How to choose to the proper potting mix for orchids. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
Potting mix plays a huge role in how often you need to water orchids. Usually, orchids are potted in either moss or bark chips, which both work well but need slightly different care.
Moss acts like a sponge, soaking up water and taking a long time to dry out. Because it’ll hang on to moisture for a while, you can wait longer between watering, but moss is also less forgiving if you over-water your orchid.
Bark doesn’t hold much water and drains quickly.
Moss is a good choice because it’ll supply orchids with moisture for a longer period of time between watering.
You can also grow water-loving orchids in fine-textured bark, but it still won’t hang on to moisture as long as moss, so you’ll have to water them more frequently. You should re-pot your orchids in new bark every year or two, because it won’t drain as quickly as it decomposes. When you remove the orchid from the old bark be sure to clip off the dead roots.
On tomorrow’s program I will talk about the best way to fertilize orchids.
Listen to Cathy Isom’s This Land of Ours program here.