Amos Nomore writes:

On 2016-02-19 01:32:13 +0000, Dan Espen said:

Boron Elgar writes:

On Thu, 18 Feb 2016 12:07:40 -0500, Dan Espen
wrote:

You never use soil with orchids, the plants don't like it and
will not get any nutrients that way. The roots need access to
air. You'll find orchid planting medium in most garden stores.

There are terrestrial orchids that grow in soil.

But probably not sold in retail stores.

Come to think of it, I've seen orchids in the Pine Barrens NJ
growing in the ground. At least they looked like orchids.

Maybe some species of lady's slipper orchid -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypripedioideae

Yep, that's it.

You can find quite a variety for sale online. They are not difficult
to grow and many like to grow in clumps. Most are expensive.

This place sells good specimens -

http://www.hillsidenursery.biz/cypri...hids/index.php

but you can even score the more common species for cheap on eBay.

I wonder, I don't remember seeing any in the wild in central NJ so I
assumed they needed the Pine Barrens climate to survive.

I'll have to look around at the local nurseries.

--
Dan Espen