What soil is best for growing orchids? The secret of potting mix is actually not complicated

Regarding potting mix for orchid growing, or what is called orchid growing medium, Haoshe Farmer has written articles and made videos about it. Today, at the platform's invitation, I will write in more detail about what kind of soil is actually most suitable for orchids.

As everyone knows, orchids have fleshy roots, which are aerial roots. The characteristic of these roots is that the soil used to grow them must be breathable and must never hold standing water. I believe many orchid growers know this, but on top of that, orchids also need fertility, and this fertility cannot be provided by chemical fertilizers alone.

Many people online sell orchid potting mix, but a large portion of them are just bluffing. They themselves do not even know what orchids actually need, yet they dare to sell so-called special orchid potting mix online. Haoshe Farmer likes nature as a teacher, and it tells me that orchids have no special soil.

The soil quality of every mountain is different, yet they can all be suitable for orchid growth. Do you still believe in special orchid potting mix now? Precisely because of this, we can find different orchids on different mountains, and this is the joy of orchid hunting. If every mountain had the same soil quality and produced the same orchids, would there still be any joy in growing orchids?

So-called special orchid potting mix refers to a medium blended to suit orchid root growth. First, pine bark, pine cones, Kanuma soil, willow bark and the like are collectively called hard growing media. Their characteristic is that they can create a breathable environment inside the pot, and they can also absorb water when there is too much and release moisture when it is dry.

The fertility orchids need should mainly come from natural sources. Because of many years of decaying fallen leaves, leaf mold from the mountains is rich in elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and iron, and it is actually beneficial to most plants. By mixing it into the hard growing media, we can give orchids a continuous supply of fertility.

Of course, when mixing your own growing medium, if you have rapeseed cake or tea seed cake, you can ferment them and mix them into the medium to use as a base fertilizer. The effect of these organic fertilizers is not something chemical fertilizers can match; not only do they last long, but they also do not harm the seedlings or roots.

So, as long as you grasp the two key points of orchid potting mix: breathability and fertility, there is no need at all to go looking for those things online. What they make is not necessarily better than yours.