Fuxin medical stone becomes a new potting medium for orchids

I began trying medical stone in 1995to grow orchids. Years of practice have shown that using medical stoneto grow orchidsis entirely feasible. Orchids grown with itorchidsare easy to keep alive, easy to root, produce many new shoots, grow vigorously, bloom relatively easily, have beautiful variegation colors, and show remarkable leaf variegation evolution. In late autumn of 2000, I used medical stone plus a small amount of leaf mold to plant 3 seedlings each of Yingqin Su andCymbidium goeringiiSong Mei. By the end of 2001, Yingqin Su had produced 2 shoots and Song Mei had produced 4 shoots, all of which grew into large seedlings with gratifying growth. Medical stone is a medicinal rock, named by ancient Chinese medical scientists because its appearance resembles a large barley rice ball. In modern times, further understanding of medical stone has been gained: it is a late-stage product of magmatic crystallization differentiation in the calc-alkaline rock series, belonging to quartz porphyry or quartz monzonite in the igneous magma category, with quartz or alkali feldspar as the main component. The structure of medical stone is relatively complex. Observed under an electron microscope, there are 2600-2800 pores per square centimeter of surface area, making it a rock with a porous special structural type. Medical stone contains nearly 60 kinds of major elements, trace elements, and ultra-trace elements. In the periodic table, of the 90 naturally occurring elements, 27 are essential for the normal growth and development of plants and animals, of which 11 are major elements (oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, aluminum, sulfur, phosphorus), and the remaining 16 are trace elements. All 27 of these elements exist in medical stone, and their content is relatively moderate. The content of harmful elements such as lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium in medical stone is much lower than in crustal igneous rocks. The content of radioactive isotopes uranium and thorium is very low. The structural characteristics and chemical composition of medical stone determine that it has adsorption, health-promoting, medical, biological activity, regulating, growth-promoting, deodorizing and freshness-preserving effects, etc. Growing orchidsThe potting medium should have the following properties: coarse structure with good water permeability and aeration; slightly acidic, pollution-free, free of latent pests, diseases, and viruses; certain water retention capacity; and containing certain major elements and trace elements. Medical stone granules (including those with diameters of 1-3 mm and 3-5 mm) basically meet the above conditions. The only shortcoming is that they are not slightly acidic, and this can be adjusted by adding a small amount of acetic acid. When using medical stone to grow orchids, the medical stone used has a diameter of 1-3 mm. Sometimes it is used alone, and sometimes fresh or fermented sawdust, peanut shell charcoal, pine needles, or broadleaf tree leaves (all decomposed) are added. Using medical stone granules alone can be used tocultivateleaf-variegated orchids. I have used it to plant the following varieties:Cymbidium sinenseJin Wu Man Tang, Huang Dao, Shuang Long, Rui Huang, Li Ming,Cymbidium ensifoliumJin Si Ma Wei,Cymbidium goeringiiHu Ban, She Pi Ban, Zhong Tou Yi, etc. With medical stone granules mixed with other potting media, I have planted the following varieties:Cymbidium sinenseDa Tun Qi Lin, Wen Shan Qi Die, Lü Yun, Guo Xiang Mu Dan, Tao Ji, Hua Guang Die, Shen Zhou Qi, etc.,Cymbidium ensifoliumRen Hua Da He, Ren Hua Kuo Ye Bai, Long Yan Shi Ba Kai,Cymbidium goeringiiLü Yun, Da Fu Gui,Cymbidium tortisepalumLan Chun Xue, Da Xue Su, Xiao Xue Su, Chun He, etc.,Cymbidium kanranShuang Xi, Yingqin Su, etc. Watering is done according to the ancient saying "better dry than wet." Theorchidsgrown not only produce new roots and new shoots, but their leaves are also glossy green and shining. As for variegation, white variegation is like snow, yellow variegation is like gold, and green variegation is like jade. What is gratifying is that many shoots are produced and the seedlings grow strong. If fertilizers such as Lan Jun Wang and Xi Shuo are additionally applied, following the principles of "better less than more" and "apply dilute fertilizer frequently," the results can be even better with half the effort. In addition, when other potting media are used tocultivateorchids, one can also water with water treated with medical stone or spray the orchid plants with this water. Because medical stone dissolves and releases its contents remarkably well, the aqueous solution has all the properties of medical stone.