would use it for are my Cyps/Calypso and even then not all of them really like it.
I also remember reading, somewhere, that fir bark only came into usage because of a massive overharvesting of the type of treefern used at the time.
It was cheap, available and there was a surplus of it.
If something is used for more than a generation, well..it must've always been done that way!
Gad!

Natural is relative. ;~)

I've seen natural!
Mosquitoes, rain, malaria, dengue fever, more mosquitoes, yellow fever, even more mosquitoes...
Did I mention the two-foot leaches or mosquitoes?

I use what works for me, at the time.
If it doesn't work anymore...I switch or jiggle it. I've only had to do some minor jiggling.
Sometimes, everything jiggles! ;~)
The only conditions that I have that could be considered natural, might be my Pleurothalids in the palludarium.
I did try to replicate an in-situ situation. Complete with worms, various creepy-crawlies and even some sort of tiny snails.
They just showed up one day and even after several years, they're still being watched closely! ;~)
My mounts have live moss and other things growing with the orchids.
They're benign, so far.

Although I started mounting them again, various personalized methods of s/h was the only thing that kept me in the game!!
Some are in pure pellets only, but most have some amount of sphag. (Mixed in, top coat only, whatever works...!)
Initially as a safty net because of massive evaporation, but now because they seem to like the blending of both methods.

I don't care what anyone, period, says about it.
You couldn't ever make me change my mind without something astoundingly better.
And, it had better be astounding! ;~)
I want, both, harps and a choir announcing it!
Thunder bolts, etc...

Now...where'd I put that squirrel?

Scott

It's right here; munching away. I can't tell if that is you or "Klevin" trying to do him in with your flower powered bow and arrow.

{{gwi:186939}}

"Carla" ;->>

I've been meaning to get to this post. Just a little late weighing in as usual.

First, as to "natural": I don't feel that this is a helpful term. As far as emulating nature, that of course is helpful up to a certain point. We know that orchids can be quite specific as to their light and temperature requirements. We have also learned over the centuries that in cultivation, orchid plants respond well to tweaking in certain respects. Losing sleep over using just the right fertilizer may be going a bit far, but it doesn't make sense to me to naysay the investigation of methods that make our plants bigger and better just because they don't receive these attentions in nature. I do think these pursuits are best left to more experienced growers however. Beginners absolutely should be encouraged to keep their culture straightforward lest they miss the forest for the trees.

As far as organic media, obviously success varies widely with other cultural considerations besides light. The relative heat that the light source transmits for one, consistently high or low humidity, for another, the type of pot, and the efficiency and consistency of air movement all affect the efficiency of a given potting media.

My own experiments have followed Howard's predictions. I was attracted to a dry, inorganic media because I tend to worry overmuch about watering. In mediums that combine absorbant with non-absorbant materials, I have experienced uneven drying under my warm HID lights. The one orchid I still have in aliflor - though it certainly could be doing worse, demands water at least every other day. And during growing season - I'm thinking of increasing to every day. The backbulbs are just a bit too shrunken for my liking. That said, the plant is strong, the root system seems excellent from all I can tell and the current pb is producing two new growths simultaneously. There is no perfect medium, but there may be the perfect medium for ME or for YOU. I'm still searching for mine.

John :>)