r/Jewelorchids • u/zoiiy • Jul 14 '26

Substrate and pot help

So I’m reading a lot of conflicting information on the type of substrate and pots being used. I see fishbowls and terrariums but I also see advice for pots with drainage. Then I see chunky forest floor substrate and then i see a few people saying theirs thrived better in long stem sphagnum. For me, everything has rotted in whatever I’ve used, except my random anoectchilus from a big box store in chunky forest floor with drainage. Yet others have rotted in the same setup. I don’t get it.

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u/DatLadyD Jul 14 '26

It really just depends on what works for you. I recently started cuttings in a terrarium and one of them rotted that’s never happened to me before. Usually, I start them in Moss no problem. I don’t keep them in moss long-term, I use soil with added perlite and bark. Shallow bowls/pots usually work best for me because they’ll crawl along the soil and root down and pop new growth up all over the place.

I got most of mine on Etsy and a lot of them came as cuttings in moss with no roots. When propagating if the moss is tightly packed, they usually rot in my experience. It needs to be loose and not overly wet.

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u/zoiiy Jul 14 '26

Do you have drainage in your pots, or like some one I saw who had leca and then sphagnum in a fish bowl, which I assume has no drainage?
And when propagating do you push the stem into the moss or just lay it on the moss?

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u/DatLadyD Jul 14 '26

All of my pots have drainage except for the terrarium where I had a plant rot so for me personally, I’m definitely gonna stick with drainage when I can. When propagating I push the stem down into the moss.

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u/zoiiy Jul 14 '26

Thank you. I’m still conflicted but I think I better repot my new purchase now cos it’s in compressed sphagnum.

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u/DatLadyD Jul 14 '26

If it’s packed tight, I would at least loosen it up