Scottie,

Be careful trying direct substitutes of media, as they work differently for
everyone.

For example, a lot of people swear by the H&R medium, and there is no
criticizing their plants, but under my growing conditions and watering
tendencies, it is not good at all. Any H&R stock I intend on keep rather
than selling right away, I repot, and not necessarily into PrimeAgra for S/H
culture, just out of the H&R blend.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!
..
"Scottie" wrote in message
ink.net...
I'd been curious about this, too. My husband, who wants to try every new
thing around, ordered the smallest amount available last week, and since
he
wasn't making any move toward using it, I put some seedlings that needed
to
go up a pot size in it Sunday.

The mix is part rock (diatomite), some fiber of some kind, and what
appears
to be soil. It was moist when I opened the package. It was easy to
use --
not hard to get the medium around the roots, but I decided to use it for
plants I wasn't too emotionally attached to.

They included a DVD with our order which is mostly advertising, but also a
clip of the distributor speaking to a southern California Orchid Society.
He mentioned that the Hawaiian growers all liked diatomite and were using
it
(but he didn't claim they were using his mix). At any rate, at our
meeting
Monday night, our raffle plants were from H&H, and they were in diatomite
and were all beautiful plants. They were also either catt crosses of some
kind or dendrobiums. And, as usual, I didn't win any of them :(

My husband wanted to try it with Paphs or Phrags -- don't remember which.
I
think I'll wait and see how my seedlings do -- it's only been a week.
I'll
post any results, good or bad, if you're interested.

IMHO, it will have to be awfully good to out grow the media I got from Ray
for s-h. I've had very good luck with that.

Scottie
Texas Gulf Coast


"francis marion" wrote in message
news:61Nmd.418235$D%.212191@attbi_s51...
Anyone here heard of, it or used it?

Their web page http://www.aussie-gold.com/ sure makes it sound like the
greatest thing to happen to orchids since sliced bread.

Any opinions?

Thanks,
Francis Marion