# growing media



## kiwi (Sep 14, 2013)

Hi all,
It is time to repot here in New Zealand. Has anyone tried the recipe suggested in the book by Lance Birk? (8 parts medium bark, 2 parts chopped (spahgnum) moss and 1 part sand). If so has it been successful. I am thinking of using it as he suggests that it is pretty good for most Paphs.

Cheers


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## Trithor (Sep 14, 2013)

I tried it some years ago ad I am sure that most growers have. It was successful and my current mix is based on it. As with any mix, it depends on how you water.


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## Ray (Sep 14, 2013)

... And how the mix plus the pot plus the rest of your conditions work together to suit the needs of the plant.


Ray Barkalow
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## Bjorn (Sep 14, 2013)

Its not sphagnum moss, its sheet-moss. Makes a difference particularly re ph and CEC. I use it all the time.


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## naoki (Sep 14, 2013)

I thought he use sheet moss, which is quite different from sphagnum moss.


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## emydura (Sep 14, 2013)

Yes, I'm not a real fan of sphagnum moss in a bark mix. Just gets too wet for me. It may work for you though.


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## Stone (Sep 14, 2013)

Yes I use something similar but I add some chopped oak leaves and charcoal. Sphag is ok to use if you can't find sheet moss but chop it well and screen out the fine stuff though a 5mm sieve. It works very well with most of the green species, multis and terrestrial paphs. I'm not a big fan of it for brachys but that may have to do with how I water.


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## abax (Sep 15, 2013)

I do quite well with Brachys and there is absolutely no moss of any kind in
the clay orchid pots. Stays waaaaay too wet for waaaay too long in my
greenhouse. I hadn't thought about chopped sheet moss for multis since
I only have two that are alive and look good, but show no signs of much
growth. Perhaps I should repot with moss in the mix.


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## HotHouse (Mar 20, 2016)

Is sheet moss available in Australia because I can't seem to find it? Does it go by another name?


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## Happypaphy7 (Mar 20, 2016)

I don't think any one "recipe" works the best or better than others necessarily. 
As mentioned by others, it all depends on your watering habit mostly and other conditions. 

I am with David, sphagnum moss tends to stay too wet, although I still use for certain things like phals and seedlings of epiphytes. 

For Paphs, I either mix in sheet moss ( this drains well and does not stay wet too long) or no moss, and just a mix of orchiata ( on some plants I use chc without any big difference on results other than I can watered often with chc) clay balls, large perlite. I add charcoal on occasion, mostly don't.

I even tried bonsai mix with certain parvi hybrids and they have been growing very well.

At the end, it's all about excellent drainage and moderate moisture rentention that you want.


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