# Is Orchiata supposed to be wet and dusty?



## PaphNPhal (Jul 19, 2012)

So about 2 months ago I bought a gallon ziplock bag of Orchiata to try it out and its been sitting in my trunk since then. I remember when I bought the bag I saw a lot of moisture in the bag. Now as I potting some seedlings, I find it quite dusty. Now I know your not supposed to soak it, because it'll wash away the lime and you don't need to soak it because there supposed to be less dust. But it seems like there's the same amount of dust. Is this normal or did the company just store it wrong or something?


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## SlipperFan (Jul 19, 2012)

I always rinse mine before I use it. The dust is thick and sticky and plugged up the cracks between my greenhouse floor tiles the time I didn't rinse first.


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## abax (Jul 20, 2012)

I bought a very large bag some time ago and it is a bit dusty, but I've found that if you pot up your plant and water it in well, most of the dust just washes out easily.
Doesn't seem to be a problem and I like potting up small
Paphs. in straight Orchiata. They seem to do very well.


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## eaborne (Jul 20, 2012)

I still soak the orchiata overnight in water with kln and pro-tekt and it has been a great medium for me.


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## cnycharles (Jul 20, 2012)

i'm sure that being in a hot trunk for a while helped to remove the moisture. it won't hurt to rinse it, because every time you water your plants you are rinsing. so, if it was so unstable that you couldn't rinse it, then you couldn't ever water your plants . putting it all in a small bucket and just adding enough water to cover the media should work okay


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