Potting medium

[Matt]

I've got some pearlite and a bag of coconut mulch, and I would like to repot three plants. How do I prepare the potting medium. What ratio of coconut mulch and pearlite should I use? What's this about having to soak the mulch?

Thanks,

Matt

[mayres]

I believe the situation with the coconut mulch is that coconuts have a lot of salt because of where they grow (by the sea). I use coconut coir with my phals and have rinsed it off several times really good in a colandar and then mixed with about 20% perlite and 5% charcoal (very rough estimates) - so far they seem to love it! :-) Good luck! mike

[atcrosby]

You definitely need to rinse it, get as much salt out as possible, and rinse it again. I have seen people rinse it 5 or more times to get the salt out. Salt will be fatal if allowed to remain in that orchids are very sensitive to it.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

My mix is 3 parts small perlite to 2 parts coconut coir or Canadian peat, and I use it on just about everything. Seems the smaller the perlite, the more you need. I used fine perlite (by sifting), and the mix was not a success. You might include a soak cycle in the rinsing of the mulch/coir.