The Latest about Orchiata Bark. May Growing Season.
For the past seven years, we have been using Orchiata bark exclusively. The results have been nothing short of spectacular. When compared to the fir bark that we had used for twenty-five years, we have seen fat, thick roots that developed even in the dead of winter on newly potted plants. This is very unusual. In addition, leaves are thicker and greener, and most importantly, the plants bloom beautifully. No longer do we see poor roots (roots only ½ of the way down into the pot, and poor root growth) plants that have to be potted after only 6 months or so, and very rarely do we see that dreaded snow mold. (yes, you can get snow mold in Orchiata, but it is a rare occurrence, and we usually only see this on bags we have left out too long, and are therefore very wet) We also find that we can do what the old growers used to call drop-ons. Plants that are pulled out of smaller pots, mix and all, and simply dropped into a larger pot with more mix added. With this method, the plant is not disturbed and just continues to grow.
A grower can never guarantee that a plant that had 10 spikes last year, will have 15 or 20 the next, as every year is different conditions-wise (light levels, temp. etc), and plants may rest after a great flowering, but one thing that is guaranteed to slow a plant’s progress is the need for constant repotting. Orchiata has eliminated that problem for us almost entirely.
Another important fact about Orchiata bark: it is not the latest new orchid “miracle mix.” Orchiata has been used for over thirty years in Japan and other areas, and it is bark, not some “magic bullet.” (remember tire chips, coconut husk, and cork chips?) Simply put, it is a great product for your orchids.
Many hobbyists may remember our orchid-soaking trough that we built here at Silva’s to take bad bark and make it useable. We put 40, 3 cubic foot bags of bark in and came out with 40, 2 cubic foot bags. With Orchiata, we get 2 cubic feet of excellent bark out of every bag, without any of the hassle. Yes, Orchiata is more expensive per bag, but considering the effort we went through before, is it really more expensive? No, we don’t believe it is, because time and effort are money.
Note: Since Orchiata is more expensive per bag, we do not keep a large excess of Orchiata in stock. Also, since Orchiata comes from a broker in Georgia, and not from the West Coast where you had to order a trailer load, (because of shipping costs) we prefer to order smaller batches to always have fresh bark for our use. In this way, we do not have to tie up an entire building, and no more throwing the last 50-100 bags on to our flower beds because it is so moldy and broken down. As an “in house grower”, fresh bark is everything to us. We recommend that you place your order for Orchiata when we order ours. Some day, in the near future, when more and more people use Orchiata bark, we would like to order a greater quantity of excess bags to have on hand for sale, so spread the word, Orchiata is the best for your `orchids.