Coconut chunks and phals

[Schlyne]

For those of you that have used coconut chunks, how do you feel about it?

I'm thinking it might be the way to solve my problem with my phals...or I'm just going to go straight to potting my phals in S/H. Right now the only other thing I've got in coconut is my Stanophoea (which I didn't pot).

Normally if it loves water, my first instinct for my conditions is to put it in S/H, unless it's a terrestrial. Obviously, I can't put a stanophoea in S/h, as the inflorescence grow out of the bottom .

Spagh just isn't working out for me. It's crumbling after a few months and getting compacted in the wrong places and then I'm getting crown rot from a wet spot underneath and hitting the leaves, or something else

Bark is too dry for my phals in the wintertime, otherwise I'm going to be watering them every day.

[orchidlover55]

I like the coconut chunks I have five 8 inch Phals in it and about six 4 inch pots . I have thought about it also, putting all my Phals in it. It is clean, and a lot easier for me. I will have to re-pot several of mine this summer and I am going to put them in coco chunks.
Oh, I hope you do well in your surgery

[mehitabel]

I strongly recommend coco chips for phals. I've been growing orchids since 03, and phals exclusively since 07. I have somewhere over 200 of them, and use coco chips for all of them with healthy roots. Any that have only tiny roots, I do use sphag in a tiny pot.

This is my third year with the coco (I think) and I love it. I have them in all sizes from 3" to 6" air cones, and this year for the first time am trying three or four of the biggest in a larger pot than the 6" air cone.

Before switching to the chips, I used sphag in clay and in air cones. Either kind of pot I did have trouble of various kinds previously with big healthy wonderful phals losing roots over a period of 6 months or so. No matter how airy the pot, the bigger plants ended up doing well in sphag only for a small while.

With the coco chips, the big plants stay big, get huge roots systems, and bloom lavishly. I use large chips for any that are 4" and above. Occasionally I have had trouble finding large chips and found that using smaller chips in 4" or larger pots did not produce the best results for me.

I use a few threads of sphag on top of the chips to stimulate growth of new roots, and am happy with doing that as well.

I couldn't be happier with the result, and really recommend the coco chips to anyone who's having trouble finding a good medium for phals.

[sunshine]

Coco chip bark is great. Don't fogret to mix in some perlite. Perlite helps retain
moisture and keeps the bark from clumping together and makes the mixture light and airy for the roots. Can also had some hydroton a chopped sphag.

[norris]

I have been using coco husk chips for over a year now, and I am very pleased with the results I'm getting in my Phals and Catts. I mix in about 25% Dynarock, and 5% charcoal with the coco chips to make a mix.

[hera]

I've been using a coco chunk mix with charcol and sphag and perlite. I have seen the best root growth with this mix as opposed to other things that I've tried. I do put a generous layer of packing peanuts on the bottom and sometimes a thin layer of sphag on the top to keep the new roots hydrated. I water by sitting the pots in water and the new roots seem to naturally grow in the direction of the humidity in the pot.

[syndywindy]

I like the coco chip chumks, I mix a bit of charcoal and perlite into it as well as a bit of medium fir bark. I think it holds moisture really well and even now as it is starting to warm up, I am still only watering like every 7-10 days.

[R-Kid Kelly]

I hope is it okey to soak the coco husks in water overnight with a weakened orchid fertilizer before you use it to repot??

I did this with mine and a miltonia and an oncidium that was doing nothing for months after they bloomed started within a few weeks some new bulbs.. A month later ALL the bulbs have new shoots! woo hooo!!!

I think I'm going all out coco husks as i have bought several dendrobiums that were actually planted in coconut shells with the husk and the drobs are little monsters

I did mix mine with about 20% special orchid mix of charcoal, perlite, and fir bark and added some extra medium perlite..

I have read nothin but good things about the coco husks..Then I started to look for some in town. HMMM. well found Petco and PetSmart has coco husks bricks, along side New Zealand Sphagnum and Cork Bark and Mopani wood : ) all in one place!! who would think!!

[dounoharm]

make sure you wash the coco husk chips well with water at least thru 3 rinses....to get any residual salts out of the husks.....

[Ron]

For those of you that have used coconut chunks, how do you feel about it?

As many have stated above, it is a wonderful product if used properly, I use the 12 to
18mm in my 3 inch to six inch pots. I never add any other items as it works very well alone

make sure you wash the coco husk chips well with water at least thru 3 rinses....to get any residual salts out of the husks....

I totally agree, I test every batch with a TDS meter and have had readings as high as 950ppm.
This I washed 4 times to bring the salt level down to under one hundred ppm.
I have been told 250ppm of salts is toxic to Phallies roots.
Usually on the last rinse I throw in half a handful of lime to sweeten up the mix.
Each wash is soaked for about 2 days.
I love the product and many of our club members are using it
Best of luck
Ron

[rcb]

Originally Posted by R-Kid Kelly

Then I started to look for some in town. HMMM. well found Petco and PetSmart has coco husks bricks, along side New Zealand Sphagnum and Cork Bark and Mopani wood : ) all in one place!! who would think!!

R-Kid Kelly - I myself get my CHC from the pet stores, but be careful. They are not prewashed like the ones sold for orchids. I actually soak these for a while, changing the water every day, until the water runs clear. Usually takes about a week.

I've been switching all my water loving orchids over to the CHC, and they have responded very well.

[Filb]

I bought a compressed cube of coconut chips sold as mulch from my local garden center.
How does it come when you buy it in the pet store?

I'm guessing the stuff I've got isn't rinsed/processed at all. I've soaked and changed the water 3 times now, and the water is still dark brown. I also notice that it foams up a little bit when I fill it with water; could that be some of the dissolved salts coming out?

Also, how would a mix like this do with lava rock (in lieu of something like perlite) for phals? Would that be too wet?

[1joyceh]

As I have repotted my phals, I put them in the "croutons" as I call them. They are doing well. Hint: soak over night, and rinse good in the morning. I am experimenting with 2 phals, using "geolite" a new product I got a sample of, and, must say, the results are impressive so far. If I can get more pics to download (truly challenged in this area, I did get 3 pics to cooperate) I will post those "experiments"

[ArtGeekMark]

I have a seedling Brassolaeliocattleya and a Phal (formerly Doritis) that came potted in coconut husk (the doritis is in coconut husk with perilite & charcoal mix similar to bark mix just with coconut instead) & both seem really happy in it! Like I mentioned though, they already came potted in it; I've never used coconut husk or fiber yet personaly to repot something.

[PaulB]

Nice thing about the coco chips is that they take a lonnnng time to break down, unlike fir bark. Outlasts bark by at least two to one or more. Started using it in the early 90's, when a lot of orchid growers were pretty skeptical about coir, coir bark, and coir peat. I still prefer it for my Cymbidiums and use the finer chunks for Paphs, Oncidiums and Dendrobiums. Course charcoal and a bit of perlite or sphag with it makes a nice mix.