0:00
When it comes to repotting, one of the best ingredients to add to your potting mix is charcoal
0:07
And in this video, I'm going to tell you why. Hi, I'm Amanda Matthews, and thank you for watching this video at Orcadaria, where you learn how to cultivate orchids and craft chariarians
0:24
So in this video, I'm going to be talking about charcoal and its uses for..
0:30
your potting media. Charcoal benefits your orchid in four areas mainly. The first one is it eliminates odor
0:40
That's why in every terrarium that you're going to make, you're going to add charcoal
0:45
It also is used in aquariums and very commonly found in other floral designs
0:53
because it holds that, absorbs that odor, and it's not going to let that odor become too strong
1:00
The second one is it breaks down the buildup of bacteria. So if you have a lot of bacteria in your pot and your overwatering constantly with either too much water or too soon of a frequency in between the waterings
1:17
that bacteria is going to build up very quickly inside the pot
1:21
Charcoal is going to keep that bacteria down to a minimum because it absorbs the nitrogen that the bacteria
1:29
the bacteria also need. Charkle also absorbs the salt. So if you have a, if you forgot to flush out
1:38
your orchid, that salt buildup is going to be very high. The residue left behind because of either
1:44
the tap water or the fertilizer or the chemicals inside what you're adding to your orchid are going
1:51
to build up. So charcoal is going to get that and it's going to break it down and it's going to absorb it
1:58
and not let that salt residue build up inside your pot. The benefit of that, it reduces root burn
2:07
When it comes to repotting one of the most And the last thing it does is it doesn degrade that much
2:20
Even though it is an organic material and it will degrade over time, it takes years and years to degrade
2:27
The finer points in this are charcoal is not the same thing as coal
2:32
So you might think I'm not going to use charcoal because it's a non-renewable material
2:37
that is just depleting of the planet. Well, that's not true. Coal is. Coal took millions of years
2:43
under pressure to form. Charcoal is man-made and could be formed in a matter of hours. It's just the wood
2:50
that's heated up to extremely high temperatures and it becomes porous. That's why it can absorb that
2:56
much. There are two kinds of charcoal. There's one that's called activated charcoal or sometimes called
3:03
activated carbon and others are just horticulture charcoal. Now, either one of these is fine
3:12
Activated carbon will absorb more than just normal charcoal that you can find and use at your
3:20
barbecue. Activated charcoal has been cleansed after it has been heated up to these high
3:26
temperatures of around 400 degrees. So even though they are porous, that smoke can get inside the
3:33
pores which will reduce the amount of absorption. But the activated charcoal or the activated carbon
3:39
will be cleansed so it will remove this smoke from the pores. So it absorbs more. If you can
3:47
get activated charcoal, do so. It will aid even more. So what exactly does charcoal do inside your
3:54
potting media? Well, remember when I said that charcoal, the salt residue is going to acidify or move
4:02
your pH to a lower pH inside that potting media? Well, charcoal is going to bring that pH back up
4:10
to around 5.5, 6.5, exactly where you want it. Another thing that charcoal is excellent for is the drainage
4:18
inside your potting media So when you water your orchid pot and the water exits quickly that what you aiming for because you want a quick rush of water but then you want it to exit absolutely the same speed that it entered the pot
4:34
So you want in your potting media materials that are going to exit quickly that pot and so it becomes
4:41
airy so the roots can get the water they need, but they also can dry out
4:45
Now charcoal is excellent for that because it will absorb some of the water, but the water
4:50
will hit the charcoal and exit the pot quickly, giving the roots what they need
4:54
The one thing that is a myth, and I've read it if it were true, but it's not
5:01
Charcoal does not improve soil fertility. That is a myth that comes way back from the Amazon forest where, because they saw the dark
5:11
soil and they thought, well, look how rich this jungle is. That's not true
5:17
The soil in the Amazon forest is extremely poor in new. because nothing actually survives there
5:23
It's a dark color called Tehra Preta because of the charcoal. Charcoal is also great because it will give those roots something to cling on to
5:33
You know that orchid roots love to hang on to that bark
5:37
So the charcoal is big enough, depending on the size that you buy
5:41
that the orchid roots can have that firmness inside the pot. The worst thing that you can have besides overwatering is an orchid
5:49
an orchid that's wobbly inside the pot. You want that orchid fixed, stable. You don't want it
5:56
moving around inside your pot. Hey, if you're having fun, hit the like button. And yes, there are
6:02
different types of quality of charcoal. Let's say you went to your local store and picked up
6:09
a bag of charcoal. You can use charcoal as the potting media, that same charcoal you use on your
6:16
barbecue. That is perfectly fine. As long as it does not have like a bacon smell to it or a extra burning ignition keep it burning
6:28
longer type thing just the pure charcoal is what you're aiming for you don't want your
6:35
orchid smelling like bacon believe me you can also get charcoal that is made from the pure wood and if you going after that one stay away from the softer woods because the softer woods
6:46
remember i said it was an organic material that will degrade even though very slow it still
6:51
degrades the softer wood like pine wood is going to degrade extremely fast so get a harder wood
7:00
to make the charcoal from one of the biggest There is one place that I do not recommend using charcoal and that is when you have an orchid pot that is pure sphagnum moss and the good quality sphagnum moss like from chili
7:17
That sphagnum moss will last up to five years in a pot and it's not this six month to two two years type sphagnum that we use
7:26
So if you're going to use the charcoal in that setup, the charcoal is going to degrade a lot quicker than the sphagnum moss will
7:34
So they're adding something that's going to be degradable and it's going to call bacteria inside that pot
7:41
So don't do that. If you're going for the pure sphagnum that is not the one that's going to be repotted every two years
7:49
but the one that's going to be repotted every five years, stay away from the charcoal
7:54
There are different sizes of charcoal. Choose the size that's appropriate for your orchid roots
8:00
For example, this one is extremely fine. Oh, shoot. I always do that
8:08
So this one is extremely fine, and I use this for tiny, tiny baby orchids and seedlings that I know I'm going to repot soon
8:19
And, of course, wash it first because you don't want all that dust
8:24
I mean, that's the one downside of charcoal. It is extremely dusty, dirty, charcoaly
8:32
That's charcoal. Before you go, I have two suggestions for you. The first is how to use sphagnum moss and the qualities of sphagnum moss
8:42
And this video down here talks about different types of potting media
8:47
and how they are going to react inside your pot. Thanks for watching and happy cultivating
