Okay, this is good...I can ask people that grow Paphs! I mentioned my mix in one of my pics and Paphgirl said the same thing I've been wondering... Basically, are some of the "newer" mixes better than the old ones? The armeniacum I bloomed is in fine bark, perlite, charcoal...the basic old standard for Paphs. I have another armeniacum sitting right next to in in spike now too...in a CHC mix...but it's a different aged plant and has different parents.

Most of mine are in 2 Parts Fine CHC, 1 Part Med Diatomite, 1 Part #4 Perlite, 1/2 Part Charcoal. I tried Med CHC and found many of the chunks would stay very wet and those next to the roots would go bone dry. I've bloomed Paphs in the Bark mix...I've messed up some roots in both mixes...haven't kiled 'em...yet!

Here's the big question. Can anybody truly say these types of now popular mixes are any better than the old time-tested mixes? :?

Most know Antec is big on a mix similar to mine. He was at the Paph Forum in DC a couple weeks ago and said they keep doing different things. As much as he swears by clean water, he's now even using regular tap every few waterings. He's great at spouting off statistics and has done a lot of studies...But, one thing he never said was how stuff actually grows in it. They certainly grow nice stuff.

What's your mix? Have you done any tests that prove one mix is better than another? And to define "better"...did the plants actually grow better? Not watering less, air, etc...just how did the plants do?

Oh, I should mention I grow under Fl lights in a spare bedroom with a humidifier running 24x7 which gets me to about 60%+ RH in the Winter. Temp down to 60 at night now and 70's day...add 10 degrees to that for Summer.

My goal is no more than 4 days until the next watering. I do agree with Birk when he says more water = more growing...

Rob :roll:

OK....lets see...are the new mixes better than the old? Yes and no...unfortunately, the "old" mixes are not what they used to be. Fir bark used to be perfect for paphs..as long as you repotted after a year or two. Then the bark declined...I remember Rexius bark...I got a huge amount, not intentionally...it was just what I received when I ordered bark. The stuff killed off a substantial portion of my paph collection...splintery, and it rotted faster than any paph mix I'd ever seen. I suspect-strongly- that its more acidic than other barks, but that was before I bothered to think of these things. Good qulaity fir bark is out there, but you have to be careful, and definitely repot within the year. I switched over completely to CHC shortly after trying it. But even now, I have to modify my practices. at first I was astounded...CHC could last 2 years without showing signs of breakdown...now, it seems more fragile. Why??? Well, looking very critically at my potting mixes, it seems that the size of my sponge-rock has decreased over the last few years. But I was still using the same proportion. I have since greatly increased my perlite proportion to compensate for the smaller size, and my paphs are returning to their old survival rate. Overall, I must say..CHC is a much better paph base than bark (except for delanatii....), but it must be handled as carefully as bark, with lots of aeration. And no mix can be perfect all the time. No paph pot receives, drains, and retains the same moisture content as another pot...due to placement, mix assortment at potting time, firmness of potting, etc....there will be variations, leading some paphs to rot under what seems the best of circumstances, while another paph may dehydrate. There is no substitute for individual attention, and familiarity with your growing system. Take care, Eric

Beats me! :confused:

Seriously, I think I'm too new to know - I am still learning how my plants work and until I have a couple years under my belt, I won't have a clue which I like better.

I have quite a few larger plants in the CHC/diatomite/Charcoal/Perlite mix (I mixed a bunch up myself as it was cheaper) and some of them dry out very slowly, while others seem much more rapid! I have a St. Swithin in a 5.5" round pot that seems to dry out very rapidly, and other larger plants in a 6" square aircone just in front that I can almost always still see condensation in a week after watering. Same light, same mix, same watering schedule. The watering and the mixes are still a challenge for me. Just a matter of time and experience I guess.

Also, sometime I'd like to just plop something into straight diatomite and see what happens. But I'm afraid, and not sure which would be the best guinea pig to try!

I try to keep my mix for paphs as simple as possible. For reference I started with the chc recipes on Antec. Now I'm even leaving out the charcoal and just using medium chc cut with #3 spongerock. I'm not aiming to grow the best paphs in the world, just to grow attractive healthy plants.

If I had to choose, I'd choose slightly over-aerating a chc-based paph mix and watering more frequently over under-aerating and watering less often, if that makes sense. I like to see my paphs last no less than 5 days, and no more than 7 days between waterings. But that's just me, not an authoritative statement. Based on the root production of my plants, though, I think I'm on the right track.

John

I have been extremely happy with my current mix that was just an experiment a couple years back.

I use 4parts Scott's MetroMix with Coir, add 2parts Perlite or Spongerock and 1.5parts Charcoal. This is a good estimate of the proportions since I do it by eye and feel.
It ends up being very porous, even when just watered, and holds moisture evenly and dries evenly. It is easy to know when to water, since it turns light brown when dry and gets quite light. If plants are let dry out for a long time, some humid conditions are still present around the roots preventing bad dehydration. This has proven very beneficial when growing drier growing plants like Paph. druryi and Mexipediums. It also preforms well when constantly wet, and my Phrags love it and send roots everywhere.
I use this mix in combination with Rands Aircone Pots and rarely add drainage material...unless I am growing drier growing plants like mentioned above. It also breaks down slowly and plants have yet to show signs of unhealthy root growth when I repot them...usually after about a year. I also have a few "guinea pig" plants that haven't been repotted in roughly 2 and a half years that look quite healthy...but I did add dolomite to them once since peat gets acidic after a year or so. If you can find MetroMix with Coir, I strongly recommed trying this mix on at least one plant.

Jon

I just did a google search for this. Apparently Sun Gro has purchased Metro Mix and Redi Earth and has made some changes. Sun Gro states that the changes are merely equivalent substitutions and do not change the performance aspects of Metro Mix.

My curiosity is peaked.

John

I finally got to personally see Aussie Gold today. They had it out so I could sift it through my hand. I just don't get it. They say you can't over water it, but it looks like it's just dirt with some diatomite mixed in. I think my Paphs would rot just being near it! Anybody else seen or try it?

Potting mixture that I use is tree fren bark, perlite, sphagumn moss,charcoal. Seems to work well for my paph's. Like the tree fern bark, it doesn't break down like fir bark. Want to know has anyone tried rockwool with any of their paph's?
Spit