Put a marquee up in the garden @Steve the Gardening Vet ... we’ll come and party for you and you can watch from the seclusion of your beautiful kitchen 🤣
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Put a marquee up in the garden @Steve the Gardening Vet ... we’ll come and party for you and you can watch from the seclusion of your beautiful kitchen 🤣
hey steve, microwaving/oven should do the trick like you say.
I have been using the homebase orchid bark with added seramis but it was too compact for my phalaenopsis so I added lots of perlite and now have a decent airy mix that was relatively cheap and doesn't stay too soggy.
Dendrobiums with finer roots can handle coco fiber and spagnum moss but plants with thicker velamen layers on their roots like phals like a bit of a more free flowing medium.
i buy mine from the local orchid society, either medium or course depending on the type of orchid needing repotting. i don't do it very often unless the bark has obviously broken down or the plant is trying to escape from the pot - but then i'm lazy. some growers grow in 'rockwool' as it's inert and doesn't give much of a home for mites etc. it also allows for more accurate feeding but that's a matter of preference.
I repotted my one remainig orchid with added chipped bark from a pile we ordered for mulch in the garden [...] If it hasn't produced a flower spike in 6 months it too will end up in the compost bin. It has been warned.
not all chipped bark is suitable so i would be careful doing that. what type of orchid is it? where are you keeping it? is it suitable for the heat level? there are so many variables as to why it hasn't flowered. i bought a cymbidium, really cheaply, at a local garden centre many years ago. it had belonged to the owner and which hadn't flowered in the four years she'd had it. we moved to a place, shortly after, that had an unheated porch, the temperature dropped to about 5°c over winter, and the next spring it produced five flower spikes. if you are new to growing orchids i do recommend joining your local society apart from advice, and possibly cheaper growing medium, you may be able to pick up cheap and interesting plants from other members.
ps, if you have mites in the bag of compost you could try sterilising it in the microwave (as long as it doesn't have polystyrene in it - and you are prepared to put up with the smell).
TBH orchids are not my choice - too plasticky for me - and this, like all the others, was a gift from a new neighbour so I'm trying to keep it going but won't mourn if it it fails.
It's probably a phalaeonopsis and is doing fine now that I have put it in a slightly larger, clear glass pot with added chipped bark from a huge pile we had delivered in bulk. It is in a shower room with windows to the east and west so has plenty of light but no direct sun.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
my phals get baked on south and west facing window sills in the living room and only get watered (our tap water is soft) when i remember them. i think they flower out of desperation. remember not to cut the spike off (once it has flowered) unless it's died right back as they usually produce another spray of flowers from a bud on the same stem.
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I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I have been using the homebase orchid bark with added seramis but it was too compact for my phalaenopsis so I added lots of perlite and now have a decent airy mix that was relatively cheap and doesn't stay too soggy.
Dendrobiums with finer roots can handle coco fiber and spagnum moss but plants with thicker velamen layers on their roots like phals like a bit of a more free flowing medium.
The biggest killer is rotting roots with phals.
some growers grow in 'rockwool' as it's inert and doesn't give much of a home for mites etc. it also allows for more accurate feeding but that's a matter of preference.
not all chipped bark is suitable so i would be careful doing that.
what type of orchid is it? where are you keeping it? is it suitable for the heat level?
there are so many variables as to why it hasn't flowered.
i bought a cymbidium, really cheaply, at a local garden centre many years ago. it had belonged to the owner and which hadn't flowered in the four years she'd had it. we moved to a place, shortly after, that had an unheated porch, the temperature dropped to about 5°c over winter, and the next spring it produced five flower spikes.
if you are new to growing orchids i do recommend joining your local society apart from advice, and possibly cheaper growing medium, you may be able to pick up cheap and interesting plants from other members.
ps, if you have mites in the bag of compost you could try sterilising it in the microwave (as long as it doesn't have polystyrene in it - and you are prepared to put up with the smell).
It's probably a phalaeonopsis and is doing fine now that I have put it in a slightly larger, clear glass pot with added chipped bark from a huge pile we had delivered in bulk. It is in a shower room with windows to the east and west so has plenty of light but no direct sun.