Has anyone ever tried River Rock ?

[orchidlover55]

My daughter has three Phal's and one day I was at her house and something happen we had to repot her Phal , she didn't have any bark and I didn't want to leave until I helped her , so I seen she had some river rock and put the Phal in it , one year later it's still doing great . Well , taking a gaint step and out of curiosity I have repotted two of my Phal's in river rock and the roots are already growing has anyone else ever put their Phal in river rock? And is there any advice for me or something I need to know about?
Thanks

[syndywindy]

I've never used river rock but I do use lava rock for many of my orchids. I would think river rock would be too smooth where as lava rock is a bit more porous where moisture could be held a bit and roots can grab onto. But if it's working for your daughter then that's all that matters.

[orchidlover55]

Hi Synda , where do you purchase the lava rock , is it the same as in Home Depot? I live in a small town and there isn't too many places here but we do have a Home Depot and Lowes , I seenbig bags of it there but they were big lava rocks

[otis 226]

That's exactly what I use from time to time. The red lava rock from Lowes/Home Depot. I just use my small sledge hammer on it and it becomes sm or medium lava rock!
Cheeers,
Tony

always wear eye protection, as the say on this ol' house!

[syndywindy]

Hey Debra! Yes, Home Depot is where I get my lava rock. It has large pieces as well as smaller pieces or as Otis mentioned, you can take a sledge hammer to the larger ones. Just be sure to rinse the stuff really well first. A large bag will maybe cost you no more than $5 and you can pot a whole lot of plants with that bag!

[orchidlover55]

Thanks Otis and Synda that sounds great I am going tomorrow and pick up a bag I wanted to put some Phal's in the lava rock but I wonder if I can put cattleya's or dens in the lava rock?

[Daethen]

Catta should love it. I am going to try it with my catts this spring.

[switchblade]

i use river rock on my dens, vandas and catts they do very well in it. Never done so on phals since I only have 1 and i am kind of new with phals. My phal has spiked though.

[orchidlover55]

Thanks Jonada and Switchblade that is great news this has got me so excited, I want to go out and start repotting . It just seems like to me river rock and lava rock will be so much easier to take care of . I was thinking about putting my orchids in good vented pots when I repot them with the rock. I'm going to use the lava and the river rock mixed.. I have 12 cattleya's , about 20 phals and 5 dens that need repotting right now. I have 4 Cymbidiums but I don't know if they would like it or not . I haven't been keeping Cymbidiums long and I didn't get off to a good start I bought 7 and 3 died I'm still hoping I can be successful with the other 4 , I still look at them 10 times a day hoping they will live .

[syndywindy]

All my catts are in lava rock and are doing great! If there is a downside it would be having to water a bit more often. And in winter when they are indoors it can be a pain, but I love how my plants have responded.

[orchidlover55]

Synda that is great because my Cattleya's get too much moisture and the haven't done so well , so I can't wait to see the outcome of Lava rock

[orchids4me]

I use lava rock also with some of my orchids but I'm trying out pumice on my phals (have a few in it) and so far they are doing well in that also.

[orchidlover55]

Emmaye , I repotted one of my brassavola's in river rock and lava rock mixtures I can't wait to see the results Congrats on your Phal's