Orchid roots

[Mike O'C]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

I use a mixture of orchid bark and Aliflor (I don't think that's the correct spelling). It drains very well for me, and is porous enough to tolerate my slightly heavy hand with watering. I get great root growth, with them often poking their way out the bottom of the pots

I do not know what Aliflor is. Your bark, is it much bigger than thumbnail size and do you grow in clay pots or in plastic pots? When I used plain bark about 3cm in diameter and clay pots the roots penetrated into the pot and wound themselves around inside the pots. Now using bark the size of a little finger nail topped with sphagnum the plants do not develope an extensive root system and the roots tend to stay in the sphagnum.