Coconut husk and sphagnum moss

[j0ker918]

What do people think about mixing coconut husk with a bit of sphagnum moss as a potting medium for dens, paphs, or zygos? I have all of them including some phals in sphagnum moss now and they are doing ok, but I will be repotting soon and after reading around this forum, was curious about using coconut husk to see if they will really take off. I think I will leave the phals in the moss since they seem to like the moisture the most. This is a relatively new hobby of mine, and I've only used spagh in the past.

[orchids4me]

Anything wrong with it but check culture sheets for how moist or dry each need to be between watering. Out of the 3 I only see maybe a problem with the Den. What type of den do you have? Reason is may stay moist to long most dens need to dry between watering. Then you have ones that need winter rests but again this isn't all Dens. So in the forum check the AOS culture sheets. Then Paphs like to stay moist but don't like wet feet so if moss clumped at the bottom might cause it to stay to wet down there at it toes
I'm interested in what others have to say.....
Good luck!!

[squire]

i Use sphag mixed with LECA, i change the ratio depending on what the plant requires. Needs more moisture. i add more moss less leca. needs to dry out more i add more leca and less moss.

As stated it depends on what the plant requires i think....

[Bolero]

I don't see the point of mixing sphag with coconut or with bark or with LECA.

I think the coconut on it's own is just fine for what you plan to do and by using the sphag I don't think there will be any added benefit and it will mean you have to repot every year.

I personally wouldn't bother. But if you do try it let us know how you go with it.

[j0ker918]

I have a noid hybrid den which immediately grew up another stalk at the end of it's last flowering period all in spagh. The new stalk has already grown bigger in the last six months than the previous two stalks so it doesn't seem to be too picky.

I was thinking coconut husks mixed with a small ratio of sphag just to maintain some extra moisture. I'm probably not the best owner since I barely spend time at home because I am constantly at work. The ideal mix would be one with enough absorbency where I only have to water periodically (once a week or so) without so much wet density that I risking suffocating the plants after watering. If I can get away with just husk than that would be fine too.

Would layering make a difference with the coco on the bottom to prevent water accumulation and moss on top to hold in some humidity/moisture?

[-k-]

Layering can get messy and may prevent even moisture as it evaporates, I use several mixes depending on the plant. When I do mix multiple media it's a mix shredded sphag, fir bark, perlite and charcoal and just mix it all together real well. I find that I get better life out of the mix this way. I've tried sphagnum layered on top and not only does it dry quickly it locks in moisture and decreases aeration which can lead to other problems. This is not to say others have had success using this method, I personally just don't care for it. . .
If your not home much and do well with straight sphagnum you may want to stick with that as it will stay moist for longer periods of time.

[FLBob]

I'm beginning to add sponge rock to sphag in an attempt to keep the sphag from packing over the year. My hope is to extend the time between re-pots of the plants I grow in moss.
Using coconut husk chips would accomplish the same goal.

[Algyros]

This is a totally unscientific evaluation of about ten phals that have lived outside in a shady patio all summer in Texas.

Some are planted in large coco chunks. Some are planted in a mix of small coco chunks, hydroton, and small amounts of charcoal and sphagnum moss.

All of the phals are doing well, with new roots everywhere. But the ones in the mix have been doing noticeably better, that is, more and huskier roots.

Again, this is only over the course of single summer, so it may not mean much. But I will keep monitoring the plants and report back.

[jpyerry]

When I think of mixes, my thought is that there is one media which is responsible for being the primary source of water retention and other things are intended for opening the mixture up and either making it airier, less wet, etc. I consider sphagnum moss, coconut husk, and bark to be the principle water retentive portion of the mix. As such, I would imagine that doubling up and mixing sphagnum moss and coconut husk would be extremely water retentive, not that that would necessarily be a bad thing. I don't know, when it comes to these things if I use either sphagnum moss or coconut husk, I tend to use them alone. I primarily use mixtures of bark (Orchiata to be specific), perlite, cork chunks, and LECA, in various grades depending on root size. But I do use straight coconut husk on Rhynchostylis and I generally use sphagnum on my carnivorous plants and very small orchids that I am growing out until large enough to be put into bark mixtures, I also use sphagnum moss as an additive on mounts.

I am not sure that mixing the two would be a bad thing, I would just be careful on the watering (which you should always be).

Let us know your results if you do try it.

Justin

[katrina]

I've used shredded coco husk mixed w/sphag for moisture lovers and they've done beautifully. You mention that you aren't around to water very often...this would definitely help w/moisture retention. I would use it for moisture lovers...easy. However, if you have any that want to dry between waterings (cattleyas for example) and the medium stays wet for a week or more...it might be too water retentive for those particular plants.

The paphs and zygos would do well w/that mix. If your den is one that wants to dry a bit more between waterings...an easy solution would be to use more chc than sphag w/it because fresh CHC does not hold water as much as some might think...it takes repeated waterings and some age for it to really begin to hold a good deal of water.

Again though...all of this would be dependent upon how fast things dry in your grow space. You could test it w/your most moisture loving plants (zygos) and see how they do and then go from there.

[krpot]

that sounds interesting, like maybe it would help with the compaction which sphag tends to do or something. and the coco I've used dries out very quickly. I would be interested to know if this works.

[digitalgate]

just is just my experience .
I did a couple of trial with pure coconut husk , sphag moss, coconut husk with sphag moss. In the end, pure coconut husk and sphag moss fare so much better than mixing them up. The growth speed in coconut husk is comparable to sphag moss . The slowest is the mixture of coconut husk with sphag moss tie together with the plant. This is done on dendrobium and phalaenopsis . Both genre yield very similiar result. So i would not mix the two.