There are a lot of successful grower that like it. And others that do not. There are many and different successful paths to growing orchids. My perception of potting medium is to customize it to the climate and the habits of the grower and consider the needs of the plant. I live in south Florida with mostly warm and humid conditions. I'm heavy handed with the hose so I have evolved to mostly lava rock. I water every day. An extra advantage is it does not rot. And I use clay pots. Plastic pots hold water longer.

There are successful growers nearby that use sphagnum and plastic pots. They must be weak handed on the hose. We would kill each others orchids.

I do use a pinch of sphagnum when I tree mount or slab mount. I place it above the roots to get a drip affect. Cork has accommodating crannies and cracks for the sphagnum.

The coconut fiber would be good at holding water I think.

This post was edited by shavedmonkey on Sat, Nov 1, 14 at 12:29

I use the coco fiber on orchids that need constant moisture but they don't want to be sopping wet, just damp. All of my orchids that have the fiber are in some type of basket.

Brooke

Would bulbophyllum like it? Brooke, which orchids do you grow in coconut fiber?

I have my two cymbidiums in it mixed with perlite. They're fine I think but those are able to grow in gardens outdoors so that's different than epiphytes. Plus I want to get paphs and different kinds.

CooperDR I may have not understood what you meant by coconut fiber when giving my response.

The coco material I was referring too is the coco fiber that is like strings. Many hanging baskets have the coco mat that holds the media and the plant in a very open basket. This mat is made of strings. I use the strings as I described above.

If you are using it for cyms and adding perlite I think you are describing the coco peat type product. I do use that for all of my terrestrial orchids. Some commercial growers use it to keep from having to water as often as they would have to with a bark mix.. It is very popular with Phal and Paph growers. It is mixed with 50% perlite, stays very open but moist.

Shavedmonkey the fiber strings I was talking about would not hold enough moisture for most Bulbos. Growing outside in FL might work for you if you watered daily. I grow my Bulbos in sphag lined net pots sitting in water but in a g/h where I control the moisture.

Three of the ones I use the string coco on are Den. victoria-regina, Den Mingle's Sapphire and Den. dicheaoides. All want to be moist but not dripping wet.

I hope this helps and I didn't confuse anyone with my original description.

Brooke

It's a pet store product but it says you can add water and organic fertilizer for plants. It's powdery not stringy. People use it for their vivariums or whatever they're called for ferns and plants but also lizards and frogs. I just added the perlite.