I ran across some bags of lava rock used for landscaping borders at Home
Depot the other day. Can you use this for orchids? If so, does it need
any special prepping or treating?

Thanks,
Debra

Yes, it's fine. Best to rinse it well, otherwise it's very dusty.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"Debra Lewis" wrote in message
...
I ran across some bags of lava rock used for landscaping borders at Home
Depot the other day. Can you use this for orchids? If so, does it need
any special prepping or treating?

Thanks,
Debra

Thanks Kenni,
I wanted to repot some of my dens and the price is right at $2.97 for a
20lb bag!

I use the lava rock as well for some of my orchids , but to be on the safe
side I wash it , and I boil it ...to sterilize it , better safe than sorry
as Mom used to say !
Mostly I grow catts. in it, seems to work fine for me.
Good Growing
Todd
"Debra Lewis" wrote in message
...
I ran across some bags of lava rock used for landscaping borders at Home
Depot the other day. Can you use this for orchids? If so, does it need
any special prepping or treating?

Thanks,
Debra

Yes, I use it for everything from vandas to dendrobiums, ascocentrums and
aerides to sarcochilus and renanthera. I've heard that the red can cause
iron problems. But if you wash it real well, much of the red washes off (I
think they color it with red clay). I take a web flat, line it with 1/4"
hardware cloth, pour in enough rock to cover the bottom, let it soak for a
few minutes, and then dunk it up and down in a washtub-like container used
for mixing cement in by hand (Lowe's or HD). The stuff that goes through can
be re-screened using window screen for rock to use with seedlings. Likewise,
larger hardware cloth can give you a different size screening. None of this
takes very long to give you a good supply of. rock to use for your plants. A
bag takes me 20-30 min to wash and sort depending on what else I'm doing at
the time.

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
Yes, it's fine. Best to rinse it well, otherwise it's very dusty.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"Debra Lewis" wrote in message
...
I ran across some bags of lava rock used for landscaping borders at Home
Depot the other day. Can you use this for orchids? If so, does it need
any special prepping or treating?

Thanks,
Debra

We haven't found it necessary to be picky about color, and when we get the
red, it stays red for years.

Fortunately, we also haven't found it necessary to sterilize the stuff --
otherwise, the price of orchids would have to go up G!

What I would like to come up with is a fast, easy way to sift it for size
....

But lava rock does have benefits other than low cost -- we find we can pot a
little larger, giving ourselves an extra year between repottings, and when
we do repot we can just "pot on" rather than removing all the old media as
we have to do with bark or moss, all of which leads to less repotting
time/labor and less "transplant shock."

The one potential downside that I know of is the potential for salt
build-up. This shouldn't happen if your water is decent, you're not going
crazy with fertilizer, and you are drenching thoroughly at each watering.
If it does, you will notice a white crust on the top rocks in the pots --
this is a danger sign.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"Sekanek" wrote in message
m...
I use the lava rock as well for some of my orchids , but to be on the safe
side I wash it , and I boil it ...to sterilize it , better safe than sorry
as Mom used to say !
Mostly I grow catts. in it, seems to work fine for me.
Good Growing
Todd
"Debra Lewis" wrote in message
...
I ran across some bags of lava rock used for landscaping borders at Home
Depot the other day. Can you use this for orchids? If so, does it need
any special prepping or treating?

Thanks,
Debra

Kenni, regarding the sifting of rock, I made two frames, which fit over my
wheel barrow. The one frame has 1/2" galvanized mesh wire & the other about
1/4". I put the one on top of the other & voilla!
You just shake the top frame over the other, kinda like panning for gold.
The grit & fine stuff goes all the way through & you have two different
sizes of rock.
Cheers Wendy
"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
.. .
We haven't found it necessary to be picky about color, and when we get the
red, it stays red for years.

Fortunately, we also haven't found it necessary to sterilize the stuff --
otherwise, the price of orchids would have to go up G!

What I would like to come up with is a fast, easy way to sift it for size
...

But lava rock does have benefits other than low cost -- we find we can pot
a
little larger, giving ourselves an extra year between repottings, and when
we do repot we can just "pot on" rather than removing all the old media as
we have to do with bark or moss, all of which leads to less repotting
time/labor and less "transplant shock."

The one potential downside that I know of is the potential for salt
build-up. This shouldn't happen if your water is decent, you're not going
crazy with fertilizer, and you are drenching thoroughly at each watering.
If it does, you will notice a white crust on the top rocks in the pots --
this is a danger sign.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"Sekanek" wrote in message
m...
I use the lava rock as well for some of my orchids , but to be on the
safe
side I wash it , and I boil it ...to sterilize it , better safe than
sorry
as Mom used to say !
Mostly I grow catts. in it, seems to work fine for me.
Good Growing
Todd
"Debra Lewis" wrote in message
...
I ran across some bags of lava rock used for landscaping borders at
Home
Depot the other day. Can you use this for orchids? If so, does it
need
any special prepping or treating?

Thanks,
Debra