Stitz - that stuff is called coconut coir fibre. It's the stuff that Q uses before it gets chopped up into a peat-moss like consistancy. You're referring to stuff right? I've always been curious as to how well this stuff fares with orchids, so it's interesting to read about your applications. The University here just erected a 'green wall' where they have mats of this stuff acting as the mounting material on a drip wall for some epiphytic plants...too early to tell whether it works but it's an interesting idea (especially in the absence of other sustainable mounting mediums like epiweb or treefern) WC8 - I recently bought some of these coconut chunks from a guy to experiment with...after looking at them, I surmised that they would soak up and hold water better than cork or wood planks, which would make them the PERFECT mounting medium in my conditions (I underwater my mounts). Here's a (badly exposed) photo I tried to take this morning of the Aerangis kotschyana that I mounted on it about 2 months ago. It's newest root growth has hugged the coconut, so I think it likes it It does not soak up as much water as I expected it would. I think it's due to the thickness of the material - it takes A LOT of soaking to get water deep into it. Nonetheless, I think it is quite nice to use and holds water better than cork or wood planks, which allows me to avoid using pads of sphagnum on the mount.

Blue, you talk about watering "as I thought needed" and you refer to "I think they get enough lighting". For some of us such 'seat of the pants' flying is unacceptably instinctual. If it works at all is fairly easy to determine but if there are problems then perhaps a move to more objective methods is in order? Beginning with light, of course, it rarely is enough in North America in the best of places. Indoors is even worse. There simply is no leeway for niceties like 'diffused' or 'dappled' or 'bright shade'. Truth be told, greenhouse growers in the north latitudes use shadecloth to control temperature not to reduce light levels!! So, no, I don't think you have sufficient light unless you are supplementing the dappled west window light with artificial light. I find that a fixed day of the week (or two) on which to water does less harm than the catch as catch can approach. With CHC, or any medium for that matter, you are not so much waiting for the medium to reach a certain level of dryness before you water again as you are topping up the reservoir of water held in suspension before it runs completely dry. Read that again, everyone. It is key to the overwhelming misconception about watering orchids in North America and similar environs. In situ when an orchid receives rain the many crannies in the bark of its mount and the overgrowths of moss and the usual high humidity of the sub/tropical environment all conspire to ensure that rarely if ever will the roots see anything approaching total dryness. Not just phals but Catts too. Climb a tree some summer afternoon when it hasn't rained in days. The bark will have a vaguely damp feel to it and this is quite enough. In a tropical environment the bark would be damper still. When you water a pot full of bark the moisture level will still be quite high the next day, the day after that and maybe even the day after that. In nature although still not totally dry, the root environment will admittely be much less soggy than in the pot. Do you really think that waiting seven days to water again gives the roots anything approaching a natural wet/dry cycle? No it doesen't. Nor do you want it to for in North America, especially indoors, we haven't the humidity levels nor the guarantee of daily rainfal or dew, etc. We may as well learn to rely on the inbuilt capacity of the medium to ensure that adequate gas exchange is possible regardless of the amount of moisture present and water as often as neccessary to ensure that the moisture level never falls below zero. But as far as there being a maximum, there is no such thing. Every day watering while wasteful of water should not be harmful if other aspects of culture are exemplary! In North America, however, things are rarely exemplary and a whole regime of countermeasures has arisen to compensate for reduced light, low humidity, temerature extremes, etc. I haven't seen these measures work to my satisfaction so I am trying (and preaching) a method of creating the environment that promotes vigorous growth and development of the orchid like natural conditions do rather than attempting via water starvation regimens to forestall problems brought about by insufficient light and/or insufficient daytime max temp (in winter), low humidity, etc. Finally, from Blue's language I am pretty certain, like Clara, that s/he is referring to CHC and not coir. And I do believe CHC can be obtained pressed into bricks though mine did come loose in a bag. H

Well i spoke to a man at SBOE named wayne and i was told he was the manager so i spoke to him and i asked which variety did they sell, the one from the comoros or from madagascar he said he did not know and asked me if there was a genetic difference between the two? i said no i dont beleive. he said thats interesting and that he did not know they were in the comoros and that he thinks the ones they have are from madagascar. so he asked me what is the difference? so i said the rest periods are harsher and longer in madagascar and in the comoros its not that harsh or long. and then i asked what do you do? he told me that they in the winter grow them dry and when they start to show the slightest sign of distress he waters them. so i asked when the leaves look a little wrinkly? he said yeah and then in the summer when they just get a little dry. he advised that many look down-right ugly. he also said that they may even look that way in summer as well just because they are so thirsty. he said i believe that he said that you reduce to about half from regular watering. ill have to call and see if i can speak with him again. they both were very helpful!!!!!!!!!!! I ultimately bought leonis from cal because they did not have them in stock at SBOE. when i called i left a message and then called again and spoke with a woman(Lauris) and she said oh you must be sam looking for the leonis? i said yes i am!!! so she said that she only had 2 left(Lucky me) i was very dissapointed thinking oh well im out of luck thinking she was gonna say that she already sold them. To my suprise she said that she set one aside just for me and that it even has a spike!!! i started jumping up and down!!!!! i asked can is it too late to order it and it be here this weekend? she said no its not. I said can you hold it for me untill my mom gets back with the credit card(Im only 17 hahaha), she said sure but just order before 2:30. so i called back and she said okay and i asked how big are the spikes and she said not too big maybe 2-3 inches and i has one flower that had already bloomed, Wait it Get better she then noticed another spike emerging from the leaves!!!!! so now you'll have two spikes,and it has 7 leaves. the best part is It was 25.00$!!! hah i called at just the right time huh!!! you all will have to come back and check the posts for my pics this friday Okay you promise. ill be sure to describe the fragrance for you guys although MB youve probably smelled it before!!!!!!!!! Thank you all!!!! Happy Growing!!!!!!!!!! Samuel

Ok, after your post I've transplanted them in my CHC mix sitting for 24 hours. I was ridiculously worried about it but now I'm quite relieved. My little guys definitely loved the CHC, as the roots were well grown inside many individual chips just as your described. I would have gladly left them in their pots but they've already outgrown them.