I am thinking of re-potting a few of my plants into lava rock. Any thoughts
on the use of lava rock for all orchids? I am also thinking of getting a
few carnivoros plants to help keep bugs down around my orchids and other
plants. Does anyone else do this and if so how well does it work?

Shell

We use lava rock extensively. It's the main ingredient in our mix for catts
and dens. We like it because it does not break down; this often means an
extra year between repottings and when we do repot, we don't have to remove
the old medium, making for less transplant shock. The downsides are that it
can tend to build up salts faster than, say, bark and doesn't buffer pH as
well. Unless your water quality is marginal to begin with, the salt buildup
problem can be avoided by proper watering [a thorough flush each time].

We do also use some lava rock in our oncid mix, but the proportion is less
because oncids don't like to dry out as fast and we need to keep them on the
same watering schedule as the other plants, so we add more coco-chips to
hold water longer.

Good growing,

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"Shell91" wrote in message
y.com...
I am thinking of re-potting a few of my plants into lava rock. Any
thoughts
on the use of lava rock for all orchids? I am also thinking of getting a
few carnivoros plants to help keep bugs down around my orchids and other
plants. Does anyone else do this and if so how well does it work?

Shell

Lava rock works for some plants, but if you are going to put your
entire collection in it, better make sure your benches can handle the
excess weight!

Some plants do better than others in lava rock. For example, tall
dendrobiums are less prone to topple over when provided a heavy substrate.
On the other hand, I've seen some pretty pathetic paphs in lava rock. My
brother-in-law, when he was new to orchids, went to a talk with a
presenter that spoke the gospel of how lava rock was the best stuff since
foamy toilet seats, and immediately plunged his entire collection into
crisp, fresh lava rock. About a third expired immediately, and another
third departed in a more belated fashion. He still denies the entire
event ever occurred to this day.

Learning experiences. We all have 'em.

The e-mail address in the header doesn't work. Sorry.


-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ

I had some catasetums growing in a sort of round, grey colored, bead-
like lava rock. Plants do ok in it, and for me the only downside was
that if I overturned a pot, the lava rock would go rolling all over the
place, like a spilled bag of marbles. Using this material in a home
growing situation is also problematic in that these rocks often wash
down sink drains and whatnot.

Bob Dickow, Moscow, Idaho

"Kenni Judd" wrote in
:

We use lava rock extensively. It's the main ingredient in our mix for
catts and dens. We like it because it does not break down; this often
means an extra year between repottings and when we do repot, we don't
snip
Good growing,

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids



--
***********************************
* Bob Dickow ) *
* Hampton School of Music *
***********************************

That's not lava rock, that's aliflor.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"Robert Dickow" wrote in message
. ..
I had some catasetums growing in a sort of round, grey colored, bead-
like lava rock. Plants do ok in it, and for me the only downside was
that if I overturned a pot, the lava rock would go rolling all over the
place, like a spilled bag of marbles. Using this material in a home
growing situation is also problematic in that these rocks often wash
down sink drains and whatnot.

Bob Dickow, Moscow, Idaho

"Kenni Judd" wrote in
:

We use lava rock extensively. It's the main ingredient in our mix for
catts and dens. We like it because it does not break down; this often
means an extra year between repottings and when we do repot, we don't
snip
Good growing,

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids



--
***********************************
* Bob Dickow ) *
* Hampton School of Music *
***********************************