I am currently using three types of coir products and have had great success with them.
Pic#1 Coir mix made from a piece of CocoGro brick, plus perlite & charcoal. (Manufactured by Americanagritech Company).
This mix will not be watered nearly as often as orchids planted in bark. (In my climate, I watered about every 10-14 days in the summer and it will be 3 weeks or more in the wintertime.
The CocoGro bricks are available online, very inexpensive, and a very good quality.
www.4hydro.com/growroom/cocogroBrick.asp
Pic#2 Ascofinetia grown in coconut fiber. (Looks like threads) This is watered every 1-2 days.
Pic#3 Phal grown in coconut chunks, a bit of perlite & charcoal.
These products are also very nice quality and available from
www.Oakhillgardens.com (about $3 a bag) This is watered about the same as other phals planted in bark. Use a skewer to check the moisture.
If you check out some of Mike's (mayres) threads, you'll find a lot of information and his preference for proportions using the coir. He's right that that "all coir is not created equal." Trust me, I've made the mistake of using some poor product and also too finely ground up - it was a disaster. The links that I've listed above sell a very good product. I would only recommend a company that I have dealt with in the past and they're both top notch companies to deal with. I'm so happy since I switched from bark to the coir products. Good luck on your quest!
