Westland compost alternative - and alternative use?
 

Hi everyone,
Just joined and I wondered if anyone can help me. I need to re-pot a phal, so just went to local garden centre to pick up some orchid bark but all they had was Westland Orchid compost.

My gut feeling told me the bag felt far too squidgy to contain anything that would resemble sensible potting media... but I ignored myself and believed what I read on the label "perfect for orchids". Hummm.... now I'm home and opened the bag, not so sure! Looks like root suffocation in a bag to me.

So I have two questions: Based on availability in the UK, where can I source plain medium sized bark. Which is the best, are there any comparison studies? I did use seramis previously and maybe I got unlucky with old stock, but it's terribly powdery and 'bitty' even after washing.

Second question: now I've opened the bag I'm also stuck with 10L of this Westland compost - not sure what to do with it, does anyone know if there is any practical use? Maybe it's the perfect time to try out terrestrial orchids...

Thanks!

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Basically anything called "compost" is unfit for use with most orchids, though some terrestrials may benefit from it. My understanding is that Westland also contains fertilizer, and that presents further problems. It keeps you from being in control of fertilization, and pretty much any orchid that can grow in compost wants very low amounts of fertilizer.

I'm in the US and so can't suggest a source for you, but I'm sure that there is good availability of bark.

As to what you should do with the compost, if you have a flower or vegetable garden, spread it among those plants.

Never heard of that, somewhat interesting product.

There are and have been so many orchid mixes over the years, so I wouldn't rule that out completely. For one, horse manure has been used quite successfully as a medium for various orchids. For another, there was a product called aussie gold that was diatomite chunks and what appeared to be peat for water retention but is coir fiber I think. Of course certain mixes work better for certain species/hybrids/etc.

For phals I've seen people grow them in pretty much anything (a friend tried growing one in marbles with decent success, and then there's water culture). Some people do best with sphagnum moss (you'd guess they don't water all that much) while others do best with straight bark (they probably water more-ish). So if you're up for it and you have numerous phals, I say try it out and see how it does. It's obviously a product that, against usual thought here I might add, was developed specifically for orchids and specifically in the UK, so there might be something that really works for it.

Otherwise, for the vegetable garden it should go! LOL

I use this https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00...xmL&ref=plSrch

I think back on an orchid grower in North Carolina who I once heard give a talk. He advocated potting Phals in Miracle-Gro potting soil. In support of this he showed groups of seedlings, half of which were grown in MG while half were grown in bark. To a plant, those potted in Miracle-Gro were larger and more vigorous than those in bark; certainly this was due to the amount of fertilizer in the MG product. However, the discussion then led to watering and water retention where he freely admitted that using potting soil for Phals required extreme care when watering.

A true compost could be beneficial to orchids, though it also could cause problems due to the nitrogenous nature of the stuff, as well as the overall richness. I've used true compost in vegetable gardening, when I allowed cow manure and plant material to rot together. The result was a compost which had to be applied a couple of months before planting to allow it time to mellow in the soil. Compost (and remember, I'm using the American definition of the term) is wonderful organic material and so has a ton of advantages for use with plants. That said, Westland is essentially broken down wood chips and peat, rather than what we consider, on this side of the Pond, to be "compost".

There are a lot of ways to successfully pot/mount orchids. However, that success is usually dependent upon the grower's handling of plant conditions, and water retention is a true orchid killer. Because Phals naturally grow on tree branches and with exposed, free roots I personally prefer to pot them in a way that allows as much air to the roots as possible. In fact, if I had the time for the necessary care I would mount all of my Phals on either sticks or osmunda rafts.

Ho lee crap. First rule is, sieve that stuff. Have two sieves. One a coarse mesh that leaves the 1 - 2" bark. Then have a fine sieve that lets thru the dust, soil and tiny bits of bark.

The stuff sitting in the fine sieve you use for the thin root epiphytes like dendrobiums, oncidiums etc.
The stuff sitting in the coarse filter is for the phals.

" Looks like root suffocation in a bag to me. "

Yepper, you done nailed that!

Bark is sold as mulch, so look there.

Aussie Gold killed a lot of plants.... stayed 'way too wet. This stuff sounds like it does belong in the garden. "Big box stores" in the 'States have products that sound like this that are also advertised as being for orchids... NOT. You could mix a bit into good bark for Cymbidiums maybe... but certainly not for Phals.

Not seen Westland, but I use Levingtons for Cyms which works fine. It looks like mainly bark with a bit of fibrous stuff, I'd not use it for a Phal but it might work for Oncidiums and similar, at a push.

If you only need enough for one plant, I would just collect bark from around a pine tree and break it into suitable sized pieces. Otherwise online sources or bark mulch (probably want to sieve this though). I've only got one Phal which I mounted on a seldom log I found, which seems to be doing well so far.

There are a lot non-orchid materials you could use. Try wine corks, each cut into 3 or 4 pieces. The finer grades of bark sold for landscape mulch may work (if resinous, put in a large can and soak with boiling water first). Inorganic materials (brick chips, landscaping "lava rock", Styrofoam chips, gravel, orixtures of any or all of these) will work.

Look around though. A hardware store or garden center somewhere should have orchid bark. I avoid anything called an "orchid mix" or "orchid compost" unless the bag isis clear and I can evaluate the contents.

Orchid bark used to be available pretty widely in the US in local shops. Now big box stores have forced most small garden centers out of business.

Here in metro Phoenix none of the big box stores carry bark. They do carry MiracleGro orchid bark, which is a mixture of a few big bark chunks with 80% fine sawdust. It is almost guaranteed to kill any epiphytic orchids put into it. The family-run stores don't have bark any more, either. We have to buy it when we visit Calfornia, or have it shipped.

The difficulty finding bark locally is one reason I was so eager to try semi-hydroponic growing: It relies on clay spheres for medium (LECA) and there are so many home marijuana growers here we have a decent assortment of hydroponics shops, which always have LECA in stock.