Why do I like using this pine bark to grow orchids? Besides water retention and air permeability, there is another reason

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Friends who grow orchids all know that pine bark is a good growing medium for orchids, as it has the characteristics of absorbing water, retaining moisture, and being air permeable. Many orchid growers have also bought pine bark online, but why do the orchids still fail to grow well? Actually, there is another important reason you have not figured out.

Haoshe Farmer also likes to use pine bark as a growing medium, but I do not use those processed pine barks sold online. Why? First, pine bark used as a growing medium needs to be fermented, otherwise it will naturally ferment in the flower pot and generate heat, and this heat will burn the orchid roots. Most of what is sold online is purchased in bulk by processing factories, and they simply have no time for natural decomposition.

The pine bark that Haoshe Farmer chooses is peeled from pine tree stumps that were cut down more than 6 years ago. After several winters and plum rains of natural decay, the oils and resins in the pine bark have already volatilized. When used in pots to grow orchids, it will not generate heat and burn the roots.

Anyone who has gone up the mountain to look for orchids knows that orchids very much like to grow in pine forests. Why?

After many observations, Haoshe Farmer thinks that after pine bark or pine needles rot, they produce a kind of fungus beneficial to orchid growth, just as Fuling (Poria cocos) grows on pine roots, because Fuling likes the elements produced after pine bark rots, or what you might call the orchid probiotic community.

Orchid growth needs the company of fungi, of course beneficial fungi. If the pine bark has been steamed at high temperature, then all the beneficial fungal communities are destroyed, which is extremely unfavorable to orchid growth. And if the pine bark is fresh bark peeled from a tree, the unfermented pine bark will naturally ferment in the pot and produce a lot of heat. Haoshe Farmer's orchid friends have suffered this loss.

Therefore, Haoshe Farmer only chooses this kind of naturally fermented pine bark, which has two benefits:

One, it does not need to be decomposed again, and can be used after disinfection.

Two, it does not need high-temperature steaming, and will not destroy the beneficial fungal communities that pine bark naturally carries.

Orchid friends, have any of you used raw pine bark to grow orchids? You are welcome to share your own experiences and insights.

Orchid Bar, your good teacher on the road of growing orchids