There is an informal rule that finer roots go in finer mixtures. Nothing wrong with Leca but supply and cost might be a problem once a collection gets to be large. As for the bugs, no one in the wild is there to bump them off once they appear, so the best protection is healthy plants plus preventative sprays that kill the bugs but not the orchid owner. I am talking about contact sprays based on canola oil. Sorry, cannot help much because your environment is unigue, but i have about 1000 orchids stretching over different Genera and there is no way that they can all be potted in the same mixture, some (heaven forbid) are on mounts. Again there will be some orchids that just will not like your conditions, sulk for years and then go to orchid heaven. Are your Miltonias real Miltonias or prima donna Miltoniopsis? Maybe if you describe your growing conditions and the name of the orchids in your collection, you will get better help.

I don't grow a Didieri, but do grow Angraecum sesquipedale, and Aeranthes in your zone (although I am now in Fla.) I grew my Ang in large bark/tree fern in plastic pots. I have only repotted twice in 6 yrs. It will get repotted this year but I haven't decided what media to use as Florida is not NY. My Aeranthes Grandiose has been growing in small bark with spagh in a plastic pot. I have repotted every 2 years gradually increasing the pot size. This plant likes to be kept damp and warm. I would not recommend mounting anything in your zone unless you have a greenhouse. I would probably keep whatever mix you use, open and airy. We have some 'experts' on this forum who, hopefully will chime in, although I don't know if they are growing in your zone. Aeranthes Jane Angraecum

Hi freki, Honestly, there are so many answers I could give you here, but with orchids, you will learn that the answer is often "it depends". First, potting. (P.S. Don't worry about pot depth, Cymbidiums love deep pots.) Personally, I pot most of my orchids, Cymbidiums included, in a mixture of small orchid bark, New Zealand sphagnum moss and horticultural perlite, with a dash of charcoal. However, I'm in the Ottawa area, where summers are warm and very humid, winters are long and cold, and my orchids spend most of the year inside under lights to supplement what natural light they get. With this mix, in my conditions, I water once a week in winter and two or three times in summer depending on the size of the pot, and I repot every 12 to 18 months. If you're in the West, for example, your conditions will be very different. This is the ultimate advantage of joining an orchid society - you can talk to growers who have similar conditions to you and find out what works for them. You can also take a look at the medium it's trying to grow out of. If it's that vigorous with it, maybe try for something similar. As for growing conditions. One of the reasons you may be finding so many contradictions is that there are different types of Cymbidiums each with different cultural requirements. Standard Cymbidiums need as much light as you can possibly give them and night temps down to pretty much freezing in the fall. Chinese Cymbidiums are more forgiving, and will bloom with about the same amount of light as Oncidiums (more than Phals, less than Cattleyas) and a moderate cool down in the fall. And then there are hybrids between the two, with breeders wanting the amazing flowers of standard Cyms with the easy growing habits of Chinese Cyms. A good rule of thumb, though, is to give your Cymbidium as much light as it can stand (experiment by gradually putting it in more light, and see when the leaves start feeling hot to the touch, which means pull it back a little). As well, give it more water when it is actively growing (water it just as it us starting to be completely dry and be diligent about fertilizer) than when you don't (at those times, water when it's dry and fertilize very lightly if at all). I have not found that they are very particular about humidity most of the time, only when it's flowering. If your Cymbidium is putting out new growths and each of those growths is larger than the previous one, you're doing very well, just be patient. My first Cymbidium produced many new growths for almost two years without a single flower. I was thinking real hard about getting rid of it when the bloody thing put out ten spikes. So keep on going, and welcome to the wonderful and sometimes frustrating world of orchids. Julie

Arthrum: good point, the temps in my house are only kept above 65 degrees, but it still seems that some temperature hardy plants still show dislike of my repotting... Dbarron: oh my! Sounds like a tragedy! I get upset enough when I break of a new shoot! Vtandrea: thanks for the suggestion! I'll definitely try it on one of my oncidiums! Jane: I live in the Oakland hills in the SF Bay Area. I grow almost all my indoor orchids in the same spot, positioned around a fireplace to control the amount of light. The facing of the house isn't the best. 80% of the light is late morning to afternoon sun . 90% of the windows are west facing :( like the house... The problem might be I repotted at the wrong time. I didn't a lot of reporting in the winter/ late fall (whoops...)