With all of these options, cost, availability, and appearance may help you narrow down your choice. To help you decide, it's good to learn about the properties of each type of material.
Brick chunks add weight and stability to heavy orchid pots. However, you will want to find smaller sized pieces since it can be so heavy. This material is somewhat water retentive, which increases the humidity for your orchids. Cobblestone also works well as an anchor in the bottom half of an orchid pot. The small, uneven rocks are heavy, which helps top-heavy orchids like dendrobiums stay upright. Cobblestone will not retain water, so you'll need help to increase the drainage properties of your orchid mix.
You can use coconut coir—the fibrous middle core surrounding the fruit—alone or as part of a custom orchid mix. The long fibers absorb moisture, but also drain quickly, so orchid roots experience moist but not soggy growing conditions. A renewable resource, coconut husk chips come in different sizes to meet your needs, whether that's as a stand-alone growing medium or a potting mix additive. The chips decompose slowly, ensuring maximum air circulation for orchid roots. Many orchid growers also use cocoa husk fiber plaques, which provide an excellent substrate for growing orchids on mounts.
Anyone with a vintage bottle of wine is familiar with the watertight qualities of cork. You can mix water-shedding cork with water-absorbing sphagnum moss or shredded bark for an ideal orchid mix. The larger cork chips offer many crevices for orchid roots to explore.
Some orchids come in a potting mix that includes rocks which look very much like Cocoa Puffs cereal. If you notice these, it's very likely that you purchased a plant grown in an expanded clay aggregate like Aliflor or Hydroton Clay Pebbles. Unlike regular rocks, these ceramic pebbles are porous, lightweight, and are neither acidic nor alkaline. You can use them alone, mix them with other growing media, or use them as a mulch on all of your orchids to give the pots a uniform appearance.
You will commonly see this inorganic growing medium used in orchids imported from Hawaii. Lava rock retains water and that, in turn, increases the humidity for your orchids. Perlite, also known as sponge rock, is actually the end result of volcanic glass exposed to high heat. Carefully loosen the roots, then remove the growing medium from the root ball. Trim any dead roots, which will be soggy or colored brown or black. Add the orchid into the pot and add potting mix, tapping the pot onto the table to distribute the soil evenly around the orchid roots.
When the orchid feels firmly in place, arrange a layer of orchid mix over the top of the roots; water well. If you do not know when it's time to repot, here are some instances:. Try a new recipe every time you repot an orchid until you find the perfect blend for your varieties. Be sure to check back next time to learn about commonly used orchid potting materials. In the meantime, check out this video to learn about water drainage for your orchid. Shipping Orders will ship in business days. Pricing and ship times adjusted due to higher volume and safety measures at this time.
Get weekly watering reminders so you'll never forget. Mostly, though, it helps anchor plants in pots so they can grow upward. There are specific pots on the market created just for orchids. They're full of holes to expose the roots to more air. However, no special pot is needed; a terra-cotta or plastic pot will work just fine for most orchids. Choose a pot that's 1 inch at the most 2 inches larger in diameter across the top than your present pot. The time to transplant orchids is just after they bloom, when new roots have appeared but haven't grown longer than a half-inch, or when the roots start to crawl out of the pot.
Before transferring your orchid, make sure to water it well to help it tolerate any stress from the move. Then follow these steps:. Once your orchid is settled in its new pot, you can keep caring for it like you normally did before. Make sure you have it in a spot that gets bright, indirect light, and water when the potting mix is just about to go dry.
Some orchids can grow for one or two years before they need repotting again, so you can sit back and enjoy its beautiful blooms for a while before needing to repeat this process. By Andrea Beck Updated April 06, Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission. Save Pin FB More.
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