Potting Media Series 1: Understanding Light Potting Media

Potting Media Series --- Understanding Potting Media 1 --- The lightness of the material

The lightness of potting media

Repost: The lightness of potting media Orchids by nature prefer a light mix, as everyone knows, but just how light does it have to be to count as light? There is no very clear boundary. So the conservative growers use the lower limit, the moderate ones use the middle line, and the aggressive ones use the upper limit. The biggest users of the lower limit are the owners of greenhouse orchid nurseries; they like to use pure Ishi-ishi or inorganic-type potting media as the carrier, and the nutrients the orchids need are supplied through foliar feeding. This should really be called the lower-lower limit, and for orchid growers like usit is generally not practical. Yaoyuan himself considers that he uses the middle line, that is, a mix of 50 percent inorganic and 50 percent organic potting media, with the up-and-down variation controlled at around 10 percent as the principle for preparing the main potting medium. In past years he adopted the upper limit of this middle line, with organic material making up 60 percent. Through repotting this year, he believes that too much black Xian soil in the lower part of the potting medium is one of the reasons causing root blackening and preventing timely drainage of fertilizer water when there is excess fertilizer or excess water. Therefore, this year's main potting medium preparation adopts the lower limit of this middle line, letting inorganic material make up 60 percent. In past use of inorganic potting media, Yaoyuan believes there are twotypes of potting media that are best not used for mid- to high-grade orchids: the first is volcanic rock. Volcanic rock has too large a pore ratio, the water it absorbs is very hard to drain out in time, giving a feeling of being prone to waterlogging, and there is no telling just how many harmful substances are in the stone; its effect on orchid roots shows as easy blackening. The second is pond-base orchid stone. Pond-base orchid stone is hard in nature with a rough surface, very easily damaging extremely new tender roots, causing bacterial infection and root rot; moreover, once a new root tip touches pond-base stone with very large pores, that crystal head is finished. Yaoyuan believes that using potting media with 60 percent inorganic material is probably fairly suitable for plain-hearted types and certain individual orchids that dislike fertilizer and for weak small orchids, but for some neutral fertilizer-loving or highly fertilizer-loving robust orchids it should be a lean potting medium. Therefore, when potting each orchid, the proportion of organic or inorganic material can be added at any time according to the orchid's nature in order to meet the needs of individual orchids, but the reasonable grasp of this need can only be obtained through personal experience. Although when potting the potting medium ratio is adjusted according to the orchid's needs, Yaoyuan's approach is not to go all the way in one step; he likes to leave a certain margin, making the potting medium feel slightly light, and the other part of the nutrients the orchid needs at various different stages is supplied through applying slow-release fertilizer and usual topdressing. Orchids by nature prefer a light mix, as everyone knows, but just how light does it have to be to count as light? There is no very clear boundary. So the conservative growers use the lower limit, the moderate ones use the middle line, and the aggressive ones use the upper limit. The biggest users of the lower limit are the owners of greenhouse orchid nurseries; they like to use pure Ishi-ishi or inorganic-type potting media as the carrier, and the nutrients the orchids need are supplied through foliar feeding. This should really be called the lower-lower limit, and for orchid growers like usit is generally not practical. Yaoyuan himself considers that he uses the middle line, that is, a mix of 50 percent inorganic and 50 percent organic potting media, with the up-and-down variation controlled at around 10 percent as the principle for preparing the main potting medium. In past years he adopted the upper limit of this middle line, with organic material making up 60 percent. Through repotting this year, he believes that too much black Xian soil in the lower part of the potting medium is one of the reasons causing root blackening and preventing timely drainage of fertilizer water when there is excess fertilizer or excess water. Therefore, this year's main potting medium preparation adopts the lower limit of this middle line, letting inorganic material make up 60 percent. In past use of inorganic potting media, Yaoyuan believes there are twotypes of potting media that are best not used for mid- to high-grade orchids: the first is volcanic rock. Volcanic rock has too large a pore ratio, the water it absorbs is very hard to drain out in time, giving a feeling of being prone to waterlogging, and there is no telling just how many harmful substances are in the stone; its effect on orchid roots shows as easy blackening. The second is pond-base orchid stone. Pond-base orchid stone is hard in nature with a rough surface, very easily damaging extremely new tender roots, causing bacterial infection and root rot; moreover, once a new root tip touches pond-base stone with very large pores, that crystal head is finished. Yaoyuan believes that using potting media with 60 percent inorganic material is probably fairly suitable for plain-hearted types and certain individual orchids that dislike fertilizer and for weak small orchids, but for some neutral fertilizer-loving or highly fertilizer-loving robust orchids it should be a lean potting medium. Therefore, when potting each orchid, the proportion of organic or inorganic material can be added at any time according to the orchid's nature in order to meet the needs of individual orchids, but the reasonable grasp of this need can only be obtained through personal experience. Although when potting the potting medium ratio is adjusted according to the orchid's needs, Yaoyuan's approach is not to go all the way in one step; he likes to leave a certain margin, making the potting medium feel slightly light, and the other part of the nutrients the orchid needs at various different stages is supplied through applying slow-release fertilizer and usual topdressing.