Bark chunk size for reporting phal and oncidium
 

Bark chunk size for reporting phal and oncidium? hubby says I need chunks the size of charcoal. I bought bags of phal mix by Better Gro which he says will be way too small for my phal and oncidium. I live in dry climate - Colorado western part.

What size charcoal does he mean? Different people grow successfully both kinds of plant in many different sizes of bark. If you tend to overwater, bigger chunks may work better for you; if you forget to water, smaller chunks may work better. No matter what you use, you will need to learn to wait until the plant is nearing dryness, and not water when it is still wet.

"Charcoal" does not really indicate a size(?)

If I were repotting for a southeastern USA climate I would use 1 to 2 cm diameter bark or bark-charcoal mix for the Phalaenopsis and a little smaller for the Oncidium. In dry western Colorado I might use the same mix but add 15-20% long fiber sphagnum to the top 2 inches in the pot.

I think she meant the size of the standard charcoal briquettes you would use in a grill?

For me, that would be way too big, but then again I prefer to pot in sphagnum with only a little bark.

I'm a big chunks kind of person, but I've got phals potted in everything from very fine bark to huge chunky bark right now and all of them are healthy. My one that's in quite fine bark is about to bloom.

It really depends. If your home is warm and everything evaporates very quickly, you probably could get away with a smaller medium, as long as you don't use too big of a pot.
One way to see if a medium will work is to fill a pot up with the medium, water it well, then, when you think it is time to water again, dump out the medium to see how well it is drying. If the top is completely dry but the middle and bottom are very wet, it is too dense.

I don't use bark. It doesn't work for me with my growing conditions. I use basket pots and LECA or red lava rock. Even my other plants need to have very fast draining mixes or the roots rot. :|
It just depends on your growing conditions what will work for you.

I do a kind of "layering" effect, with large hard objects, like lava rock that you would find at the landscaping center, and then bark, and depending on the plant, bark and a combination of stones, or long fiber spagham moss. As far as bark size, just your regular orchid mix size. Lately I am mounting though and even though you need to water daily my plants seem to like it so much more. I live in East Central New Mexico.

Yes. BBQ sized charcoal is what I meant. Sorry. Thanks Soobie. I was thinking cooking, not growing. Thanks to all of you who answered this. It is great for have so much help

For the smaller growing oncidiums, you can go as small as seedling bark (mixed with a little charcoal & Perlite of same size). For the larger plants, I would suggest 1/4"-3/8" nuggets.

For the Phal, anywhere from 1/2" to 1" nuggets would work, it depends on how much you enjoy watering.

It's basically a balancing act between air, root moisture and watering frequency.

I like open mixes that are hard to over water, big 2" and under chunks of bark for phals, and finer bark for thin rooted orchids, but then I end up doing a lot of watering.