How to Choose Orchid Growing Media When Orchid Fungi Cover the Orchid Roots
When Orchid Fungi Cover the Orchid Roots &nbsp A Brief Discussion of Orchid Growing Media
http://www.dfac.cc/showtopic-20-311866-0-0-1.htm
When I first started growing orchids, I often heard: to grow orchids, first grow the roots. How to grow good roots has always been the goal I pursue. So I often used different growing media to test the results. It can be said that I have bought or used every growing medium sold online, and the results were all different. To this day I have only dimly glimpsed that, in fact, the best growing medium for orchids is ventilation!
Wild orchids grow in secluded valleys and on the wings of high mountains, where winds blow without cease through all four seasons. If home-grown orchids use humus-type growing media: (peat, tree bark, rice husks, etc.), such media most closely resemble the wild conditions of orchids, with ample fertility and nutrients, warm and moist, holding water and easily strengthening roots and seedlings. The shortcoming is that when such media produce humus, their permeability is poor, and they need external airflow to let the orchid roots breathe, so if you choose this type of medium you must place it in an extremely well-ventilated spot, otherwise the roots easily rot and mold; if you use granular-type growing media: (Kanuma soil, orchid stone, volcanic stone, etc.), such media mostly require external fertilizer to supply nutrients. Their advantage is extremely good air permeability and difficulty in retaining water. If someone grows orchids with this type of medium and places them in an extremely well-ventilated spot and does not water in time, the orchids will mostly become dehydrated and frail, unable to withstand the slightest wind, and the person choosing it must have quite a high grasp of moisture levels.
My growing conditions here are ordinary, mostly windowsill growing. After paying tuition many times, I mostly choose a growing medium combining the two: for the hard granular part I mostly use volcanic stone, which contains many trace elements and inorganic salts; for the humus part I use peat, and now I have also added decomposed rice husks and peanut shells. For the few pots grown on a windowsill with good ventilation and ample sunlight, I put in less granular medium and more humus medium, and the opposite in the reverse case. This also grows abundant roots and lush leaves.
The above is just my humble personal opinion, and I welcome everyone's discussion. If anyone throws bricks, as long as what they say makes sense, I welcome that too.
This is a pot of Cymbidium goeringii (spring orchid) that I repotted in March this year. For details see "Newbie Repotting Record" http://www.dfac.cc/showtopic-20-305491-0-0-1.htm At that time it and about ten other pots were all given newly mixed orchid growing medium. Today is exactly 3 months, and in order to verify the effect I decided to take a look and see how it turned out. The small buds at that time have already become large buds, and in addition many new small buds have appeared. Please everyone take a look together at when orchid fungi climb onto the orchid roots:
A reminder for newbies - growing orchids is very easy - do not believe too much in the effects of growing media http://www.dfac.cc/showtopic-17-312110-0-0-1.htm
Personal experience, meant to give new orchid friends a little reference:
There are a great many posts online about the effects of various soils and growing media
New orchid friends may feel overwhelmed and find it hard to distinguish
Seeing others grow them so well, they often sigh: why are mine so poor?
So they blame it all on the growing medium, hurriedly switching back and forth, very tiring, very frustrating
As someone who has been through it, let me talk about my own views
A great many posts are for commercial purposes, praising each other, inviting you into the trap.
As for posts about how the plants are growing, if it is just showing off single plants one by one, you had best put a question mark on it
If there is no before-and-after comparison, you also have to put a question mark on it
If you want to understand the effect of a growing medium, it is best to have whole groups with periodic comparative effect photos before it is convincing.
Others grow well because they have already paid their tuition. Growing medium is certainly important, but it is not that magical
What is magical is how to figure out the habits of the plants, how to understand your own environment
How to combine your own environment with the habits of the plants and take the path that suits you best
Dry growing, wet growing, neither is better or worse than the other,
Soft media and hard media can likewise both grow orchids well,
Coarse media have the benefits of coarse media, fine media have the advantages of fine media
Base fertilizer has the strengths of base fertilizer, water-soluble fertilizer has the effects of water-soluble fertilizer
The key is whether the supporting measures are coordinated
Whether orchid nature, environment, growing medium, nutrients and management are organically combined,
mutually adapting, making up for each other's shortcomings.
Growing orchids is actually not that hard
If you like to get hands-on, then you can choose a smaller pot, coarser medium, and less nutrients
If you like to observe, then you can use a larger pot, finer medium, and a bit more nutrients
If your environment is not airy enough, make the medium coarser, otherwise finer
If your environment is very dry, you can place the orchid pots closer together, otherwise more sparsely
If the air has a lot of fine dust, make the medium coarser and often flush with plenty of water......
In the end it comes down to one point: orchid plants are living things, so if there is no need, do not disturb them too much,
let them freely enjoy that bit of heaven and earth that can never compare with their ancestral home.
A modest spur to induce others to come forward with valuable contributions
If you want to see my plants, you can look at the posts I have made over these two years