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  Growing wall question
From: RAYMOMATTLA at cs.com on 2003.12.19 at 03:10:07(10946)
I am getting ready to extend my greenhouse and want to add growing walls on
the sides. I have installed these in my current greenhouse and they are filled
with long fiber spaghnum (I ended up using about 8 bales of the stuff which
was kind of expensive at 50 bucks a bale. The walls in the extension will be
both longer and taller so I am scared to even think about how much I may spend
on that. Is there a cheaper yet reliable substitute I can use for the new
walls? I know several people use coco-fiber. Is this less expensive than
Spaghnum and would it quickly degrade? I have thought about buying large tree fern
plaques in bulk and gluing them to the walls, everntually the plants will
cover the seams, but is this a good idea? I dont really like the idea of using
tree fern products to begin with! Any ideas on what i should use or should I
bite the bullet and stick with spaghnum?
Thanks, Michael Mattlage

From: jms59 jms59 at csufresno.edu> on 2003.12.19 at 04:54:41(10947)
I don't know about the cost, but the coco fiber lasts much longer than
sphagnum for me with orchids. It doesn't pack like the sphagnum does
after repeated waterings, but it does dry faster. The orchids are not
in chopped fiber, it looks like the fiber was wound around and between
the roots, like a loose pile of string.

James

From: "Peter Boyce" peterboyce at myjaring.net> on 2003.12.19 at 08:20:30(10951)
Michael

At Kew we sheets of coco-fibre impregnated with a latex mesh; it came in 3 m
x 50 m rolls. Cannot recall from whom it was purchased but you could try
emailing Katy King (k.king@rbgkew.org.uk) an asking her. It was in use for 4
years before I quit and showed no sign of deterioration.

Pete

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From: "bamboochik" bamboochik at earthlink.net> on 2003.12.19 at 11:49:30(10952)
I'm sure you would not be interested in this, but I use this combo with
many of my aroids and other plants that need a light airy mix.

1/3 packing peanuts

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