Can pine bark be used to grow orchids? My cousin picked a basketful and had it thrown away on the spot by my uncle

My cousin went up the mountain and picked a basketful of pine bark to grow orchids, and it was thrown away on the spot. My uncle said: Don't use it to harm the orchids.

The two pots of orchids my uncle grows have both reached the season for division and repotting this year, and if they are not divided soon, it will affect the orchids' growth. My uncle, who has been working at the cement plant, could not find the time to manage this kind of thing, so he never had time to divide the orchids, which made my cousin, who was at home, feel a bit anxious, so he decided to try it himself.

So, early yesterday morning, while my uncle had gone to work, my cousin felt a little bored at home and decided to go up the mountain himself to find some orchid growing medium. And my cousin had heard that pine bark from the mountains is a rare and excellent growing medium. So he decided to go into the pine forest and bring some back, and he asked me to go with him. We rode around the woods for quite a while, and in the end it was not a waste of time. We used a knife to peel a small basketful of pine bark, and also casually dug up some mountain soil to bring home.

After bringing it home, we cut the pine bark into small pieces and washed them, then added medium-grained river sand and humus soil, stirred it evenly, then repotted the orchids, divided the orchids apart, and carried out pruning and disinfection treatment. Just as we were about to pot them, my uncle came back from work. Seeing us working so enthusiastically, he came over and took a look at the growing medium. Without saying a word, he threw away the growing medium we had mixed evenly.

This made my cousin and me a little angry, and we immediately started arguing with him. My uncle roared, you two really know how to do things. Not only did you peel all the pine bark off the pine forest, but you also brought this kind of thing to try to kill the orchids. This left us a little confused. He continued, this kind of fresh pine bark contains too much oil, and it will not ferment and rot in a short time. Too much of it will also have the opposite effect.

Pine bark really is a good growing medium for caring for orchids, but it must be from pine trees that have been fallen in the pine forest for several years, and the pine bark must already be fermented and rotted. Add some black humus soil from the forest and fully rotted pine needles, and it is quite suitable as an orchid growing medium. From now on, pay attention: pine bark is divided into 3 types, one is from living pine trees, one is the pine bark from those lumber mills, and the other is pine bark from the forest that has already rotted for several years. The first two, because they are fresh bark, are not easy to use as growing medium in a hurry.

This really made us wake up a bit. In the future, when we run into things like this, we should not do them blindly. We still have to listen to the words of the old hands, otherwise not only will it be a lot of effort for no thanks, but it may also harm the orchids. Don't you agree?