Which is more suitable for orchids: pine needles or pine bark?
This article brings you the content about whether pine needles or pine bark is more suitable for orchids, and the following editor will give you a detailed explanation.
What kind of planting material is best for orchids? Pine bark? Humus soil? Or planting stones? The planting material mentioned today is better than all of the above, especially for planting orchid seedlings obtained from natural environments.
Caring for orchids starts with caring for the roots, and the most crucial factor for the growth of orchid roots is the planting material. I believe orchid enthusiasts know that pine bark is a good planting material for orchids. This is because of the structural characteristics of pine bark, which meet the requirements for loose, breathable, and moisture-retaining conditions.
Another reason is that orchids like to grow at the edge of pine forests, where the orchid roots are embedded in the soil under the decaying pine bark and grow very vigorously.
However, pine bark is rich in pine turpentine, and anyone who has touched fresh pine bark will understand that sticky feeling. This oil has an impact on the growth of orchid roots, so it must be decomposed and fermented before use, and removing the pine turpentine is one of the reasons.
When I observed wild orchids, I found that although orchids like to grow under pine needle forests, since pine trees are evergreen species, the light is not very sufficient, so they mostly grow at the edge of the forest.
Orchids like Cymbidium, which require more light, are rare in pine needle forests and can only be found at the edge of the forest.
This kind of tree is a deciduous forest, and from November to the late March of the following year, the light transmission rate in the trees is very high, allowing Cymbidium to enjoy more sunlight. Since oak and pine trees often grow mixed in my area, both spring orchids and Cymbidium can be found in the forest.
However, orchids found in areas with more oaks usually have stronger and thicker leaves.
This is not only because the light in oak forests is higher but also because of the planting material.
Since the oak forest is a deciduous forest, many leaves fall every winter and autumn, and these leaves accumulate and decompose year after year, making the humus soil in the oak forest thicker and softer than that in the pine forest.
Oak leaves are different from pine needles; pine needles contain oil components. The decomposition process is longer, while oak leaves have no oil components and decompose quickly, so the nutrient content in the humus soil is also very high.
The best planting material is still oak bark. Every year, due to heavy snow, many oaks break and fall, and then decompose on the ground.
We often see that when oaks fall on the mountain, the bark is still intact, but the trunk has rotted into powder and can be crushed with a hand.
This decayed oak bark and tree sections can be used to plant orchids, and the reason for their decomposition is due to insects and fungi.
Using them to plant orchids is also suitable for the active growth of orchid fungi, meaning that the entire pot of orchid planting material can be made of this stuff.
Planting orchids with oak bark has one thing in common with using pine bark. Both are more suitable for the growth of fungi.
The advantage of oak bark over pine bark is that it contains less oil; oak bark is almost free of oil, unlike pine bark, which contains a large amount of pine turpentine.
Pine turpentine certainly has an impact on the growth of orchid roots, so we cannot use fresh pine bark to plant orchids; it must be decomposed and fermented.
The above is a comprehensive explanation of which is more suitable for orchids: pine needles or pine bark, hoping to solve your problems in life with this introduction.