Decisions, decisions, your orchids need to be repotted and you may be confused as to what to use for potting material. This month I will begin a two-part article on potting material used for orchids. Yes, there are numerous types of material that you can use for potting orchids. Come into the Orchid Garden and let's get started.
Potting orchids is very different than potting ordinary houseplants. Repotting a houseplant is fairly straightforward. You simply take the plant out of its pot, place it in a new larger pot and add dirt. With orchids, however, you don't normally use potting soil. What you use for potting medium depends primarily on the type of orchid and how you are growing it -- in a pot or mounted.
I do have to STRESS that you never want to repot your entire collection into a new type of medium until you try it for a while to see how your orchids adjust to it. Just because your neighbors' orchids may do well in a medium that does not mean yours will do well also. This is because there are other factors involved such as you may water more often, or have different types of orchids. When using a new type of medium, repot only a few different types and see how they react to the new media. Remember, most orchids are in a pot for YOUR BENEFIT not THEIRS! They would be happy growing in the trees and letting their roots hang free in the wind. If you are going to confine your orchid to a pot, you should give them something that will make it happy.
Starting from the bottom of the pot, the following are some of the media types that are used to grow orchids.
STYROFOAM PEANUTS (photo) Styrofoam "peanuts" that we all see as packing material are excellent to use in the bottom of your pots. Make sure they are made out of Styrofoam and they are shaped like peanuts (not the concave type). Also, you should only use the white undyed ones. Avoid using the pink and green peanuts because they contain chemicals that are toxic to plants. I have seen some "peanuts" that are made from some product that dissolves in water and turns to a sticky substance. If you are unsure that your peanuts are Styrofoam, place a few of your peanuts in some water to see what happens to them. Styrofoam peanuts keep
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