What do you grow your orchids in?

[justatypn]

Hummm interesting, does it come with a magic wan All joking aside, where do you purchase this or is this something you grow. I know some on the board members grow there own. I am only good for the bagged stuff from HD.

[cb977]

Alright, lots of different answers! It's helped me make yet another decision: they're all going into clear pots but I'll start out just doing some of them in prime agra or aliflor. I don't like moss at all, I only use it on my mounts.

[ScottMcC]

here's a link where you can purchase yourself some nz sphag: click

it's non-cheap.

you could also buy chilean magic sphag which is supposedly at least as good and slightly more bargain priced:

click

EDIT: Susanne, where are you getting your clear pots from? or have you decided yet?

[cb977]

Hi Scott, found a good price on them at Lone Star Orchids. Ordered 50. They have discounts in different quantity brackets so I ordered 25 4" and 25 5"

and I just order some prime agra from our good friend, Ray

[justatypn]

Susanne: Hind-sight for me when I ordered my pots, look at them and see if they are workable for S/H. The few that I bought had drainage wholes on the bottom defeating the purpose for S/H. Just my 2 cents worth.

[cb977]

I'm not actually doing s/h, just want to try a different medium. Going to do just some of my 'chids and see if I notice a difference...good or bad Thanks for the advice anyway

[Piper]

I grow everything except my Catt alliance in long fiber NZ sphagnum moss, in clay pots. It makes for a lot of watering, but the plants go bonkers, and those in clay pots had twice the leaves and roots as those in plastic. I'm not moving everything into clay.

Here's a good mail-order source for the moss:
http://www.orchid-supplies.com/orchid_moss.html

The larger bags last for a while. Just soak the moss for an hour or more before potting. Once it dries completely out, it needs a good soak to absorb the water it can hold. Also becareful not to pack the moss too tightly. That will eliminate the air pockets you really want to have. With larger pots where the moss can weigh down on itself, I mix in perlite to help hold air pockets.

You will need to repot once a year, but I love moss because I can guage the moisture in the root mass much more accurately, and the plants love it...because! It also has natural anti-bacterial properties that fight rot.

If you're into clear pots, the air cone pots are terrific! They have a cone that reaches up into the root ball, allowing much better aeration. The Orchid Shop is a good source for these (and a forum sponsor!):
http://www.theorchidshop.ca/index.ph...d=10&Itemid=26

Hope this helps!
Julie

[Oscarman]

I have to say that New Zealand long fibre Sphagnum Moss if far superior to the Chilean variety. It last longer, holds more air and has much less organic crap that you have to clean out. Sure it is more expensive. It is suprisingly easy to obtain and here, I pay $40.00 for 1 kg - remember that is dry weight. 1 kg yields a lot of moss once soaked.

Clear pots can be sourced from Charleys Greenhouse as well as FirstRays and The Orchid Shop (Canada).

[Marco]

I have almost everything (paph multifloral/polyantha hybrids and a roth, phal hybrids and species, dend spectabile, bllra tahoma glacier and 2 catt hybrids) in primeagra. Most of them have been in s/h for a good 2 months and seem to be happy.

The only two I don't have are 2 paph phil. alba. One multigrowth I recieved in primeagra and all the roots rotted, I'm guessing it was from stress shipment. One seedling because there's no new roots growth. These two plants are in aircones in a 1 med bark/1 med charcoal/.25 sphag/.25 fine perlite and 1/8 tsp lime 1/8 tsp oystershell.

[wallyworld]

OK...this is what I use as a mix:

1 part Coconut Husk Chips
1 part Lava Rock
1 part treefern fiber
1 part charcoal
1 part sponge rock
1 part dyna-rok medium size

I have been growing cats, phals and paphs in this with good success. However, I have been experimenting using just lava-rock. So far that has been doing good also.

Wally