"Rob Halgren" wrote in message
...
[snip] Didn't Rod Venger
try shards of glass just to show it could be done? Somebody did.

I know Fordyce did this, many years ago. Grew catts in broken safety glass.


[snip] Several years ago I co-wrote an article in the AOS
Bulletin about growing orchids in 'mud' (peat mix). That was really
popular for several years, but many of the people who were using it have
gone on to other things.

Funny how that happens, something is popular for years then people move on.
I was the same with coir, loved it initally then moved back to bark. Which
is why I was amazed that Jerry had so much success with it. In my hands it
was better than sphagnum, but hey. That's not saying much.


I'm one of the CHC afficionados, and I mix it about 2:1:1
(CHC:sponge rock:charcoal). That keeps the springiness down, but it is
still tempting to squish it in there too tight. I can't stress enough
how bad squishing is, all of my 'rootless wonders' were in pots that had
been too tightly squished. Plants don't firm up like they do if you use
good bark, or osmunda (if you could find it).

Thanks for the info. I understand someone is selling spongerock in small
cubes. It almost looks like square cigarette filters. Supposedly that would
make potting easier. The only time I've seen sponge rock before was in big
cottonlike bales. It might have been Diatomite USA or Dyna Gro. I'll have to
look on their webpages.

Reka, Google COIR and you'll probably find the OrchidSafari chat about it.

K Barrett