Domestically produced high-quality orchid stone is now officially available

I recall that two years ago, Mr. Zhang Shanghua of Anhui published an article in the China Flower News, calling for the launch of mainland-produced orchid stone. With one remark he voiced the sentiments of many orchid enthusiasts. Yet time has slipped by, and for a long time the mainland has seenorchidlittle real progress in the development of growing media. Orchid enthusiasts still use Kiryu stone, Teiou stone, Puli orchid stone, volcanic pumice and the like imported from Japan and Taiwan, China. Last autumn, a domestic manufacturer specializing in premiumcultivationmedia developed a natural mineral inorganic nutrientorchid-growingstone - activated zeolite. As soon as I got the news, I immediately contacted the manufacturer and ordered some samples by mail. It was thenorchidrepotting season, so I chose two pots ofCymbidium ensifoliumas test subjects and used this domestically produced orchid stone forcultivation. After half a year of observation, I found thecultivationresults to be very good indeed. Summing up its characteristics, the advantages are as follows: Characteristic one: this medium has a porous structure and moderate density, is loose, and has good aeration, water retention and drainage capacity, with a reasonable water-to-air ratio. Characteristic two: the zeolite, after activation treatment, due to its own structural features and physicochemical properties, has a strong adsorption and exchange function for harmful substances in the irrigation water and released by orchid roots. This is an excellent characteristic that none of today'sorchidmedia (including all kinds of imported orchid stone) possess. Characteristic three: compared with other imported orchid stones, this medium has the excellent characteristics of high hardness, resistance to crushing and no dust, which can greatly extend its service life. Characteristic four: this medium comes in three particle sizes - coarse, medium and fine - suitable for growing all kinds of Chinese orchids and for cultivating old pseudobulbs. Characteristic five: this medium contains a large amount of nutrient elements and various mineral trace elements, and has a slow-release function; the nutrients it contains can be slowly absorbed by orchids for about 1 to 2 years. Characteristic six: this medium is clean and hygienic, green and environmentally friendly. It is sterile, odorless and free of insect eggs, can suppress the occurrence ofpests and diseases, and causes no environmental pollution. Characteristic seven: the pH value of this medium is 5.5 to 6.5, slightly acidic, extremely suitable for orchid growth. Characteristic eight: beautiful appearance, natural and harmonious. The surface color of this medium is a natural grayish green, containing no artificial pigments. When moist, the medium is dark grayish green; when dry, it is light grayish green. The color is beautiful and pleasing to the eye, something no other orchid stone can match. Using this medium to cultivate orchids, advantage one: watering is convenient and easy to master. Because of the physical properties of this medium, the watering work that everyone finds difficult becomes very simple. No matter how much you water, there will be no water accumulation in the orchid pot. If you are momentarily careless and forget to water for three or five days, the orchid stone will slowly release the water it contains for theorchid-growingplants to absorb, so the orchid seedlings will not dry out. Advantage two: because of the physicochemical properties of the medium itself, it provides an extremely good growing space for orchid roots. Therefore, orchids cultivated with this medium have clean white roots of moderate length, well developed and robust. Advantage three: after more than half a year of observation, I feel that orchids cultivated with this medium sprout more in spring. Many pseudobulbs can send out two leaf buds at the same time, and the spring buds are robust and grow vigorously. Advantage four: this medium can suppress the occurrence ofpests and diseases. After more than half a year of observation, the two pots ofCymbidium ensifoliumcultivated with this medium grew vigorously, andpests and diseasesnever occurred. Advantage five: the medium is clean and odorless. When ordinary media (including imported orchid stone) are used to cultivate orchids, after a period of time, because fertilizer cannot be fully absorbed, a large amount of salts and harmful substances accumulate in the medium; added to the large amount of harmful substances discharged during the metabolism of the orchid root system, this causes an unpleasant smell in the medium, thus polluting the environment. But when activated zeolite is used to cultivate orchids, no odor at all has been produced over half a year, protecting the environment. This all benefits from characteristic two of this medium. Advantage six: the price is low and acceptable to ordinary wage-earning orchid enthusiasts. After more than half a year of cultivation trial observation, I feel that orchids cultivated with this domestically produced activated zeolite are in no way inferior in effect to those grown with various imported orchid stones. I think that if this orchid stone is mixed with other media (such as Sichuan red immortal soil, oak bark, etc.), the effect might be even better. Of course, this point remains to be verified in the future. The launch of domestically produced orchid stone is a great blessing for the vast number of orchid enthusiasts. Let us cheer for domestically produced orchid stone and pay tribute to its developers. (Heilongjiang - Liu Jun)