Pine Bark? Orchid Mix? Same?

pga7602

Hi everyone,

I'm having a really hard time locating some Pine Bark for my soil mix. However, I keep seeing bags and bags of Orchid Bark being sold at my local garden stores as a medium for orchids. Are these the same thing? If not, is it a good subsitute?

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Graydon

No and no. Pieces are too large for most applications.

Check here for pine bark sized and ready to go.

You could also look for Fafford brand gardening products - they bag and sell it by the 50# bag. Not sure if that is in your area and if so where.

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tachigi

PGA, Orchid bark works, in fact some people swear by it. The problem I have found is its buoyancy, which ultimately turned me off to it. When you water the orchid chips have a tendency to float. You can try using a top dressing like granite chips or lava. However in the long run you may find that the grief out weights the use of it.

The bottom line here I guess is, if thats all you can lay your hands on. Then yes, it is an acceptable medium to add to your soil mix.

Graydon is partially correct. You can buy sized orchid bark

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Tom

Shady Side Bonsai
Bonsai Vault
4MAAT

Brent

Orchid bark is fir bark, and high grade fir bark at that, which is actually slightly to superior to pine bark and longer lasting. As Graydon says, the trick is to get the right size. Most bark for landscape or orchid use is too large, but not always. In most of the West and all of California you should be able to locate 'small', 'mini', 'micro', or 'seedling' orchid or fir bark. If the chunks are 1/4 to 1/2 inch, it is fine to use for bonsai. I go through dozens of 2 cu ft bags of it a year. "Greenhouse" is an excellent brand on the West Coast, but I am not sure you can find that far south. I use "Greenhouse Mini Mulch", and it is a superior product. They also make "seedling" orchid bark that costs about 3 times as much, but it is to die for. Hard to locate though.

Shipping is going to kill you on bark, try to find it locally. You are not very far from the mega wholesale nursery Monrovia, so there much be decent bark down there somewhere.

Brent
EvergreenGardenworks.com
see our blog at http://BonsaiNurseryman.typepad.com

Graydon

Well la-te-da you can learn something every day - and I did. Orchid bark here in sunny old Florida seems to be chunky - 1/2" to 3/4" and that be a regional thing. I never thought that the sizes may vary - duh on my part.

I would love to have fir bark over pine bark - I can attest to Brent's mix with the plants he has shipped me - it's good stuff.

Something new to try and find - thanks!

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tachigi

Brent, How do you deal with the buoyancy issue with orchid / fir bark? I'd be interested in using it again if I knew how to address that issue.

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Tom

Shady Side Bonsai
Bonsai Vault
4MAAT

Brent

Tom

I have never understood the complaint about floating fir bark, or Perlite either for that matter. My mix is 50/50 bark and perlite. Sure, if you put a fire hose on a five gallon can of mix and let it run, it will float out of the container, but that isn't the way to water. I use a water breaker (sometimes called a rose head) with hundreds of holes for a gentle but voluminous flow. I water until I see the water rise to the top, then move to the next pot, repeat through a section, then return to first pot, repeat the whole process two or three times. It does little good to just stand there pouring water through the mix anyhow since it takes time for the mix to 'relax' and begin absorbing water. It is much more efficient to water this way. Most of the nursery is watered automatically with various emitters that apply water very slowly over about an hour, so there isn't any question of water ponding.

Brent

tachigi

Hmmm... I use a rose head as well. However I might try breaking up the watering over a period of applications. Thanks Brent, I think I might give the orchid bark a go again.

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Tom

Shady Side Bonsai
Bonsai Vault
4MAAT

Mortalis

All my soil has particles from 3/8ths to 1/2 inch and my trees love the hell out of it. If what your picking up has 3/4 inch particles just sift to remove them then if there are not to many cut them in half..

I use mainly LECA, and Lava rock with little or no organics. (I actualy water with hydroculture fertilizer since thats basically what it is with no organics.)