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How To Choose The Right Potting Medium for Your Orchid
12K views
Oct 3, 2024
Orchid Potting Mix: The Right and Wrong Medium With so many varieties of potting mixes, how do you know which one is the right one for your orchid? The main difference between orchids and your other household plants (in terms of potting medium) is that 70 % of all orchids (denominated epiphytes) aren’t planted in soil or dirt. Their potting mix is exclusive to them, and if you plant them in the dirt, they will soon present problems that will lead to their death. What are orchids planted in? A variety of media or orchid mix can be used, like fir bark, sphagnum moss, perlite, charcoal, lava rock, osmunda fiber, coconut fiber, redwood bark, and others. To prepare your own potting mix or choose the right store-bought one is to try to imitate the exact conditions that the orchid grows in nature. Think back a bit about orchids in their natural habitat. These exotic plants don’t grow on the ground. Their seeds nest into the bark of high trees, where they find all the right conditions to grow. These conditions are: fixation, humidity, light, temperature, air circulation, and adequate nutrients. If you want the full explanation of this video in writing, go to https://orchideria.com/orchid-potting-mix-the-right-and-wrong-medium/ If you are looking for the orchid pots mentioned in the video, please go to the comments and I mention where you can get them. On Orchideria.com, you can find more in-depth guides and all the access to our information, tutorials, guides, and much more... all for free!
View Video Transcript
0:00
As you can see, this orchid, all the blossoms have fallen off, they've done, completed their cycle
0:06
and now it's time to repot this orchid. With so many different materials on the market, it's hard to just choose one that will benefit your orchids
0:17
So in this video, I'm going to talk about the different potting mediums and how to mediums
0:23
Quick tip, media is plural, medium is singular. and I can never get that right
0:30
So I'm going to change it throughout the video. I'm not going to just ignore it
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But just so you know, media is plural. Medium is singular. So there are different kinds of potting media out there to pot your orchid in
0:45
And in this video, I'm going to show you how to choose the one that's correct for your environment
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It doesn't matter what I grow mine in. It matters what you can grow yours in because your routine is different
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conditions are different and you need to find one that works for you
1:07
Hi, I'm Amanda Matthews and thank you so much for watching this video at orchid area
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where you learn how to cultivate orchids and craft terrariums. So here's my orchid and let's get into what's the best potting media for him
1:22
The first thing you need to focus on is fixation. Those roots need to fix onto something and hold
1:28
onto something. If you plant an orchid in the pot and it's wobbly inside the pot and the roots are
1:36
hitting against each other, that orchid root is going to, because it's very sensitive, it's going to
1:43
die and shrivel up and so you're going to lose that root. So it needs to be something that provides
1:50
stability. The roots want to attach to something. They want to hold on to something. So inside your
1:56
potting media, make sure you have something that the, that is coarse enough that the roots can
2:02
attach to. That's why it's a great idea to use lava rock or river rock or even gravel. Big hunts of
2:10
charcoal also do the trick. And in this case, they would be this size and not these smaller size
2:18
So anything that is coarse that the roots can hold onto or attach to will provide fixation
2:26
inside your pot. The second thing is humidity. You want to provide a good humidity without over saturating that
2:34
pot. When you water, you want that water to flow through the pot and exit quickly. So you don't want
2:41
something that's compacted inside that pot. For example, sphagnamoss is excellent because it's so airy
2:47
and it can provide good airflow through the pot. But most people get sphagnamoss and they really compacted
2:56
Oh, this is wet. It's dripping all over. So they compact it down inside that pot
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Look how much I compacted that. Now it's like one third of the size it was. Now there is no
3:12
airflow inside this part. That's what's going to hurt your orchid. You want whatever
3:19
potting media you use to provide airflow. Remember, in nature, orchid roots will grow a
3:26
attached to trees, 70% of them. The other 30% will grow attached to rocks or they are
3:32
semi-terrestrial where they're attached to the top layers of leaf litter and moss. So the orchid roots
3:39
will be exposed to air. That's what they like. That's what they're used to. They need that
3:44
air to be really healthy Now it doesn matter if you get a wonderful potting media and pot it in a cup like this Because the air cannot get in there So you practically using an excellent potting media
4:00
but you're suffocating your orchid. What you need is a good pot. For example, this pot only has
4:11
airation at the bottom. There are some orchids that will do well if you plant this
4:16
if you pot this with enough air inside the pot so it can travel
4:20
The best pot I've found is one that has micro, well, not micro, but slots on the side
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holes on the side, and an excellent drainage on the bottom. As you can see, I will leave these links below if you want to find them
4:37
So this is a good example of a decent orchid pot. So we've talked about fixation, we've talked about humidity
4:44
The third one is light. You want a medium that is going to provide that right light access to the roots
4:53
because orchid roots also photosynthesize. That's why, for example, in this pot, those roots are probably going to be not green
5:03
but they still can be healthy. It's just not providing the most that I can give for my orchid
5:09
The best would be if I actually drilled huge holes around this pot
5:14
so that light can go through here. Since it's thriving and this is a test, so far it stays
5:23
So that's what I mean. You have to test your environment and see what works for you
5:29
Temperature. When it comes to temperature, we hardly ever think about this is a potting media
5:35
But imagine you're growing your orchids hydroponically or just in water. That glass will allow air because
5:44
there's plenty of air around the pot. It will provide light, but it will provide humidity because the
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water will evaporate and hit the walls of the glass and then fall back down. But it won't provide
5:58
the correct temperature, especially during winter. So if your orchids are inside in hydroponics in a
6:05
thin glass vase, you need to actually put them under a heating pad to keep them warm. The orchid roots do not
6:13
like to go lower than a certain degree. Also, a terracotta pot like this one or a clay pot
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it will keep that orchid cooler, a few degrees only, but it can make a difference. So if your
6:27
orchid is very sensitive to temperature change, you might want to stay away from potting. Whatever
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pot of media you use, stay away from the terracotta pot or provide a heating pad underneath it again
6:40
So make sure that your temperature is correct. You can work around these things. It's not that, oh, I've got a cold environment. I'm not going to grow orchids. Don't do that. There's always a way out, and there's always resources to find the best potting media for you
6:56
The next one is air circulation. Now, I've talked about this a little bit already, but you cannot have an orchid that is compacted in that pot. That's why we don't use potting soil or normal soil. You want a potting media that
7:13
will allow air to come in and out freely. So whatever you use, do not compact it down in that pot
7:21
Another thing we don't think about when we talk about air circulation is like orchid bark
7:27
like this right here. There are grades of orchid bark. There's fine grade and there's coarse grade orchid bark
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Now don go by brands go by what works for you But I will show you for example this potting mix It says coarse blend on the bag
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But that's what it looks like. And you have to really sift it out because there's a lot of dust
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Here's another brand and I like them more. there. The blend is a little bit coarser
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It's bigger, so it can, and it already has charcoal and pearlite in it, so it is a mixture
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It doesn't have sphagnum, but you can always add that. So if you have very, very fine roots or a small seedling orchid, it will need a finer
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grade orchid bark. If it is a bigger established orchid, like a phallinopsis or even a cat, or a cowlid
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or even a catlia that has really thick roots, you'll need thicker, larger grades of orchid bark
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Another potting media that is not so common but extremely excellent inside your orchid pot is
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styrofoam peanuts. And I'll be talking about that in a later video too
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But if you want to know it now, head over to orchidaria.com and look under potting media
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and you can see the benefits and the pros and the cons of using styrofoam peanuts
9:04
The last thing that you need to think about when you're selecting a potting media is the retention of nutrients
9:11
So if I use river rock or lava rock or even gravel, which is perfectly fine, but I have to remember that I'm going to water this
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The water is going to hit on this and exit quickly. As you can see, there are lots of air holes in here, so it's going to be very airy, which is perfect for the orchid
9:32
but the retention of water and nutrients is not that much. So if I use only this, I will need to water a little more and I will need to fertilize a little more
9:44
If I use namos, which is the total opposite, it will retain humidity for an incredible amount of time
9:51
and it will release this humidity slowly, the same with nutrients. So I will have to water less and fertilize less
10:00
Now, how do I actually put all this together and make a good potty media
10:05
Well, I can experiment with these things. I can mix and match and see what works best with my environment
10:13
The things you want to avoid are using mulch in the place of orchid bark
10:19
Mouche is made so that it will degrade quickly. It's for like one season only, and it's to protect that top grass that is coming out of winter
10:30
into the spring so that those little fine grades of grass or whatever flowers you're growing
10:35
outside will not freeze. But it's made so that in spring all that mulch will degrade and the
10:42
grass will be nice and healthy. So mulch inside your potting media will do horrors to your orchid roots
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Stay away from mold. Another thing that many people tried is hydro gel beads because even though
10:56
They are pretty. I mean, they're little, like, gel beads that expand with water
11:01
And then when they get too dry, they shrink up. And that's exactly why you cannot use them as a potting media
11:07
Because remember the fixation and the stability I talked about on their number one point
11:12
Well, that's what happens. The hydro gel beads will, when you put water in there, they will expand
11:18
And the roots will move. And when they get dry, they will shrink up and the roots will move again
11:24
So these roots are going to be expanding and moving along with the hydrojail beads which does not provide any fixation whatsoever They all have pros and cons One thing about cocoa fiber for example it is usually very salty because coconuts grow near oceans
11:45
In Brazil, at least they had these huge oceans with the coconut trees, just beautiful, beautiful scenery
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And because of the humidity that was always present, they also had a high grade of salt that came from the humid waters from the ocean
12:05
So their salt buildup will be a little higher than other media
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Another one, Leca Pebbles, do have a tendency to also absorb higher quantities of salt
12:18
and you'll see a white buildup on, especially if you use tap water
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that the salt buildup, the salt residue is going to form a crystallized
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covering on top your leka so each one has their positive sides and their negative sides you have to
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experiment with each one and see what works in your environment if this video did provide any quality for
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you or increased your knowledge in orchid care please give it a like because that helps me know what
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videos to do more of in the future or what videos to stay away from so what i need to do right now is
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to find a potting media that will work on fixation of the
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roots, on adequate airflow, on retaining humidity, on retaining nutrients, on having the right
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light, and providing a good temperature for my orchid. Now, that seems like a lot, and I know it is
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The good thing about orchid care is that we can always test out new ideas, test out new things
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and see what works, and write it down in a journal. That's why I'm working on a orchid journal
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It's like a diary or a tracker or a personal record like a planner where you can write down what orchid is potted in what, when it re-bloomed, how long it stayed in bloom
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And I'm really excited about it because I've looked for something like this on the market and I couldn't find it
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But it's still in experimentation phase. I'm still planning out what's the best layout
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What are the best items to be writing down? So if you can help me out, I would really appreciate it
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If you want a orchid journal, right in the comments below, I'm going to send them out to the first five people
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because of course, cost that do answer me. I just would like some feedback of, hey, I think this could be better
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I think this page could be inverted. I think it's too much information or not enough
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or just any idea that can really help you. you make a good tracker for the future. So the first five people who do comment, I want a tracker
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I will send it to you. I will get in touch, of course, privately to get your address
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If you are not one of the five, if you saw this video later on, you still please comment
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And I think this information could be in it. This other information could be there
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Looking forward to that. And continue watching because the next couple of videos
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I'm going to do one on Orchid Bark, one on Sparck, one on Spurs. sphagnum moss, one on coconut fiber, every kind of potting media that's out there
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So stay tuned and hit that notification bell to know when new videos are out
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The very next video is about sphagnum moss and how it works as a potting media, how much
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to use, where it comes from, and all those interesting things. And this video down here is something else
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And all, thank you for watching this video and happy culture. activating
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