What you use as the potting media for your orchid plants will determine how happy your plant will be and, therefore, how well it will grow and produce its magnificently flowering blooms.

And all that actually depends of the wellbeing of their root systems which is what comes in direct contact with the media you have provided it.

And never forget that your orchid plants should be potted once every 12 to 24 months and the optimal time to do it is between blooms.

So, when potting orchids you must always remember to choose a potting media that will do the following:

  • Give the roots of your orchid plants plenty of breathing room. In other words, there must be continuous sufficient circulation of air in and around the roots.
  • Provide your orchid plants with enough support to help them stay upright and to keep them in place without wobbling. Too much movement of the plant within its pot may cause the delicate roots to break, tear or become otherwise damaged and even permanently destroyed.
  • Grant the roots of your orchid plants ample amounts of water and moisture but, at the same time, will not permit oversaturation that can lead to rotting and blockage of aeration.
  • Feed your orchids with the mineral nutrients they need for thriving but not so much that it will result in poisoning them.

Now the question arises, how and where to find such perfect potting soil and my reply would inevitably be, from coconut husk chips. That is due to the fact that coconut husk chips are slower to decompose and break down much slower than, let’s say, bark. Also, they are easy to water and combine well with other ingredients that go into potting mixes.

Depending on the type of orchid plants you grow, coconut husk chips can be used as the potting media of your choice in and of themselves. They can also, however, be just as effective and beneficial when they are mixed with other media such as horticultural perlite, tree bark, New Zealand Sphagnum moss, sponge rock, charcoal, rock wool, brick chips, vermiculite, pea gravel, coir, and so on. The truth is that this is not an exact science and that there are no specific formulas or recipes that will tell you how much to use of any given media and in what proportion. I suggest that you experiment and always pay close attention to how your plants react.

Just in case you want to prepare your own coconut husk chips,
here is a video demonstrating how to husk a coconut. Learn and enjoy!

My favorite mixture of orchid potting media is first and foremost coconut husk chips and then two parts perlite to one part Sphagnum moss. But however you ultimately use them, coconut husk chips will help preserve and sustain the health of your orchid’s existing roots as well as promoting new growth which you always want to strive for because young roots simply work better in absorbing the moisture, the nutrients and the air your orchid plants need.

To acquire more information about potting media for your orchid plants or about orchid supplies, orchid resources, orchid species, orchid books, etc.; look around this Orchid Care.org site and come back to visit us frequently as we always add more stuff for your to enjoy.

Filed under: Orchid Supplies

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