Essential Elements of Good Orchid Compost
To create the best compost for your orchids you need to be sure the compost allows plenty of air to get to your orchid.
Another critical element of good orchid compost is that must allow really good drainage.
Even though good compost will allow the plant to drain well, the compost should also retain some water. If the compost dries out too fast then it cannot hold the nutrients that the plant need for growing.
The compost should also be rich in nutrients that the plant can use over an extended amount of time.
Compost Options
There are several options you can choose when making your own compost for your orchids. Some orchid compost is bark-based type compost and another type of compost is peat-based.
The bark based compost can be made with the following ingredients:
10 Parts medium grade pine bark
5 parts fine grade pine bark
2 parts perlag
1/2 part granulated charcoal
The peat based compost can be mixed with the following ingredients:
2 parts spagnum moss peat
1 part horticulture sand
1 part perlite
The peat-based compost is less popular because it decomposes faster than bark-based compost when exposed to fertilizers. Preparing the peat mix can also be more time consuming because the sphagnum moss must be cleaned and cut to specific sizes. Thus, bark-based compost is more popular and used more frequently for orchids.
