A complete analysis of the pros and cons of soft potting media for orchids, essential reading for orchid growers

OrchidsCultivation: the pros and cons of soft potting media (repost)

The roots are very tender, watery, and break easily; the kind of root with a very long, very tender crystal tip is called a water root. This kind of root is relatively long, with a fairly uniform surface!! This kind of root is not tough; one transport, one repotting, and it is easily damaged! If you change the potting medium and do it poorly, you will get hollow roots! If the orchid you buy has beautiful roots with very long, very tender crystal tips, then once you get it home those crystal tips are bound to be damaged.. The more tender and lush, the more damage, and the slower it establishes itself... Is this kind of root bad? Wrong, it is very good, having this kind of rootorchid plant, the growth rate is fast, it grows quickly, the sprouting rate is high, and it sprouts early (because soft potting media retains heat better), but if it is newly introduced it establishes itself relatively slowly, and you must not casually change the potting medium... If you grow orchids just for your own enjoyment and want to grow them in large pots, using soft potting media is better.... Especially for growingLianbanorchids.... the only choice!

How do you grow tough roots with soft potting media?

1. Soft potting media must be mixed with hard potting media such as inorganic orchid stone (soft media rots easily and acidifies easily; mixing in hard media has a balancing effect)

2 Control water. If soft potting media is too wet, it easily produces water roots and easily causes root rot. If too dry, some areas cannot absorb water thoroughly, and hollow roots easily form. Mixing in a certain amount of hard potting media is precisely to make water control convenient in early autumn, to make water absorption even, and to make the roots tough, robust, and easy to divide and introduce!

3 When using soft potting media, it is best not to apply fertilizer again; if applied poorly it very easily causes black roots and hard roots!

I still prefer hard potting media; it is convenient to manage, and whether the water is a bit more or a bit less does not matter! In the past I used soft potting media to grow quite a few pots of plants; they sprouted early and grew fast, but once management could not keep up, problems easily arose, so now they have all gradually been changed over, or a large amount of hard potting media has been mixed in, and only a few pots of Lianban orchids are still using soft potting media! My soft potting medium is finely washed peat, plus some used fine-grained hard material; they grow fairly well, but they need more repotting! Finely washed peat is a good thing... I have never seen anyone online selling finely washed peat! Do not use that kind of peat block..

Growing orchidsKnowing a certain amount of theory is a good thing and very necessary, but theory is not for copying directly, but for combining with your own actual situation and applying flexibly! Explore slowly, summarise, and there will always be one that suits you..

Practice brings true knowledge... Other people's experience can only be borrowed and referenced; the suggestion is still to use hard potting media... convenient, and not prone to problems!

But if you also want more sprouts, earlier sprouts, and fast growth, you can slowly add an appropriate amount of soft potting media; finely washed peat is the only choice.. nothing else can compare with its heat-retention and moisture-retention effects!