Better-Gro Special Orchid Mix - Premium Grade Orchid Bark Potting Mix for Potting Repotting Enhanced Drainage Air Flow

I have kept orchids indoors for many years and have great success with them. They bloom at least once a year, some twice. Store-bought orchids will be content in their cheap plastic growers pots for a while, and you should not transplant them while blooming. But soon, if they like their location and conditions, those roots will grow and crowd the pot, also retaining too much moisture. Your orchid leaves will not be the dark lustrous green they are supposed to be. Then you know it's time to transplant but be careful! Sterilize your tools, be gentle and trim off the dead roots. As a matter of practice, I will pour enough water into the repotted plants so I know all the new soil is wet, let it thoroughly drain... then resuming a sparse watering schedule. My orchids are healthy and have lived quite a long time with proper care. The soil is easy to scoop by hand, you don't need a spade. The soil also smells clean and is just the right particular size to tuck into the roots but prevent compaction. I like the ziplock seal, to keep for future use without the risk of contamination. Best wishes and enjoy your lovely orchids! Read more

At first glance, this seems like a very good soil for orchids. I liked it, and I hope my orchids will like it too. Before this, a couple of years ago, I ordered several different soils, and they were all terrible quality. This soil contains bark, and it's good, not rotten Read more

This orchid mix has put life back into my phalaenopsis! I rescued it from a family member who was unable to take good care of her plants and was unsure if the orchid would make it. The bark pieces are on the larger side, which leaves plenty of room for the extra air that's needed. They have a nice smell as well! Overall effective mix and highly recommend 👍 Read more

This is a good kit for replanting orchids, not enough moss and pebbles. Read more

So far this is working for the baby orchid I re-potted. This is mostly bark, and fairly large chunks of bark at that. I put the bark and the orchid in a clear orchid re-potting container and the plant looks happy and healthy so far. I'm wondering if I need some sort of soil to add to the mix? I'll see how the first round of watering goes. Read more

Excellent product. It was recommended by the company that we bought our Baby Clivias-Clivia One leaf from. The directions are very clear and easy to pot our expensive addition to our new orchid garden. Read more

This is the best bark for houseplants, hands down. I use it not only for my orchid but I mix it in with my potting soil for plants that like a chunkier growing medium. My hoyas, philodendrons, pothos, monstera, etc. all get about 50% of their potting medium from this bark mix (and the rest is about 40% indoor potting mix and 10% perlite, give or take.) There is a good variety of sizes of bark pieces, I like the added horticultural charcoal and big pieces of perlite. Conpared to, for example, the Miracle Grow orchid bark, that is all smaller pieces and I don't know what kind of bark they use but it always breaks down quickly. So I now only use this brand of orchid bark and it is spectacular! My plants are green and happy, they don't hold too much moisture, it's everything I need. Read more

First, this bark is scented, which is weird and I can’t imagine is great for the plants. The smell is pleasant but not natural. It goes away after a month or two and the bark begins to smell a bit musty… like damp bark. Second, I would be really cautious if you are transitioning a Phalaenopsis orchid from moss to this bark. I have to water plants twice a week that are potted in this mix when previously I only needed to water them every two weeks in moss. This bark is extremely chunky with perlite and charcoal as well, so is very hydrophobic. Yes, it will be much harder to kill your plant by overwatering or suffocation if you use this mix, but when I left my phals alone for a week trip, even a couple months after repotting, they became very dehydrated and suffered greatly, dropping lower leaves and losing roots. Watering twice a week is overly demanding, in my opinion. If you have an orchid with roots that are already bark adapted, you may be ok to transition to this mix. But given my experience, I would wait until you see new root tips emerging to repot a moss-grown orchid into this mix in order to ease the stress. I will likely mix in some high quality sphagnum moss when I repot with this in the future. I have added moss caps to my repotted phals, and they have stabilized, but several still seem to need very frequent watering in this bark mix and have lost a number of roots due to dehydration. Read more