Well, I have tried every thing and nothing worked. Not even the recommened mixes from here or bagged ones.

Every single orchid I have in my growing warm room has just about lost all their roots. I almost lost them all. So frustrating.

So what I did was explain the growing conditions to a few orchid experts at the orchid show and they told me that I have to fine tune and figure out which mix works best for my conditions. That there is no magic mix or bullet or one size fits all.

I had to unpot every Phal I have because the roots were drying out just much too fast. I did not have the time to 'soak' every one of them in order for the roots to hydrate properly again, so I tried something not many would use. Just plain ole sphagnum moss.

Well, this seems to have done the trick. All I have to do is re wet it and all the roots have time to hydrate, they turn a rich green, and then the mix dries out within a couple of days in that room. I don't pack it tight, but just enough so that the roots are stable in the pot and wow, what a difference!! Now they are growing gang busters.

Same with my Oncidiums and Cattaleya in that room. Almost all the roots were dead or dried out and never enough time to mist them every day or soak them as frequently or as long as I'd like to hydrate the roots.

So I now use half sphagnum/ half smaller bark, and some perlite. I cut the sphagnum and mix this all together. So far so good. The roots are coming back. It takes me much less time to water or have to hydrate the roots.

It will be on to my 'greenhouse' ones since I can only water them in the early a.m. They are in huge bark chunks and the roots get so dry before I can get to them by the next morning. If I miss a day, forget it. I don't have misters that can consistently spray them and keep that greenhouse from getting that hot, but if I find that my mixes of bark and more sphagnum do the trick, I will use that.

It seems my orchids require more sphagnum in my mixes to grow to their full potential.

Have you had to play around with mixes until you got what works for you?

Mike